DIY How to install a Remote Start Alarm Keyless entry System on a Explorer 1992

[pachakutek]

Hi there!

I recently installed a Remote Start/Keyless entry alarm system on my Explorer EB 1992... and it rocks! People seemed interested on how to do it... so here you go!

This DIY is intended to be a complement to the instructions that come with your alarm system. And intended for illustration purposes only, and given AS IS... use at your own risk.

With that out the way... let's start!

I will focus this writeup on the Carvox CX-601 FM alarm keyless entry w/remote start on a Ford Explorer 1992 EB. But you could take a look at this and easily extrapolate it to help you on your particular alarm/car combination.

In older trucks like mine (1st gen) this is relatively easy and inexpensive, and you get a lot of features that you didn't have before like keyless entry

Again, in early trucks you don't need any extra modules. But in a Ford truck/car 2000+ you will need a Keyless Anti-Theft Bypass module (like the IB-F3), this will bypass the coded key system in the car to allow the remote starter to operate without a key in the ignition. ... older trucks like mine, don't need to worry about that!

Plus you have the always useful Keyless Entry!! (I think I mentioned that... but it is life changing!)

I haven't tried other systems, but I'm really impressed with this one. First of all, it works! Then the instructions are easy to follow (English rather than engrish).

The hard part was finding the wires on the car, but that's the purpose of this write up – to help you locate them. And finally, the range: It says on the box that it will do up to 800m (~0.5mi)... that's a freaking lot!... I haven't test it that far (I couldn't see the car that far), but I did test it at about 600ft and still worked like a charm.

I got it from ebay at $65 (free shipping)

(Search: "FM CAR ALARM REMOTE START KEYLESS ENTRY")

OK... let's start now!

The materials and tools:

• Bullet connectors (14 gauge)
• Tap splice connectors (get 14-16 gauge x 1 box, and GET the bigger ones too 10-12gauge – I used like 4 - you will cut the thick wires if you use the small ones... DAMHIK) - see update below
• Test light (very important to test wires)
• Crimping pliers, regular pliers, box cutter, wire cutter, electrical tape, and essential tools
• off course … the Alarm system and your car

Update:
Some ppl point out that the tap splice connectors are not very suitable for high amp wires like the ignition ones on this case. You should always solder them if you can instead. I think tap splice connectors are ok when you use the right size, that's why used them, but I can also see how soldering can be 1000 times better than using the lazy tap connectors... your choice, you've been warned.... if my car catches on fire due to them the tap connectors, I'll be sure to update again this thread Thanks for the advice!

Your alarm will most likely come with a brain unit and several harnesses with color coded wires. Here I will address each harness below (look at the diagram to extrapolate to your application if different)

I first started by labeling the wires... So prior to work on your car, I strongly recommend labeling each wire that you are going to use from the harnesses. You can do this the night before... this will save you time during installation, and also familiarize you with the alarm and the car wiring.

You can get the list of code colors of the needed wires at: (the link below is for explorer 1992 - search for yours if different... they will have it!)

the12volt.com

Mock up:

Stuff to remove on car:

• Remove the lower front panel. There are 4 T20 screws. 2 of them also hold the hood release handle.
• Remove also the metallic firewall that was behind the plastic panel. (also like 4 T20 screws). There is also a relay attached to the back of the metallic panel, so carefully get it out of the way.
• Remove the side kickpanel. Two phillips screws and a plastic plug.

I removed also the steering column cover (right behind the steering wheel... but it wasn't really necessary.)

The Diagram: (Colors of wire outside the diagram are the wires that I hook the alarm wires to)

This is basically the most important pic.... plainly you need to hook up the alarm wires (wires inside the rectangle diagram below) to the color coded wires on the car wiring (wires outside the rectangle) and you are done!
(the rectangle is the brain unit BTW)

The hard part is to locate the wire on the car and to access them... hopefully the rest of this writeup will help you out with that.

Remote Starter wires (7P harness on the diagram)

• most of this wires are located on the bunch that comes from behind the steering column (see pic) (Ignition #1, #2, ACC, Neutral)
• The yellow constant wire is not on this bunch, but to the right (see pic)
• Park-Neutral safety wire : Be advised that there are different 2 Red/Light Blue wires on the car's wiring!!!! And they are both located on this bunch (Shocked)... One of them is the Starter wire and the other one is the Park-Neutral wire... you'll need both.
• So test both by connecting your testing light 12v and to one of those wires.
• Get the key on ON position, and shift the lever from P to R N D etc....
  the testing light should light up only on P and N positions of the shifting lever.
• Mark that wire as “Neutral-wire”..
  and connect the alarm's Neutral wire to that one.
• I didn't use the starter wire at that location.... just in case... See pics for another location of the starter wire.
• I connected the alarm wire violet/white (on 7P) to the tach wire (Tan/Yellow see pic below)... It can also be connected to the oil sensor wire, or High Voltage wire.... I couldn't find the later two, so I hooked it up to the Tach wire on the car.
• The "Bypass Module" wire and the "Diesel wait-to-start" didn't apply on this case... just trim them
  
