My 99 SE had been sitting unused for a few weeks and the battery went dead. Hooked up the jumper cables and went to start the car. Started right up BUT the alarm started going off (lights flashing and horn blaring). I found this odd since I thought the alarm typically immobilized the starting mechanism if it was still armed.

Incidentally (or not) the key fob won't work to unlock the doors (and presumably disable the alarm). I have to open the doors manually--none of the buttons of the fob work. I tried pulling the horn fuse so that I could move the car without waking the neighbors but the horn still blew when I started the car.

Questions: Is the key fob not working related in any way to the CAR battery being dead? I only ask this because neither key fob is working and I find it odd that both of the fob batteries would die at the same time. Also--why is the car starting when the alarm is activated? Is there any way to disable this nonsense so that i can at least move the car from the street into my driveway without the horn blaring?

 

Try locking then unlocking the door with the key after the battery or jumpers are hooked up. That should tell the system it's not being stolen.

 

The stock Nissan alarm is just a noise maker, it doesn't disable the car. Now that you have the battery discharged, disconnect the cable for about 30 seconds to reset the ECU and see if this helps.

As far as the remotes go, you will probably have to re-program them to the car.

 

Thank you both for your replies. I'm going to try locking/unlocking the door with the key once I get back to the car. Hopefully that works---and in terms of the fobs, I did pull a reprogramming guide from this forum.

I do believe, however, that my Nissan has the immobilizer built in. My key lost its communication with the computer and the immobilizer kicked in---couldn't start the car no matter what I tried---had to get the key reprogrammed.

 

yes yours has the immobilzer, all 99's do.

The alarm is different than the immobilizer.

 

my boys 97 didnt have a key fob, so he locked it one day with the windows down, and just reached in to unlock it with his hand one day. well his alarm went off, and he was immobilized and panicking lol. undoing the battery didnt solve it either, once you put the cable back on the alarm just kept going. just sayin.

 

97 couldn't have been immobilized if it was a factory alarm. NATS didn't exist until the 99 model year.

 

i dunno. no aftermarket alarm. he finally called me and i told him to put his key in the lock, lock it, and then use the key to unlock again. that fixed it.

 

 

so thats not immobilization huh?(sounds like sarcasm but isnt)

 

nats ("immobilization") only came on 99's onward but the stock "alarm" kills power to the starter. so, this may not count as true immobilization but it is a theft deterent and will prevent you from starting the car normally.

 

this.

I suppose it's all semantics, since the stock alarm does kill the starter and you can't start the car. But that's not the NATS. As you know, the stock alarm kiilling the car can be rectified and reset by unlocking the doors with the key.

 

NATS was introduced because it's very simple to "cut" a key, open and drive a car away. The "chipped key" prevents this from happening. We now have smart keys, which takes it another step further.

But don't be fooled, if somebody wants to steal your car it will disappear no matter what security system you have.

 

this is what i tell people all the time when they give me **** for leaving my GPS mounted to my windshield at all times. if its gonna happen, its gonna happen.

this aint 1995 where people are going around with slimjims anymore.

 

OK...so I think something is totally wacky. Tried to lock/unlock door trick to no avail. Jumped car---alarm goes nuts. Took out the theft deterrent fuse and voila---started up with no problem.