I have an 92' Blazer with the viper alarm system, it used to lock and beep, but now it only locks and the alarm wont go off! I need help, fast!

 

it is in Valet mode. if it is a newer alarm try doing this
1. open the drivers door
2. turn key to run and back to off
3. within 10 seconds press bottons on remote in this order > arm, disarm, arm

the red LED should turn off. i susp[ect it is on at the moment constant. this should clear the problem

if this is an older alarm look for a silver toggle switch under the dash.
1. open drivers door
2. turn key to run (you dont have to start the engine)
3. flip switch under dash.
4. turn key off

 

O man u are a life saver!!!! one billion rep points for you! :gheywave: :gheywave:

 

Wow... I guess rep points are like pesos south of the border...

(JK about the response, BM, good valet info, coulnd't add anything if I tried).

 

thanks i have literally installed hundreds of DEI alarms and also a few knock off's.
after a while you tend to pick up a few details.

 

awesome post bass mechanic, alifesaver like someone said....i had my alarm do this to me a month ago- exact same symptoms, and thought it had gone psycho. Messing with the toggle switch fixed it. Since you know what you're talking about i got ?s

1. I have a toggle switch below the dash and the red led you talking about. Mine was constantly on when in valet mode etc. ...does this mean that I have a Viper alarm...or could it be a cheap knockoff. Its a 2 button remote with one button as unlock/lock and the other to remote start. Doesn't say viper anywhere on it.

2. What the heck does the toggle switch do.

 

DEI makes about 75-80 % of the car alarm market these days. I think they build for other manufacturers also. i dont know but it may even be possible that some of the chips they use in the brain may be off the shelf parts available to other manufacturers.
as a reuslt many of the alarms have similar operating formats

the Valet mode is there so that if you "valet" park your car you can disable the alarm so that they can park the car without worrying about setting it off. the assumption is that it will be in a secure parking lot.
the remote then works as a keyless entry system.

this feature is also good if you have set the alarm to auto arm (passive arming) the alarm will set and if you set the option will also lock the doors 30 secs after you leave the car.
Note: if your alarm passivly locks you should never leave your keys in it or you will get locked out!

anyway if you take the car to the mechanic or are washing it ect... you might want to set the valet mode so you don't accidently set it off, or worse get locked out!

downside to valet mode:
first of all i always set my alarm to passivly arm and lock the car

i used to always forget to take valet off and as a result leave the car unprotected, and unlocked because i always relied on the car setting and self locking incase i forgot.
because of habt and because i dont valet my alarm unless working on the car i always fill my gas tank with the engine running. (you can however leave the drivers door open while filling up.)

any good theif knows that a solid red LED means the car is fair game.

with the TSX i just have a factory alarm, works good enough for me. and my stereo is stock for now. i really dont need an alarm anymore and besides, now i am an insurance agent. if i get broken into or car stolen thats what insurance is for right?
BTW its good to have Gap coverage on a leased or purchased car. it pays off what you owe in full. and for me costs an extra 1 buck a day.

 

Does anyone RTFM anymore?

Pretty much all alarms go solid on valet. It's supposed to be for valet parking and for servicing the car (alarms are a PITA at dealership service depts).

The reason that valet mode exists is that passive arming exists. (BTW, the worst terms in mobile electronics are Passive arming [should be "automatic arming"], valet mode [should be "bypass mode"], and active arming {should be manual arming"].)

Automatic, passive arming was the only way to get an insurance discount - automatically-arming starter kill can get you a price break from some ins co's, in some states (Texas used to have a pretty good progressive mandated discount program...) Since ins discounts were seen as essential to sell an alarm back in the day, all systems had it, even though it was thought as a PITA by many. Viper 300s used to come with a loop that had to be cut to go into manual arming, so they were passive arming right out of the box, and usually stayed that way. Viper liked this because they have that $1K GPP where if your car gets stolen in the first year, Viper pays your deductible, so they wanted the alarm to turn on automatically to reduce their potential for loss (GPP requires passive arming anyway but there's no way to tell afterwards if you had it or not...)

The best way to set up your alarm IMO if you find that you sometimes forget, is passive, automatic arming, but active, manual locking (requires a remote button press for locking). That way you can't lock your keys in it, but if you forget, it's still protected.

Your alarm is probably not DEI.

 

actually on most all DEI alarms made with in the last 5-8 years there are 2 ways to get an alarm out of valet mode, the method described above is kind of a mixture of both.

If you know where your valet button is then do this:
1. Open and leave open the drivers door
2. Put key in the ign. and turn to the "on" position, and then immediately turn to the "off" position
3. Within 10 seconds, press and release the valet switch one time

If you don't know where the valet sitch is, or there isn't one installed:
(depending on the style remote the bottuns combinations differ)
1.open the driver's door and leave open
2. if you have the older square remotes the buttons are 1,2,1
if you have the more recent style of remote and the lock button is seperate from the unlock button. The combination is lock, unlock, lock
if you have the newer style remote and there is one button designated to lock and unlock the car, then the progression is lock, aux, lock

honestly the method using the valet switch is easier, based simply on the fact that using the remote requires fairly precise timing in most cases.

 

He was specifically referring to the toggle-switch units, not the pushbutton-valet units... the newer units you are referring to are almost all, if not all, using a pushbutton momentary instead of a toggle. The fact that there was a toggle was a telltale...

... and I don't try to tell people about the remote valet option because it can be screwed up in other ways ("innovative" remote programming, for instance). Having taken about a zillion calls on that one, I like to stay with the switch, ESPECIALLY if we don';t even know what brand we have...