wtf is this black box?!

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

On my 1995 Ford Contour GL, I was taking apart under the glovebox to see if any of the wiring harness is compatible with the 98+ door panel wiring harness, and to see if it had the Door lock relay. It did have the relay, but right as I took the carpet off that covered the upper part, a black box hit me right on the head!!!! Its very close to the PCM Location...

Its a black box, with a 12v Battery duct taped to it! What the [censored] is this peice of [censored] inside my car!? Ill put pictures of the box, but Ill describe it now.

Its a square black box, with 2 wires running to it, and 2 from that whole wiring to the small battery, it had an RCA Jack plug that I assume is an antenna, and had no labels on this box except 1 FCC sticker saying its compatible and stuff. a Black and Red wire were identified, and i removed it from the box (was soldered in the box, so a good pull removed it,

i put the key in the ignition after its removal, turned it to ON, everything stayed the usual.

I turned the key to start, started right up, and no error codes present.
i did not trace where this black thick RCA cable went to (was 1 single wire) that seemed to be an antenna, i did not want to rip apart my dash

Any suggestions what this might be?

(Oh, car did have an alarm system, but the box was under the Driver side, which I have removed due to not having the remote to. This car does not have remote entry, due to the locks all being manual, electric start? Dont think so... too little wires... has a Torx bit on this box...

I wonder wtf this is... hopefully I can get answers... think the government is watching me....

Could it be a LoJack unit or some kind of RF modulator?

isnt that the amp for the sound system?

Originally posted by loggerbomb:
isnt that the amp for the sound system?

No, the amp is a big shiny box with heatsink fins on it:

Sounds like some kind of alarm system to me, what with an antenna and a backup battery source. But seems kinda hokey too. So I dunno.

I doubt it was part of the alarm... cus when I tested out my alarm (had it activate, then tried to set it off, i hit the car very hard, i opened the back door, slammed it very hard, only way the alarm went off was by opening a door connected to the lights (front doors only, now backdoors activate lighting system...)

The box is fairly small....
about the same size as my standard alarm box, which had all the about 5-6 wires on it, connected to the Driver side, (i removed it, wasnt even worth fixing up... cus it sucked that badly)

Again, only 2 wires were on it, that were both connected to the battery as well (both were joined evenly)

Has NO way I can identify this stupid box... And my car was equipped with a standard audio system...

maybe it is a black box that records what happens just before you get into an accident. I know some insurance companies use them.

Originally posted by dan z:
Could it be a LoJack unit or some kind of RF modulator?

I'm going to say that at some point the previous owner had an add on cd changer and the was the RF modulator, although, I have no idea what the 12 volt would be for.

FBI tracking device.

Burn all of your manifestos and flush whatever drugs you can't ingest in the the next 12 hours. The MAN is coming for you.

Could it be an XM radio receiver? How long have you had the car?

Originally posted by Airforce:
maybe it is a black box that records what happens just before you get into an accident. I know some insurance companies use them.

sorry but contours do not have black boxes

chances are it is the stock keyless entry box, does it look like this?
computer is on the left, keyless entry on the right

Originally posted by ContourKev:
What the [censored] is this peice of [censored] inside my car!?

I don't know why, but this particularly worded question made me laugh. Maybe it's cuz it was coming from Kev that made it funny.

In all honesty, I can't think up anything else other than the factory amplifier from Ford, but it was already concluded that this isn't what you've found.

Perhaps it's for the passenger side airbag.

That is the only thing I can think of that has a separate battery.

you are all wrong

its something that ford included in certain models called the "Ganja Box"

crack it open and see what ya find.

~Andrew

No its not the keyless entry.
Unscrewed the box

Got a Motorola chip (only chip), and 4 Crystals (hasta be some type of transmitter/reciever...) No Ford logos... or any other logos.
Ive had the car for a year now, but the previous owner said it was left stock.

Tomorrow ill put an image up... cant find our digital camera

its either for a car phone or they actually have things that, supposedly, if you put them on ur car they will increase ur cell phone signal. since its from motorola i bet thats it.

Don't have my car here to look and see if I have one of those but I'm gonna guess it's either some kind thing for boosting your radio signal or possibly for a cb setup?

That or it's a tracking signal placed in your car by visiting aliens so they know how to find you when they return. Better watch out for the alien anal probes!!

Originally posted by Sneaku:

That or it's a tracking signal placed in your car by visiting aliens ...

Bah! Aliens are only secret fans of 1995 Contours. Let them be.

I wouldn't drive over 88mph....its the flux capacitor.

1.21 gigawatts!!!!

~Andrew

Originally posted by ContourKev:
hopefully I can get answers... think the government is watching me....

"Alright men he knows We're watching we must make our move on him tonight, Hopefully he hasn't found the box under the passenger side"

Kevin,
You said there is an FCC sticker on it. Get the FCC ID string and post it here. You can look up what it is with the FCC ID.

Originally posted by Beowulf:
FBI tracking device.

Burn all of your manifestos and flush whatever drugs you can't ingest in the the next 12 hours. The MAN is coming for you.

The Label!! (Which was ripped into 3 peices on removing the tape on the box... now put together now

)

From top!
5RLJ9300 , 05495
(BARCODE)
007CB12

FCC ID: IDILJU-02

Then the FCC Message...

I cant find the digital camera

According to the FCC ID, its a Lojack device.

Originally posted by zgendron:
According to the FCC ID, its a Lojack device.

Which is?

Originally posted by ContourKev:

Originally posted by zgendron:
According to the FCC ID, its a Lojack device.

Which is?

A device to locate your car in case it is stolen.

So, can I buy that little black box from you? $20!

Im thinking of now putting it back into my car...... i need to find how to install these 2 wires now... (pulled the box right out when i thought i was being monitored via parents or somethin like that without my permission)

No visible damage to the circuit board... I would probaly relocate it now.... Under my glovebox feels unsafe, id mount it somewhere in the engine compartment perhaps, by the Cruise control box or something...

The point of a LoJack is to track the car when it gets stolen. When the car is stolen, notify the police, give them the VIN and they should be able to track it.

It is supposed to be installed in a hard to find/reach area. I haven't found mine and that's the way its supposed to be.

Kevin, in order for LoJack to work, I think you have to subscribe to a service. My parents have it in their Camry (for sure!) They give you one test of it a year for free. Something like that. But, if you are not the original owner of the car, you have to spend $99 for someone to come inspect the car in order to get it activated.

Quote:

Ganja Box

I Like those.

Originally posted by Chris Hightower:
Kevin, in order for LoJack to work, I think you have to subscribe to a service. My parents have it in their Camry (for sure!) They give you one test of it a year for free. Something like that. But, if you are not the original owner of the car, you have to spend $99 for someone to come inspect the car in order to get it activated.

Yeah it's a one time fee for second owners. Basically lojack is like a primitive GPS tracking system. Your car gets ripped, you call the cops and provide them with info that you should have on a little lojack card or something (vin is the main thing I think) and they activate the lojack and can track where your car is. Link to lojack 2nd owner's page

Originally posted by SVTcontourSVT:

Quote:

Ganja Box

I Like those.