Alarm in Epilepsy Mode

TestPilot57 · Oct 21, 2019

I haven't driven the truck since Saturday.

Got home tonight (in my wife's Explorer) and went inside. As I was taking my jacket off, with the RAM key in the pocket, the RAM alarm started blaring.

At first I assumed I must have somehow pressed the Panic Button on the fob - it's happened a few times before, but always while in my pants pocket where it's more apt to be inadvertently pressed. In retrospect I'm almost positive that didn't happen in this case.

Could not shut the alarm off. Even got in, started the truck, put in Drive, moved forward, put in Reverse & moved back.

Only thing I could do is disconnect the battery.

Re-connected after 30 seconds - horn starts blaring again. Re-connected after 1+hour, same deal.

My plan in the AM is to try re-connecting the battery again. If alarm is still going off, try disconnecting the horns and drive to dealer.

Any thoughts/suggestions/warnings? I know, driving without a functional horn is potentially dangerous and definitely illegal...

bhonshell37 · Oct 21, 2019

If possible pull alarm fuse or horn fuse

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

TestPilot57 · Oct 22, 2019

This morning I re-attached the battery, same deal.

I did a little searching around and found some "These steps will re-set most car alarms" tips. Can't find it now but step one was to hold the panic button for 5 seconds and step two was to move the fob at least 10 feet away from the vehicle for at least 10 minutes.

So I pulled the horn fuse to keep me and my neighbors from going crazy (6 AM...) and re-connected the battery. Of course the lights were still flashing and I could hear some other electrical clicks (probably the horn trying to go). It all stopped the instant I pressed the panic button.

Everything seems to be fine so far, although I have not put the horn fuse back in quite yet...

TestPilot57 · Oct 22, 2019

BTW could not find an "alarm" fuse. Probably unmarked for good reason. And I'd bet that the truck wouldn't run/drive if it was missing.

chrisbh17 · Oct 22, 2019

When you are reconnecting the battery and the alarm goes nuts, is there a keyfob near the truck?

Just for good measure I would try pulling the batteries out of all of the truck keyfobs, THEN reconnect the truck battery and see if it still goes nuts.

Almost sounds like the panic button is "stuck" and keeps setting off panic each time.

TestPilot57 · Oct 22, 2019

chrisbh17 said:
When you are reconnecting the battery and the alarm goes nuts, is there a keyfob near the truck?

Just for good measure I would try pulling the batteries out of all of the truck keyfobs, THEN reconnect the truck battery and see if it still goes nuts.

Almost sounds like the panic button is "stuck" and keeps setting off panic each time.

Yes, the fob was always near the truck when attaching the battery. Near enough that if the panic button were stuck it would have set it off.

This reminds me. One tip I found was that the battery in the fob may be bad or corroded, so I opened the fob and took the battery out (this was 50' from the truck, while the truck battery was still disconnected). It looked fine and I didn't have a spare handy so I just put it back in. It was after that that I was able to stop the alarm by pressing the panic button. So that may well have been the issue.

chrisbh17 · Oct 22, 2019

I was sitting in bed one night, about 3 weeks after buying my RAM, and kept hearing an alarm going off.

Got annoyed enough I went to see where it was coming from, and it was my truck!

Turned out I had left the fob in my jeans, then washed my jeans. It was sitting there in a small puddle at the bottom of the washer, shorting out the panic button over and over again. Sounds just like yours

Took mine apart and put the circuit board in some rice for a few days, never had an issue again.

RedSRT4Me · Nov 2, 2019

TestPilot57 said:
I haven't driven the truck since Saturday.

Got home tonight (in my wife's Explorer) and went inside. As I was taking my jacket off, with the RAM key in the pocket, the RAM alarm started blaring.

At first I assumed I must have somehow pressed the Panic Button on the fob - it's happened a few times before, but always while in my pants pocket where it's more apt to be inadvertently pressed. In retrospect I'm almost positive that didn't happen in this case.

Could not shut the alarm off. Even got in, started the truck, put in Drive, moved forward, put in Reverse & moved back.

Only thing I could do is disconnect the battery.

Re-connected after 30 seconds - horn starts blaring again. Re-connected after 1+hour, same deal.

My plan in the AM is to try re-connecting the battery again. If alarm is still going off, try disconnecting the horns and drive to dealer.

Any thoughts/suggestions/warnings? I know, driving without a functional horn is potentially dangerous and definitely illegal...

My truck started doing this after this most recent update to the 8.4 and while I was driving. It basically looked like I was stealing my own truck.

Here is the catch. While driving mind you if I unlock the door locks, the alarm would shut off. If I locked the doors again the alarm would kick back on. So until another patch comes I'll have just drive with the doors unlocked.

Alarm in Epilepsy Mode

TestPilot57

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bhonshell37

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TestPilot57

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TestPilot57

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chrisbh17

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TestPilot57

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chrisbh17

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RedSRT4Me

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