  Update about the Tach wire:
  I'm having my doubts about the Tach wire being the most appropriate, rather than the oil sensor, or high voltage. Sometimes the car will Remote Start for like 2 secs and then die. The system retries up to 3 times, and sometimes succeeds and the engine stays running, but sometimes it doesn't and the car never stays running.... I think it has to do with the tach wire not giving enough juice and the alarm system shutting down the engine for precaution. I will see if I can solve the issue temporarily by connecting the violet/white (7P) wire to + instead of Tach - I will need a resistor since the Tach wire only gives 0-6v... other solution might be finding the oil sensor wire or high voltage and give those a try.... chances are that the issue I observed (engine dying after 2 secs) doesn't have anything to do with this violet/white (7P) wire and the Tach (Tan/Yellow) wire...

Ignition wires bunch: (where most wires for RS are located)

Tach wire: (and firewall passage... at the front left of the firewall - behind the e-brake pedal)

Door Lock/Unlock – Siren – Flashing lights (10P harness)

• Ford uses Reverse Polarity on the locking system. So follow the diagram below
• Use bullet connectors and put the male/female pairs in a way that cut wires can be easily reconnected.. just in case.
• There is a ground point conveniently next to the wires for your connection
• Splice together the 12v + wires (White/Black and Brown/black in the diagram) and connect to a 12v + always. A previous owner had ran a wire before me from the battery, so I used it... but you should be able to find one. (I don't recommend using the Yellow 12v wire from the ignition for this two wires.. too much Amps there)
• I connected the Red wire on this harness to the Yellow 12v + wire from ignition (this one is ok), since it needs more juice than the other 2 above, and it is fused.
• Flashing lights to Brown on the car.... it is + so no need to jump JC2 (good... because I looked everywhere on the unit, and could see anything that look like jumpers)

Diagram:

Door lock wires:

Triggers (8P harness)

• Brake input to Light Green wire on the brake switch
• Yellow on this harness to Pink #1 from 7P (this is important or you wont be able to shutdown the car by pressing the brake after Remote Start)
• Purple on this harness to Black/Light Blue
• The hood pin wire (pass trough firewall as siren wire).... My car didn't have one... but you can get one cheap at the auto parts store... highly recommended, unless you want your wife to remote start your car, while you are changing your serpentine belt... :roll: (if you don't have a hood pin now, at least pass the wire to the engine bay... and get one soon.)
  
  UPDATE: Some ppl suggested to hook the hood wire to the hood light. However, this is not so straight forward: The wires (+ and -) to the hood light socket are hot all the time. The light switches by the socket itself, which is really a mercury based switch; when tilted the mercury flows to inside closing the circuit.
  
  I still think the best approach is to install an aftermarket hood pin switch
  

Some after market hood pin switches (Ebay search: "hood pin switch")

Extra features (6P harness)

I haven't done much with this harness yet. I'm planning on connecting the one that rolls up the windows and possibly the dome light courtesy/delay feature. But I will update this later.

UPDATE: The windows turn out to no be so easy after all. Apparently you need an additional module (search ebay: WINDOW ROLL UP MODULE). You need to hook up the module following its instructions, and then hook up its trigger wire to the window wire on this alarm. Some guys here in this thread are attempting this.... I will update, but try reading the thread below.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Engine won't shutdown: Make sure you have hook up the brake and ignition trigger wires (8P harness)
• Engine still won't shutdown: Make sure you are closing all your doors.
• Remotes won't work: Make sure the receiver is well connected, and that the wire has not been pinched. I had it close to the e-brake pedal, and days after the install I unintentionally cut the receiver wire. In general make sure all your wires are not pinched, cut, etc.
• Siren beeps 3 times seconds after armed: You have probably left a door ajar, or the internal light on.

That's it! you should be able to RS your truck now! Have a cold one
And walk as far as you can go to test it

One more pic for the clicks!:

Thanks... I hope you like it!
Post comments.... and propose this for the "Useful Threads" to the mods

 

[seth247]

well written

When the guys at boomers Installed my alarm they never hooked up the tach wire.

I need to get back under there and try to hook it in. But the hole thing looks like a rats nest after they got through with it. Never goin back there again.

 

[coreman23]

Great tutorial!!!!

I plan to do this in the next couple of weeks. Please update if you do the windows, I'd like to add that as well.

 

[wood1]

Good work there, nice of you to share your work with everyone too.

I don't want to come across negative, and here is the "but". Those crimp connectors that bite through the insulation on the wires do not instill a great deal of confidence. I installed literally hundreds of automatic car starters back in the day, and removed many as well.

