Ok here is the story, I got a 91 Camaro RS a few weeks back that came with a Viper alarm and remote that unlocks/locks the doors, arm and disarm the alarm, and opens the hatch, it has two buttons, you might have seen them before. Anyway, It came with a switch that seemed to disable and enable the alarm, but the wire just fell off the switch and everything worked so i just taped up the wires unconnected. Well I was getting bothered by having to constantly disarm the alarm (it arms itself automatically in about 20 seconds if i leave the doors closed) whenever I'm working on something and i have to keep starting the car. So I connected those wires together again. I figured it would turn off the alarm and seemingly it did. But then about a half hour later my remote stopped working and the alarm is arming itself again. So I had to unplug it since I cant disarm it now when it goes off. (if I would have known I could just unplug the wire harness from the alarm box I would have done that in the first place, some security huh? )
But anyhow, does anyone have the same setup as I do or perhaps know of what might have happened? I checked all the fuses and uncovered all the electrical taped wires, nothing seems unusual but the huge GM manual I got with the car doesn't mention the remote or alarm system, chances are its aftermarket.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

If it's a viper, it is installed aftermarket. Don't those alarms have a valet switch on them somewhere. There was with the alarm I had in my 92RS

 

I'm not sure, the alarm still works but the remote doesn't do anything when I press the buttons, neither unlocking the doors or opening the hatch. I forgot to mention I also tried unplugging the battery for about a half hour and also taking the battery out of the remote as well.

There is also a little box with an adjustment ****, and when you flick this box an led flickers, I don't know what that does lol. I was thinking a frequency adjsuter for the remote?



EDIT: Actually that switch that the wires fell off of might have been it, but I think that is what caused this whole ordeal in the first place. Of course if the wires connected to that switch were not meant to touch, then why were they hooked up to a switch?

 

1 . that switch is the valet switch. there is a gray and a black that is latched by the switch. by connecting those two together and turning on the ign switch to run ,the red led light should go solid red instead of blinking, if it does that , it's valet mode keeping the two wires connected and turning the ign.switch on again will take it out of valet. was the switch for the alarm a push button or a toggle switch? 2. the little box with the blinking lights is an impact or "shock" sensor.if you hit the car with your hand the red light in the little box should blink each time you hit , this stays on irregardless if the alarm is armed or not. it cannot trigger the alarm if the alarm is disarmed. 3. is there a small door that slides back on the alarm brain ? if so ,slide it back and see if it has any wire loops inside , cutting the red loop will disable the auto arm feature. 4. if you look on the back of the brain , the wire colors should be printed on it and what each wire does.you've got one of the better alarms on the market but it is only as good as the installation. holla back if ya need more help.

 

Alright, very useful information thank you that answers a lot of my questions. What my problem is is that the remote stopped working after i reconnected the grey and black wires that the valet switch used to connect to. It was a toggle switch. It did make the LED go solid if they are connected. I don't understand why the remote stopped working so I can't lock and unlock my doors via the remote anymore, or open the hatch or disarm or arm the alarm. Just wondering if maybe i bumped some wires that make the remote feature work or something. I can't find anything really suspicious under there, some wires were wrapped in the electric tape with the bundles and don't go anywhere, but they have been like that since I got the car obviously so I don't think those are a problem. I was thinking coincidentally when i messed with it maybe the remote battery died, but the remote's LED still lights up when I press the buttons. I will take pictures of what it looks like tomorrow during the daytime. Thanks again

 

ok , if the remote's led lights up but is dim , replace the battery , you can get those at radio shack . you've got an older one but it's still a good piece . get the number off the brain , viper 300 ,500 ,600 etc. and i can tell you the exact wire colors and functions , glad to help. some of the people on here can be real snotrags and make fun of you because you don't know that much about something(not trying to flame , just being truthful) it's a shame too because we all love these beautiful cars and i thought we were here to help each other out .

 

I know what you mean, sometimes people can be real jerks on forums. I'll go see what it is right now, if the LED is dim would that mean it shouldnt work at all or just not work from far away? It went from working at about a 30 foot distance to completely not working at all in an instant. It's a jungle under the dashboard, very sloppy installation I think.


