remote start installed: writeup + pics

Ok, I installed my remote start a couple weeks ago. Well... Hokie installed most of it, but I helped when I could . The project took WAY too long (like 8 hours or some insane number). A lot of it was just over confusion and inaccurate wiring diagrams. If I had to do it again, it could easily be done in under 2 hours. If Hokie had to do it again, I think he would kill someone.

I installed an Avistart 3000. We couldn't get the alarm disarm part to work but when we got to that point, it was rather late and we both just wanted to be done with it. The range is really far... It says 300 yards, I havn't tested it that far but I went atleast 150-200 away and it still worked.

Here is the wiring diagram I used.. that was accurate for most parts:

http://bulldogsecurity.com/New Wi...es/explor95.htm

Goto bulldogsecurity.com if you have a different year.
Problems with the diagram I used (link above):

All these problems have pictures... so just scroll down to see them...

- Tach wire is not where it says it is... Well, a wire with the same color is there, but it has nothing to do w/ the tach. We had to tap into a tach wire going to the message center.

-Factory disarm wire... $&$#*(%$#)(@#) This was the biggest PITA in the world. Besides the fact that we had to dig through 50000 (yes, 50000 ) wires to try and find it.. we found TWO with the exact same color. NEITHER of them worked. Even a call to Crutchfield's help line (we were *ahem* installing Hokie's car alarm he bought from them last year... riiiight...) proved to be ineffective. We just said screw it. Right now if I use the remote start BEFORE I hit the disarm button on the factory remote, I have to use the keypad on the door to get in. Oh well.

-Parking lights wire... "Behind driver's dash"... Wow, that is like saying "somewhere". I forget where we eventually found it... I have to fix the wiring on a relay we installed whenever I get my explorer back, so I'll look then and give an update.

Ok, enough with the writeup blahblahblh, here are some pics. Again, I use a CVS camera for all this stuff, so they arn't the best.


Starting off... Hokie goes to work, I take pictures.



Driver's dash panel off below the steering wheel... before we started messing everything up.


The power wires connected, ignition wire, and climate control wire connected. This was the easy part. Hokie is fiddling around with something probably importatnt.


This is w/ the message center off finding the tach wire. This is where I have all my wiring for my switches (mounted in ash tray), and my small fuse box. It is an insane rats nest right now. I dont look forward to fixing it up.


Message center off...


If you look closely, you can see the purple wire that had to be tapped into the tach wire...


We had a small problem halfway through the install... Had to stuff everything up and drive to bestbuy we thought that the reciever was dead. It ended up that we hadn't grounded a wire (thought we didn't need it). Then it all worked good after that.


This is at the beginning of the install... notice how small the rats nest is.



Digging through the huge bundle of wires to find the factory disarm wire (read story above). This was such a pain... Not only were there similar colored wires, there were 2 wires w/ exactly the same color!!! This is after we found the first wire w/ the color we were looking for


One of the wires that looked close to the wires we were looking for.


Here are the two wires that look exactly the same... Hard to make them out, but trust me there are two.


Holding out both the wires again...


Almost done... Hokie hates my explorer by this time and regrets the day he met me.


Finishing up... relays mounted to the metal plate that is behind driver's side dash panel


Almost done...



I love having remote start, would recommend it to anyone. It isn't too hard if you have the right tools and some know-how. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who wouldn't feel comfortable installing a new head unit by themselves... which is why I asked Hokie to help me install it.

Oh, at the end of the night I relized I had forgotten my wallet and I was on empty... my house is about 2 hours from Hokies... Had to borrow $ to make it back (your check is in the mail).

my ex build police cars for a living and he got some type of remote start/alarm system....it took him about 5 days to finally get it all right...he had to take it apart so many times...and he tears cars apart for wiring and such for a living

good job guys!

Kelli

that is why i would pay someone to do it, time is money, that that is way too much time for how cheap those are to get installed these days.

