srbarnes4ever

Ok folks, I need some thoughts from those of you with car alarms installed. I had the Clifford Solaris remote start alarm installed several months ago. Since then I've had a complete revamp of my car audio system as well. The car audio install went in 2 phases. One day the deck and door speakers were installed, then 3 days later the sub, amps, and cap were done. Well, when I picked the car up after phase 1, everytime I opened a door or disarmed the alarm, the trunk would pop open. Not knowing what might be the problem I asked the car stereo shop to root cause the problem. They went through their entire install and claim to have verified that nothing they did has caused this problem. They had another Maxima (5th gen) in the shop and went so far as to replace the Nissan keyless entry security module from underneath the dash with the one from the other Max and everything returned to normal. They told me this when I picked up the car so I scheduled an appointment with Nissan to remedy the situation. Nissan is currently balking because although they have confirmed that the module in question is in fact defective, they are not convinced that the install had nothing to do wiht it since several of the security system wires are inline with some of Nissan security module. This is my 2nd day without the car and I'm in the middle of a ****ing contest between Nissan and my installer. The million dollar question is how do I resolve this and get my Fu#&@%g car returned to me working properly without paying any labor charges?!?! Need any and all thoughts fast!
Thanks in advance!

JAIMECBR900

I think that due to the cronology of events as you described, it will probably fall back on the stereo shop. I say this because your car was doing fine before the install and now it's not. The stereo shop also tagged in to some of the wires of the module in question, further giving Nissan something to gripe about. If it was working before you started and after the install it started acting up and they connected to some of the wires, then I believe it would be up to them to fix. The main problem you're going to have is that possibly even if you get the module replaced, by anyone, it may happen again if the same wires that caused the problem stay connected. I would ask the install shop what the wires they connected do and find out if they can go to another connection to serve their function.

srbarnes4ever

I understand the logic, but I'm leaning toward the Nissan dealership just trying to rip someone to get labor instead of this being a warranty job. Let me explain why, I took the car to the car audio shop first after the problem started. They spent 5 hours checking to shorts, lose cables, bad soldered cables etc. and found nothing. Then they removed all of their connections for the entire security system to further prove that the module itself was defective. Once they did that, they replaced the module and everything worked flawlessly. I'm just getting ****ed off waiting to get my car back and maybe missing the obvious or something but I get the feeling Nissan is trying to make some money instead of this being a warranty replacement so they're looking to blame the aftermarket install.

kingston

You said you had a clifford alarm? The dealer put that alarm in? From what I read you have a clifford alarm and I assume it gives you the trunk release feature. The stereo shop may have shorted the unlock and trunk release wires causing the trunk to open when the doors unlock. Where are you located? If you are in socal LA area, I can take a look for you

srbarnes4ever

Thanks for the offer Kingston....but I'm in Kentucky. I do have a car audio shop installed Clifford alarm system. I think they ruled out the short theory when they swapped the original unit with one from another Maxima and everything worked perfectly with the same wiring. What I don't know (need electrical experts here!) is that if you wire a security system into stock keyless entry system, does that inherently increase any kind of current draw to the stock module or would the Clifford unit pull its own current separately? I'm assuming separate but could be wrong. I know they tapped the Clifford door lock/unlock and trunk release commands into the stock ones but I don't see why that would have shorted the stock module.

kingston

Hmm, i'm stumped then.

Are you willing to just pull the stock alarm off then? It works fine without the stock alarm right?

Well, if anything you should just complain to the stereo shop since everything was working fine until they put your audio equipment in. Good luck

srbarnes4ever

Well I picked my car up from Nissan yesterday, they replaced the SECU module as a warranty job and said if it fails again they will go after the stereo shop to recoup the labor. Either way I'm pretty happy since my baby is working properly again....