It is a Model 600
It has a diagram on the bottom that tells what every wire does.
There are two wires, one black and one blue that come out from the wire harness with the single row of wires (other harness has two rows of wires) and the blue one is not going to anything while the black one goes to a wire underneath the dash. There is a plate on top that comes off and reveals 4 dip switches which are also explained on the back. The remote's LED isn't what I would call dim either.

 

the black is ground and that blue is for a hood /trunk pinswitch , there should be a black wire that is coming out of the side of the case and is not in a plug ,DO NOT GROUND IT!!!that is the antenna . you can try this with the remote ,take the case off the remote , inside there is a blue trimpot with a gold phillips screw down in it. get a plastic jewelers screwdriver (not a metal one) and turn it ever so slightly either direction , sometimes that will tune the remote back in sync with the brain and get the remote to work again . if not , if you have a alarm /car audio shop in your town that sells DEI (directed electronics inc.) products , take the brain and the remote to them and they can get you a new remote.or if you know the previous owner and they still have the reciept for the alarm ,viper alarms have a lifetime warranty.

 

oh yeah that distance is pretty short for that alarm ,might be the battery.

 

Ok I tried turning the thing in the remote, it didn't do anything
I had to cut the ground going to the siren so it would stfu while I work on things. I tried to take pictures of what it looks like underneath but the batteries in our camera barely have any life left and the camera kept dying while saving them

Anyway I have 3 wires that don't go anywhere from the single row wire harness, a red with white stripe, a blue one, and an orange one. I can hear the box clicking as it's probably still sounding the alarm (without the remote I can't disarm it without just unplugging it, that I know of) This is really confusing I didn't unplug any wires when I hooked up the valet wires. Also there is no black wire coming out the side that you said was an antenna.

 

would the battery have died in an instant like that? The LED still lights up but even from right next to the brain it doesn't work. If I turn that gold screw too far will it make it not work at all? I kept turning it and pressing the button rapidly and it didn't work, I'm pretty sure its back where it was though.

 

that missing black antenna could be the problem,it would make the remote work intermittently.the red/white is channel 2 ground output for an accessory ,the orange is the ground when armed output for an optional starter kill and that blue is the input for a hood/trunk pinswitch . the other blue you described is in the large black plug . i can't remember what it does off the top of my head ,but none of those would make the alarm screw up if not connected . the main power is red in the white plug,yellow is ignition power, the black in the white plug is ground . the brown is the positive output for the siren ,this goes to the red wire on the siren. that clicking you hear is the light flash relay inside the brain which would be the white wire with the fuse on it .it goes to the parking lights.let me cut and paste the wiring diagram for your car.

 

Ahh, see my parking lights never flashed with the siren going off, and they still don't. There is another example of a lazy installation.

The antenna wire was never there in the first place, which is what confuses me as to why it just suddenly stopped. There isnt a hole for it or anything.

There are two wires with fuses on them, I can't remember the colors on them though but neither fuse is blown.

 

12volts
red
+
ignition harness


Starter yellow + ignition harness
Ignition pink + ignition harness
Power Lock lt. blue + drivers kick panel
Power Unlock black + drivers kick panel
Lock Motor
Unlock Motor
Disarm Defeat
Parking Lights+ brown switch or rear harness
Parking Lights-
Hazards
Turn Signal(L)
Turn Signal(R)
Door Trigger white - underdash light
Dome Supervision
Trunk/Hatch Pin black/orange - at cargo light
Hood Pin
Trunk/Hatch Release black + hatch release relay
Power Sliding Door
Factory Alarm Arm
Factory Alarm Disarm
Disarm No Unlock
Tachometer white, purple/white AC at coil
Horn Trigger black - steering column
Memory Seat 1
Memory Seat 2
Memory Seat 3


Immobilizer Bypass Module



MAKE : CHEVROLET | MODEL : CAMARO | YEAR : 1991
* The logo is registered trade mark of Chevrolet Corporate.
this will help ,these are the factory wire colors that the alarm wiring goes to straight to . and if you would like to send DEI an email ,the website is http:www.directed.com

 

Yikes, thats gonna get confusing lol I'll check it out tomorrow when I get a chance, maybe I'll just have to wire it up properly myself. But the remote still doesn't work, maybe I'll try the battery from my mom's remote if they're the same battery. She has a Mercury Sable so I don't know if the remotes will take the same batteries or not.