I was always happy to remove one that I had installed to find that there had not been any problems. I have however removed some that had been installed with those large yellow connectors and have seen a lot of them blackened and melted from poor connections. In older model vehicles those ignition wires carry a bit of amperage, unlike the new models. You have to have a good connection or you risk a fire, simple as that.

Every starter I installed I soldered those ignition wires. Once in a while I would use a small crimp connector on a small gauge wire (no amps) if it was really hard to access.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[jd4242]

good deal

 

[pachakutek]

Thanks! for all the comments.... does it make it to "Useful Threads"?

 

[kert0307]

Good work there, nice of you to share your work with everyone too.

....

Every starter I installed I soldered those ignition wires. Once in a while I would use a small crimp connector on a small gauge wire (no amps) if it was really hard to access.

X2
The main stuff that's 10 or 12ga wire I would definitely solder. Plus it makes it more fun trying to solder on your back under the dash...

 

[dllb]

Very nice. I think you should get some Elite memership for this one.

 

[BrianDye]

very nice bro, i put one on my 92 EB last year and it was pretty simple, looks kinda hard buts its real easy!

 

[pachakutek]

Very nice. I think you should get some Elite memership for this one.

That'd be cool... And making it to the Useful threads will be great too! Tell a mod!

 

[jd4242]

hey you think you can use the white/black wire on the 6p to roll the windows down because from what i can tell the alarm is made to just roll them up?and i think you can hook up the black/white wire to the wire that comes off the dimmer control on the switch that turns your headlights on and dims or turns your dome light on ,that wire goes to a relay so its doesnt pull alot of amps but dont know if its + or -.also the hood pin wire should be able to hook up to the light under the hood it acts as a switch and only turns on when the hood is up.it got dark out tonight but i will be trying this tomorrow and update you if it will work.

 

[dllb]

Ill be installing mine next weekend.. Oh yea. Dam I dont have an old phone (as in pics) lol...

 

[jd4242]

what mine didn't come with one either,wtf
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[TM21fourT3]

Great write up....I can't wait to do this to my '94.

However I can't seem to find any of those Carvox's online for that price yet....

 

[pachakutek]

what mine didn't come with one either,wtf
Posted via Mobile Device

LOL!!!.... The phone was there when I got the car... everybody has something to do with it ... so it's still there.

I can't seem to find any of those Carvox's online for that price yet....

The same one I got

 

[pachakutek]

hey you think you can use the white/black wire on the 6p to roll the windows down because from what i can tell the alarm is made to just roll them up?

If you are able to hook up the Purple/Black to roll them up.... I'm sure you should be able to hook the White/Black to roll them up.. It's a "programmable" extra feature (both give 200mA (-) output)

Please DO let me know if you get the windows to work, and how... I tried, but I was too tired to continue...

i think you can hook up the black/white wire to the wire that comes off the dimmer control on the switch that turns your headlights on and dims or turns your dome light on ,that wire goes to a relay so its doesnt pull alot of amps but dont know if its + or -.

Good point... instead to connecting to the door trigger you could work with the light switch. Please post color code of that wire if you can.

the hood pin wire should be able to hook up to the light under the hood it acts as a switch and only turns on when the hood is up.

Hmmm.... my car don't seem to have a hood light... I'll double check.

Let me know how it goes...

 

[TM21fourT3]

LOL!!!.... The phone was there when I got the car... everybody has something to do with it ... so it's still there.


The same one I got

I feel dumb....

Thanks though.

 

[dllb]

He has an auction for best offer, w/free shipping. I know he will take say 5 less. Im now wondering if I can have multiple alarms and vechicles ? Same type.

 

[jd4242]

If you are able to hook up the Purple/Black to roll them up.... I'm sure you should be able to hook the White/Black to roll them up.. It's a "programmable" extra feature (both give 200mA (-) output)

Please DO let me know if you get the windows to work, and how... I tried, but I was too tired to continue...



Good point... instead to connecting to the door trigger you could work with the light switch. Please post color code of that wire if you can.



Hmmm.... my car don't seem to have a hood light... I'll double check.

Let me know how it goes...

i was going to use the white and black to roll the windows down,it will work but you need a relay to do that and also the roll up feature wont work unless you hook diodes up to each wire because if you splice them all together then anytime you go to roll up just one window by the door switch its going to roll up every window in the car,could be wrong but thats what i could tell.you would still hook up the door triggers i was talking about the black/white wire from the 6p it turns on the dome light when disarmed,ill look more into that later it got dark again so its going to have to wait till tomorrow after work again!!.but so far this alarm is great i would recommend it to anyone its cheap and works very well and i it works from very very far distances also

 

[dllb]

Just checking to see if anyone got the windows to work ?