Still...none the less...WTG

Here is a picture that might help people

Time is money... but neither of us had anything to do (just got off from college for xmas break). For this month off, I have a lot more time on my hands then money =P

Here is something interesting we discovered... The light under the hood is a mercury switch that is off when level and on when at an angle... It amused us, while we were figuring out how it worked.

angled... on


level... off

Here are some of my ex at Hokie's house...
before the install... Hokie's dad's mountaineer is in the background... w/ it's borla exhaust and 5.0 engine... WOW... me want me want!!!

Hokie seems very willing to help!!! I need to recruit him as well for some help

SHISVX said:

my ex build police cars for a living and he got some type of remote start/alarm system....it took him about 5 days to finally get it all right...he had to take it apart so many times...and he tears cars apart for wiring and such for a living

good job guys!

Kelli

Click to expand...

LOL... I somehow missed this thread. Hell, I'm (and my house) the friggin' star of the thread! haha

Kelli, I spent 2.5 years in HS building cop cars during the summer and after school. Then I went to work for Crutchfield as a car stereo installer (I'm MECP certifed as pat mentioned) So this stuff is fun for me. yeah, its a PITA but I've never found a project I can't make work. I think its cool that through a series of relays, diodes, and wires I can just about do anything.

And Pat, my dad's mounty has a Gibson exhaust (+MAC intake and PowerAid TB spacer) on his 5.0 but yeah, its a beast. he's got Explorer Express sway bars and Rancho RS900x's on it now.. handles great!

And yes Pat, I do hate you and you're truck. The only time I thought something other than ill thoughts for your stupid streeter was when I talked you into taking it muddin' with us

Well all I can say is Hokie sounds OK in my book. Those are the kinds of people you are glad to help whenever you can. Way to go Hokie!!! You be the man...

Glad to hear you got it to work! Makes me wanna pay the $150 to get it installed by someone else though!

I know this is late... couple questions...
1. did you have to Buy the relays seperate?
2. did you use them for the door locks?
3.other than the relays did you just hook up the wires like it says?

GooseR said:

I know this is late... couple questions...
1. did you have to Buy the relays seperate?
2. did you use them for the door locks?
3.other than the relays did you just hook up the wires like it says?

Click to expand...

1. no... but if you want your lights to blink when you start it up, you'll need an extra one
2. no... couldn't figure out the factory wiring to find the disarm wire for the alarm.
3. yes, except for the Tachometer wire - we couldn't find it, so we hooked it up to where it goes into the trip computer (LTD, EB models).

Ok since your the only one whos helping right now, ill ask you a couple more Questions... First when trying to do the door locks, i do not know which hook up to use, here is whats in the manual.
I dont know wether to use the Neg., Pos. trigger, or the Reverse Polarity. And the door lock Wires that im supposed to use are Blue, Red, and Green(reference for picture)

Second, the wires that i have questions on:
Wire:: Passenger Unlock Output(-) 500mA. Connect to a relay to unlock the passenger doors when the system is configured for Driver Priority Unlocking.
Question-I dont need this unless i use two-stage unlocking right?

Wire:: Ground When running Output(-) 500mA. Connect to an optional factory bypass module if required.
Question- What the heck?lol. Do i need it?

Wire:: Negative Door Input(-). Connect to the door switch circuit wire that shows ground when the door is open.
Question- Do i just ground this wire to the Chassis?

Wire:: Armed Output(-) 500mA. The orange wire provides a ground output while armed to activate a relay for starter defeat and anti-grind protection.
Question- do i need it? and if so, what do i hook it up to?

Thanks

Hey Hokie, did you need and aarm bypass module for the remote start?

hey gooser, the explorers have the reverse polarity type of door locks...

NICE59FORDF100 said:

hey gooser, the explorers have the reverse polarity type of door locks...

Click to expand...

thats what i thought, but i called the tech and he said i only had to tap into the negative door lock and unlock wires..... how do i go about doing the reverse polarity? do i have to Buy a relay? and use that?

NICE59FORDF100 said:

hey gooser, the explorers have the reverse polarity type of door locks...

Click to expand...

I know the 1st Gen's have a "5 wire reversed rest at ground" type of locking system that is annoying to wire. The japanese have it nice, give the lock a ground signal and it locks... When I put a keyless entry on my Ex-gf's 94 Sport I had to use a separate relay/harness purchased at Crutchfield.

