im puting a car alarm in my 89 mustang and was wondering how hard it is, i can basically install a whole set up for stereo, deck,subs,amp all that good stuff but never have messed with a car alarm, its a clifford and wondering if its something i should even attempt to bother with or just take it in?

 

no comment, because the last time i emailed someone a wiring diagram for their car and gave out good advise i got yelled at for no reason

 

your vehicle is not to hard to install the alarm, the only dificult part will be the power locks
most of the alarms are easy to install with the correct wiring diagram but the clifford is not that easy
all the power wires need to be connect to the car battery not at the ignition harness
it will be best to find a good installler in your area, it is very easy for a car to burn becase of a bad alarm installation

 

it is not that hard with the exception of the door locks, but it is not for everyone. What kind of experience do you have? The door locks are a 5-wire sytem which is one of the more difficult systems as you have to correctly diagnose the master and slave switch, as well as understand the relay wiring to go into it.

Clifford is a good alarm but they do things a little different from most companies and the starter kill uses a normally open relay to cut the starter wire. What this means is that if you do not wire it correctly, and the alarm looses power your car will NOT start. Because of this most alarms use a normally closed relay so that if the alarm looses power you can still start the car.

I did not get into security portion of installing until I had been in the shop and was confident that if I were to get trapped that the guy next to me could help me out. If you do not know someone that has done security that may be able to help then I don't know if I would recommend DIY alarm install. A good alarm with a bad install in the best case scenario will mean you stereo gets stolen, the worst case scenario is that your car will not start or can even catch fire. I was just lookin at pics on an installer forum of mine of a guy that fried the main wiring hrns in his car by incorrectly installing a radio.The toyota dealership quoted him $3k to fix it...

 

and is stil bitter about it too huh? You missed the point of that then. I am not saying that I will not help somebody out that wants to put in thier alarm but I will only help out those that I think can do it. Would you throw out a wiring diagram to any schmoe that walked into your shop? Why would you do it here when you don't know if its a over anxious 15 yr old cutting into his moms car? I would love to have another responsable pro on here man, RESPONSABLE.........

 

well lets see im not some 15 year old cutting up my moms car lol, im 18 and ive installed door locks, and alarm in my 98 eclipse i had but it was fairly simple, i know main wiring stuff and understand it, im just kinda unsure yet about all of it because this is a bit different from an eclipse. but my dads friend has done car wiring for 15 years so im going to have him help with it.

 

by wiring, he is not an electrition is he? anytime a guy tells me that an electrition is helping him install his stereo I wince from the stuff I have seen.

As I said the only part that will be difficult is the door locks. The 5 wire system uses the locking switches to do the work rather then the relay. You will need to find the wires you suspect(pink and yellow, pink and green that tested correctly) and then cut one. At that point one switch will stop working completely(master) and one will only work in one direction(slave). At that point cutting the 2nd wire will kill both locks. Now that you have your master and slave found you will need to wire your door lock relays in series to the connection(in the middle of it) and also facing the correct direction or you will blow out the door lock circuit, and I do not mean a fuse.

If I remember correctly too the door lock wires are just difficult to get to as they come out of the door jam and go straight up, and across the top of the dash. If I remember correctly also the last one I did the yellow and green indicators had worn off which meant I had 5 pink wires I could not reach to diagnose.....

 

that is correct any 15 year or older car is going to have 5 pink wires the colors are gone and you are correct again you need to run 4 wires in to the door boot ruber plastic and cut 2 wires and make 4 connections there,
very small space for a pair of crimpers.
you can also remove the dash speaker driver side and pull the cables from there same deal all pink wires stripes are gone if the speaker paper is damage ,and you can pull the wire but not much same problem again no space for the crimper tool


Constant 12V+Yellow Ignition Switch Harness Starter White/Pink Ignition Switch Harness Ignition Red/Light Green Ignition Switch Harness Accessory Gray/Yellow Ignition Switch Harness Tach Green/Yellow Or Tan/Yellow at Coil Neutral Safety Wire Not Grounding OEM Switch opens Starter Circuit Brake Switch Red/Green Brake Switch Trunk Release Purple/Yellow (+) Switch Trunk Pin n/a Works with Dome Light Parking Lights Brown Light Switch Head Lamp Red/Yellow (+) Light Switch Hood Pin n/a Factory Disarm n/a Door Trigger Black/Light Blue Pin Switch or Courtesy Light Door Lock Pink/Yellow Driver's Kick Panel or behind left Front Speaker Door Unlock Pink/Light Green Reverse Polarity Horn Wire Yellow/Light Green (-) Steering Column

 

ah hell who cares why do I bother, great so have at it I guess.........

Supra - Do you hand over these schematics to any schmoe that wants to do an alarm and walks into your shop? Why are ya doin it here? This guy has more knowledge then most of the people that come on here for security advise but would you turn your rookie installer loose on a 90's stang with 5 wires to begin? Maybe a nice super easy toyota with the green taped hrns but idunno........

Before you take those colors to hart you need to know that they are not ALWAYS right and you need to test every one of those wires before you splice into it to confirm its operation. Hopefully you know how to work a meter after doing the work you have to this point but I again caution any DIY alarm install that you have to know your limits. You will be cutting into vital wiring that is high current and can cause alot of problems.....

 

Not bitter, i was just trying to tell him that there are some of us on here that can do 5-wire door lock systems in our sleep, but its difficult to give out the information without some people not approving, and it is hard to "explain" it via the computer. If you see the wire diagram and understand the inputs and outputs of a 451m 5wire doorlock relay then go for it, if your puzzled then don't count on some friend that thinks they know electronics, mobile is hard when you don't know what your doing