 

am i good or what? lol

 

if it's a ford factory keyless remote ,the batteries won't interchange but that battery is like 3.00 or 4.00 at radio shack

 

lol yeah. I thank you for the help and time spent, I really appreciate it. I'll look into this more extensively asap. Right now im finishing up some exhaust work i've been doing, tomorrow is the last day of this semester of school so I'll be more free to work on this. Hey if you need any help on anything, like say, computers? I'll be glad to help as that was my specialty and main interest until I bought a thirdgen

Thanks a lot man, I'll most likely be back with more questions tomorrow

 

oh ok, I'll see to that when I get some money (really really broke right now )
So you think the battery is the problem? I mean it was working one minute perfectly then suddenly bam, no working at all. Right before it stopped working though the alarm stopped working via remote, it was the doorlocks only, then suddenly nothing. The whole process of the remote stopping took about 20 minutes.

 

i just realized i did tell you something that's incorrect. on the valet switch . if you connect the gray and black together and turn on the ign. switch, it goes into valet. if you disconnect the the gray and black and turn on ign. switch it will go out of valet . sorry about that ,my bad.

 

haha ok no problem, you're still a great help :hail:

I will get this all straightened out, I guess the first thing to try is a new battery. Then I'll go for all the wiring and hook it up properly.

 

Well I went to radioshack today to get a battery and had the guy test the old battery and the needle shot way up to good. So I guess its something else that made the remote stop working, I'm gonna try taking it to a place around here that deals in car alarms and see if I can get a new remote or something.


Any idea the price range of a new remote? Maybe they can just fix what problem I have, but I don't have the money for a repair job.

 

if you pay more than 40.00 for that remote ,you're getting ripped off.

 

haha ok thanks ill keep that in mind, im hoping someone can just be nice enough to check it out and see if it has to be retuned or something, but the majority of people at these car audio/alarm places around here are punks who wont help you if your wallet is empty

 

hmmm ,no comment on that,my attorney said i might incriminate myself ,lol

 

Taking the FIFTH are we now badjuju342.

 

it's the american way my friend

 

i dont get it

 

I dont mean insult by what I said, but the majority of the people at these places ive met around here (mainly while digging in the dumpsters to get car stuff ) are high school drop-outs who are just real *******s and very stuck up.

 

no offense taken,my sense of humor can be a little strange at times i suppose but i assure you that my last few responses were VERY tongue in cheek. i keeep forgetting that you can't tell the tone of someone's voice over the internet. my feelings were hurt in any size ,shape or form. it's all good,hollywood

 

hahaha thats exactly what i always say, you cant tell the tone of someone's voice so everything seems either neutral or serious, but its hard to express humor unless its really obvious like when i emailed this guy and told him i'de give him a quarter for his dual snorkel system.

 

Well I got it to work again, a new battery increased the range but it didn't solve the problem. I just kept messing with that gold screw in the remote and found an exact spot where it works and a tiny bit left or right makes it not work

But anyway right when that began to work the hatch wont open unless I manually use the key
The remote clicks the button in the center console because I can hear it, the motor just doesn't react to the button or the remote, but I'll get that fixed soon probably something small, it isnt the alarm system causing that either because it doesnt work even with that unplugged. It also isnt a fuse, but I'll figure it out! At least it works again

 

Check the "LID" fuse on the fuse panel, that supplies power to the hatch release/pull down assembly in the hatch area. The "ACC" fuse supplies power to the hatch release switch and relay.

 

Oh no I checked all fuses, first thing I did

See it is getting power, the relay in the center console clicks when you hit the button, just no signal to the hatch motor, but the key worked and made it activate from in back, so the motor worked and had power, and the switch had power but couldn't send the unlatch signal to the motor. But I found the bottom bolt for the motor mounting was almost falling out, and those 3 bolts are what ground the motor to the chassis, so I tightened it and voila the hatch works again
It was working once in a while it would unlatch such as after a drive, like a loose wire or something.

I guess coincidentally right when the remote starts functioning again that ground decided it was time to mess up and confuse the hell out of me some more


So well it's all fixed! (for now )

Thanks to everyone for your help, I appreciate it a lot!