I unfortunately have never put a keyless entry in a 2nd gen, so I'm not sure how they are wired. Lemme look in my haynes manual and see if i can figure it out

GooseR said:

Second, the wires that i have questions on:
Wire:: Passenger Unlock Output(-) 500mA. Connect to a relay to unlock the passenger doors when the system is configured for Driver Priority Unlocking.
Question-I dont need this unless i use two-stage unlocking right?

Click to expand...

Correct, that is for 2 stage unlocking where the driver's door unlocks first, then all the doors unlock.

GooseR said:

Wire:: Ground When running Output(-) 500mA. Connect to an optional factory bypass module if required.
Question- What the heck?lol. Do i need it?

Click to expand...

That is an auxiliary ground wire. Usually systems like these will give you an aux output that allows you to do things when the system is triggered. In this case, this provides a 500mA (-) signal which will be enough to trigger a relay. If the vehicle has a (-) factory alarm disarm wire, this will probably be sufficient to switch it, if the vehicle has a (+) disarm wire, this negative pulse will be used on one side of the relay's coil to control the relay

GooseR said:

Wire:: Negative Door Input(-). Connect to the door switch circuit wire that shows ground when the door is open.
Question- Do i just ground this wire to the Chassis?

Click to expand...

This may be for dome lights or for controlling the alarm. Basically, "Connect to the door switch circuit wire that shows ground when the door is open" is so that the brain unit of the alarm/remote start will be able to know if the doors are open or not. IE: when this wire see's ground, it will think the doors are open (Assuming that the door pin switches are ground switching)

GooseR said:

Wire:: Armed Output(-) 500mA. The orange wire provides a ground output while armed to activate a relay for starter defeat and anti-grind protection.
Question- do i need it? and if so, what do i hook it up to?

Click to expand...

This is kinda like what I was talking about before, but in reverse. This wire will show (-) when the system is armed.

Sorry it took me a bit to answer these, I moved to my new place from VA to SC 2 days ago

FORD / EXPLORER / 1995 / Remote Start

[12volts] [yellow] [+] [ignition harness]
[Starter] [red/lt. blue] [+] [ignition harness]
[Ignition] [green/purple] [+] [ignition harness]
*Note: Two wires each at switch, both are common, only need to power 1 each during remote start.
[Accessory] [gray/yellow] [+] [ignition harness]
*Note: Two wires each at switch, both are common, only need to power 1 each during remote start.
[2nd Accessory] [black/green] [+] [ignition harness]
[Power Lock] [pink/yellow] [-] [driver kick panel]
[Power Unlock] [pink/green] [-] [driver kick panel]
[Parking Lights] [purple/white] [+] [driver kick panel]
*Note: Also found to be white/black at the rear of the switch.
[Parking Lights] [white/purple] [-] [driver kick panel]
[Door Trigger] [black/lt. blue] [+] [driver kick panel]
*Note: To avoid the dome light delay and dome light time-out use the separate door triggers. In the drivers kick panel find yellow/black for the drivers door, lt. green/yellow for the drivers rear door, and white/purple for the rear hatch. In the passengers kick panel find gray/red for the passenger front door, and pink/lt. blue for the passengers rear door. All five wires are negative trigger and must be diode isolated together.
[Dome Supervision] [black/lt.blue] [+] [driver kick panel]
[Trunk/Hatch Pin] [common with doors]
[Hood Pin] [tan/lt.green] [-] [driver kick panel]
[Factory Alarm Arm] [arms on lock]
*Note: Arms on lock only with door open. It is necessary to send a signal to door trigger as well as lock to arm factory alarm.
[Factory Alarm Disarm] [dk. green/purple] [-] [driver kick panel]
[Tachometer] [tan/yellow] [AC] [PCM]
*Note: The PCM is located at the top of the firewall towards the passenger side, the tan/yellow tach wire is also found at the back of the instrument cluster.
[Brake Wire] [lt.green] [+] [driver kick panel]
[Horn Trigger] [yellow/lt. green] [-] [steering column]