I want to get rid of all of this shit. Any watch outs or things to be aware of. I don't want to rip it all out and find that my car won't start or that I've some how fried my ECU or ABS unit or some other expensive thing that I don't know how to fix.

I hate electronics. I have aftermarket electronics even more.

 

You may want to contact LoJack. They are still in business. Right?

Good luck!

 

It's pretty simple. Disconnect every wire. If a factory wire is cut, repair it

 

Will this not activate the immobilization feature of the alarm system?

Thanks!

 

if this is similar to the cobra remote start system i removed from another car, there were some wires that were t-tapped, but i believe one was cut and spliced in series with the device so yes, you could need to repair that wire to get it back in working order. Luckily, everything is color coded so as long as you’re not color- blind, its a tedious but not overly complicated job

 

I agree that will work on a standard aftermarket alarm system, but this is a LoJack he is trying to remove.

 

It's not a magic box. LoJack is overpriced junk.

If you take out the crap and the wiring theres nothing LEFT to magically DO anything. No aftermarket alarm/security/LoJack whatever ties into the ECU or immobilizer.

All they can do is break a connection ie starter, fuel whatever.

Pull it out. Repair any cut OEM wiring. Deposit into trash.

I did mobile electronics for 25 years, I may or may not have done this once or 500 times.

 

So, sounds like I could definitely fubar things removing this crap.

Key difference in our skill sets... I did, uhhhh. Nothing.

And, this appears to have both lojack and some sort of aftermarket alarm. System has been in the car since 2010 when i bought the car.
I've wanted to remove it, but it's been fairly low priority for me. I guess, I'll just leave it in there, it's been there for the last 15yrs...

 

Smart way, baby steps. Change one thing at a time, make sure everything still works. Undo the one thing you just did if it doesn't.

Undo a wire, test. Undo a t tap, test. Remove a splice from a cut wire where you have to reconnect the cut stock wire, test.

Take pics before you change anything. Make notes, this color wire from here goes to this other color wire there, etc.

Once an every wire from an aftermarket thing is disconnected, now you can mechanically remove that thing.

If you do this methodically, you can't go wrong, despite not knowing anything about electronics.

Wires are just pipes for electrons to travel through. Think of it like plumbing.

You don't want the electrons to spill out to places they're not supposed to go (shorts). You don't want them to flow backwards anywhere (miswiring). You don't want to block them from getting where they're supposed to go (an open).

Virtually all aftermarket wiring can be identified by non stock connectors. Electrical tape, soldered joints. Crimped on aftermarket t taps, splices, blade connections, etc. Any of that is part of stuff someone added.

The only way this gets complicated is if there is aftermarket stuff you want to keep (like a stereo setup, amps, etc), and stuff you want to get rid of. Identifying what aftermarket connection to remove, what to keep. So make sure that testing includes testing the stuff you want to keep.

The other way it gets complicated is if there are wires cut and spliced into (alarm that prevents engine start, etc), and the first wire you remove from alarm is its power or ground. Then engine won't start.

But methodical approach would quickly reverse that. Test failed, undo last change.

Now you know to look for a cut and spliced into wiring change. Reverse that, test, now go back to the change that failed. Now it'll probably test ok. If not, reverse it again, look for more stuff to undo. Keep going back to the change that failed. Eventually you'll be able to change it without failing any tests.

Summary. Change one thing at a time. Test. Undo if anything failed. Move on to another change. Keep revisiting changes that failed before, until changing then no longer fails.

Remove device from car once all its wires no longer connected.