Factory blinking red light under steering wheel.

[brisknfade]

Ok, so i have a 95 240SX. I don't have an alarm, yet right under the steering wheel, where my right leg is, there is this little trapazoidial thing, with a hole in it and a blinking red light that never turns off and never changes.Since I don't have a camera at the moment ill just use this to point out where it is. - http://img.photobucket.com/alb...l.jpg

Bought the car from the original owner, and it was literally driven by a little old lady. 135k miles, but still, not someone who would really push the car or modify it at all. There were no signs of any alarm related device anywhere on the car when we checked it out except that little blinking light. I still have that paper that the dealer posts on the window when the car is on the lot and it doesnt say a thing about any type of alarm or anti-theft device on it. If you want you can look at it here.

http://img.photobucket.com/alb...0.jpg

Well the owners manual has a little section that says theft warning and it shows a funny looking cartoon and it says that if its armed and the door or anything else is opened then the lights will flash, horn will sound etc. Well i tried and tried to "arm" it like it said in the manual but nothing happend. Plus i've never seen any other 240 with the little blinking box where it is stock.

Well one day evreything was going fine, then i went to start my car and it wouldn't start. It wouldn't crank or anything. Then I noticed the little red LED light was blinking slower then before. After finding out though that I needed a new starter and putting it in it still wouldn't crank at all. We checked the lines and evreything was getting power. We ran the starter before we put it in and it worked. Then my dad noticed the light thing and did something under the dash to disconnect it and viola! It started. It was like this thing was a kill switch or something, yet the car has absolutley no mention of anything like it, not even from the previous owner. All we got when we bought the car was the key and thats it. And the funny thing is, I reconnected the thing and the car still starts and everything just fine.

What I want to know is what the hell that little box with the blinking light in it really is and does anyone else have it?

[PMan_S13]

Sounds a lot like an aftermarket alarm to me. My 95 SE doesn't have a light around that are

If it were me, I would pop loose the lower dash cover and follow the wire back to it's source... if it connects to a little black box that says Viper on it, you might have found something interesting

[corn322]

sounds a lot like a self-destruct button to me.

[navysnail]

i would say its an alarm, look around under the dash and all over the engine and under the steering column for wires that "shouldnt belong". mine used to have an alarm, its disconnected now, but the control unit was under the dash about were your knees are when your driving, it has the light in almost the same place too, i would just disconnect what you can and hope it doesnt happen again

if it wont start again, start at the starter and work your way up the line to find out what does and does not have power so you can pinpoint were the alarm cuts the power to it

[skydragoness]

sounds a lot like a self-destruct button to me.

ROFL!!

seriously though, most alarms have an ignition kill switch, did the light double as a switch? if it was blinking slow maybe it was malfunctioning. I hope you didn't have to buy a starter when you didn't need it.

[brisknfade]

The light is just there, but to the left of it is this little hole, and when i took the whole thing apart there seemed to be three connectors or something, like some strange circular key is supposed to go in there. And the old starter was dead though, we tried to run it out of the car and nothing. I guess it was just a coincidence that the kill switch kicked in when the starter died.

It's a pretty stupid place to put the alarm indicator though, because you cant even see it if you look through the window, the only way you would be able to see it is if you got on the trunk and looked directly at it through the rear window. Im probably going to relocate it right behind the shifter or somewhere more visible. It doesn't do anything but hey, theives dont know that

[fantabulous]

its not the stock alarm. i still have factory keyless entry and alarm on mine. the light is on one of the 4 buttons on the dash. right where the rear defrost and emergency lights are. you cant actually push the button down, but this is where the alarm light is. it also says "Security" right on the button next to the light.

[gabossie]

Definatly not stock alarm, but you obviously have some kind of theft deterent.