viper 5900 not letting me start my car?

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting in this forum.  I've been searching through this website and found a lot of good information to help me successfully install my Viper 5900 alarm two years ago.  However, just last weekend it the alarm went crazy and now I can't start my car.  I'll try to keep the story concise as possible. 

I have a 2001 Toyota Camry V6 and my Viper 5900 has a digital tilt sensor + back up battery installed.  Last weekend I was trying to change some of the programming features on the alarm and accidentally activated the valet mode.  I turned the ignition on and off to get out of valet mode then I proceeded to test if I was successful or not.  I armed the alarm, then open a door.  As expected the alarm went off but it kept on going and wouldn't respond to my remote.  The parking lights then blinked erratically and the siren was stuttering.  I discovered that the main power wire fell out of the butt connector that I had crimped.  Since the alarm was in the "armed" mode it thought someone was trying to cut power from the main battery and started relying on the backup battery.  However, the backup battery did not have enough voltage in it so that's why the parking lights and siren were acting so inconsistent.  I "jump started" the backup battery by hooking it up to a full size battery from another vehicle and immediately the alarm worked like usual again.  Thankfully I was able to use the remote to disable the alarm. 

The problem is that now I can't start the car even though the alarm is not armed.  Could that low voltage fiasco with the backup battery damage the XCRS or "brain" of the alarm so now it's stuck in starter kill mode?  Could it have done more damage and fried the ECU in my car?  Now when I turn the key, all the accesories and stereo works great but the starter just won't crank.  The check engine light doesn't even light up when the key is in the "on" position (that's why I think my ECU is not getting power to it).  Is the Viper 5900 to blame for this or did one of the OEM relay for my starter/ECU got damaged?  By the way, I checked all fuses in the car as well as the 5900 and none are blown at all.  I'm really puzzled by this.  I also took a Crasftman multimeter and checked all of the wires.  One of the ignition wire only has about 2 volts going through it and one of the red 12V constant input wire also has only 2 volts going though it.  The rest of the accessory/ignition/power wires has 12 volts through them like expected.       

look harder for blown fuses....
you won't have that low of voltage on the ignition wires unless you have a blown fuse. and in some cases a bad ignition switch but this doesn't sound like one of them seeing as how a poor crimp caused a power wire to come off and right after you got in this situation.

-------------
A DMM is a beautiful thing.

MECP Advanced Installer Certified.

Which of course is why we recommend soldering. Did you use a $5 crimper or a $100 ratchet job as would (should) a pro?
If you wired it as starter kill, short across the green and violet.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Thanks for the replies so far.  I'll check all the fuses again first thing tomorrow.  I did wired my alarm for starter kill so I'll short the green and violet wires to see if I can get any response from the starter.  Howie II, I used a crimper that was around $40 (if I remember correctly).  It certainly wasn't the cheapest one but not a racheting pro one neither.  After I get this issue sorted out, I'l go through and solder everything to ensure proper connections.   

Did you diode isolate the back up battery and digital tilt sensor? I know that has nothing to do with your starter problem....just making sure you did that.

-------------

Okay, so yesterday I went over every single fuses I could see  and Zerepdivad was right, one of the fuses in the engine bay was blown.  It was a 30A fuse labeled "AM2".  Not sure what that means exactly but once I replaced it with a new fuse I got power to my ECU again.  What a fantastic sound to hear my car start again.  Today I'm in the process of cutting all the wires and soldering them. 

godd dan it, I didn't diode isolate the backup battery nor the tilt sensor.  I actually got fed up with the backup battery and cut it out completely.  Is there any big urgency for diode isolating the tilt sensor?  It has been working problem free for me so far.   

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Simple.

I forgot to give you guys my latest update.  I completed soldering all of the critical ignition and power wires for the alarm.  I tucked all of the wires away as best as possible using black wire looms and electrical tape.  My car is running fine and the alarm operates dandy as ever.  Now I just need to figure out the last function of the alarm--remote start.  I've been reading up on my Camry and supposedly it has a passive immobilizer so I'll hook up a bypass module and see if I can get it to remote start without the key in the ignition.  Thanks again to everyone for your help & suggestions. 

trdsleeper wrote:

---

godd dan it, I didn't diode isolate the backup battery nor the tilt sensor.  I actually got fed up with the backup battery and cut it out completely.  Is there any big urgency for diode isolating the tilt sensor?  It has been working problem free for me so far.   

---

If I remember correctly, the back up battery requires a 1 amp diode. Both backup battery and tilt sensor go to the instant trigger wire on the alarm. You should diode isolate both so you dont get any false triggers.

-------------