I recently purchased a 96 zj. The alarm went off while I was not at the garage and killed the battery. We are thinking it may have been a cat or something that triggered the alarm. Anyways, I did the purple/yellow wire grounding trick, but the battery still died when I went to work on it today. The dome lights stay on, which was said will happen on 96-98 models, so I disconnected the fuse. I tried jumping the battery, but the jeep won't even idle now. I'm guessing its in security mode? What do I do now????????

 

From what I've heard, the security systems in these Jeeps have issues. In the '93-'95 ZJ's, there is a security module (box) that is behind the glove box on the passenger's side, though I'm not sure if it's in the same place on the '96-'98 ZJ's. I've heard that, if you pull the wiring harness going to the module, it'll "bypass" the module that way. If the alarm goes off and the turn signals flash from you disconnecting the module, just stick the key in the door and start the Jeep and it'll turn the alarm off.

You may also have an aftermarket alarm because the factory alarm guards the doors and the lift gate and flipper glass window in the lift gate, so it's not motion-sensing or anything advanced like that, but some aftermarket alarms are. For example, my aunt has an alarm on her '92 Chevy Camaro that, even though the car is unlocked, after a certain amount of time with the door closed, the alarm will go off after you open the door, and there's a little toggle switch on the dash to shut it off to act as a "kill switch". If that's the case, then you need to find where the module to that is and disconnect it.

 

Chrysler products get stupid if the battery goes dead. Once you jump start it you have to keep your foot on the gas for a few minutes before the engine will idle on its own.

 

My dad's 2005 WK's factory alarm goes off when you insert the key into the door (when the remote battery dies or the remote just stops working unexpectedly), and the only way to cancel it is to insert the key into the ignition and start it up. It's absolutely no fair that you can't lock the Jeep using the power door lock master switch on the front driver's door and not have the alarm go off if your remote battery goes dead or the remote just plain stops working... you have to go around to each individual door and push down on the lock manually to get all of the doors to lock and NOT arm the alarm.

 

My JK is the same way. It sucks.