The factory security alarm would begin to sound an hour or two after I'd used the car. The battery would also die about a week after a full charge. All other systems seemed OK....for 250K miles on a 1990 Nissan Maxima!

Turns out the door jam switch, mounted lower right corner of door frame, appeared to be in OK working condition. BUT: it would either fail to engage fully or disengage after a time. When persuaded.....door pushed in after closing....it would engage, inside lights would turn off. BUT: again, after an hour or so the alarm would go off and noticed interior lights were on.

I resolved this by adding a "pile" of squares of gorilla tape to the door where the switch strikes. This increased the depth to which the switch is depressed. No more phantom car alarms, no more dead battery. Back to regular car use with locked doors and a fully charged battery.

Anyone have a similar experience? Or an idea about how I'll permanently resolve this issue?

Thanks,

First post
Fred

 

maybe get a new door switch? usually the boot on the switch rips and water gets in and switch goes bad.

 

Yep. Boot's torn and that sounds like the solution. $35 for the switch and boot. But that's all I've had to spend on her all year, so I have that going for me.