When I bought my '96 Contour, it came with a silencer alarm (Which is really just an overpriced, POS ignition kill switch).
This is a system that consists of a key which is inserted into a receptacle under the dash, without which the engine won't start.
I had been wanting to get rid of it for a while since (1) I don't worry about anyone stealing an 8 year old car and (2) I was worried that the key would get damaged or lost.
Well, just now I decided to trace the wires from the key receptacle...they lead into a box with two thick guage orange and red wires coming out of it. Those wires were spliced to the car's factory wiring.
When I tugged on the orange wire to get a better look at the wire it was connected to, the wire came right out of the splice!
Same for the red wire!
(Apparently someone didn't realize that yellow splices do not work correctly for 14-gauge wire, they are for 10-12 gauge wire ONLY. Glad I discovered this before the wire fell out on it's own)
Looks like removing this piece o' crap is gonna be easier than I thought, because not only did it unhook itself with the utmost of ease, there is a wiring diagram on the Silencer module, and if that wasn't on it, it was pretty obvious that the grey/yellow factory wire was cut and spliced to the red/orange wires.
So I re-spliced the grey/yellow factory wires together (used a blue male/female fully insulated quick disconnect since I didn't feel like soldering it), and now the car starts up without the Silencer key.
I completed the removal of the silencer alarm, and now it's laying on the passenger seat.
The sad part is, from what I've heard, dealerships charge a couple hundred bucks for this thing, about 10x more than it's worth.
At least if you buy a $40 keyless entry system with an ignition kill, it'll control your door locks too.......
