04 galant remote start issues

Hello all,

I've been installing a DEI Viper 771XV in a 2004 Mitsubishi Galant...for almost a year.....and I'm having the following issues:

1. The remote start does not start at all. On other systems I've installed, I would atleast hear the relays kick in. This was almost like a shutdown input was active. Diagnostics showed either of two wires. So I traced it, and this is only a guess, the brake switch wire shows ground when not activated and positive when activated. This was never a problem before but could this be a problem now? Does it need a relay? Oh, and the brake switch wire is connected to the correct input(+). The hood and trunk triggers have been disconnected.

2. I have also installed a DEI 556UW. I'm thinking that it doesn't work too well because I can not start the car normally with a key. There is a green icon on the dash that lights up. Its the shape of a car and inside theres a key. Could this be the 556UW Showing the spare car fulltime? When I disconnect just 556, the key starts the car normally.

I've checked all the connections twice and even rewired the whole thing. I've given up on this for a little while but heard about this site and decided to start messing with it again.

I've installed a lot of alarm systems and only a hand full of remote start systems so I'm a newbie to that. My last install was on a Mecury Mountaineer which, to me, is similiar to the Galant install. Being that you need the 556 box and need to bypass the factory security. That install went well.....this one didn't. Good thing its my car. And its a great thing that I don't do this for a living...lol

Thanks in advance!

1 There will be a BLACK/ white neutral safety switch wire. Make sure to ground this wire out or the car will not attempt to start. Your brake wire sounds correct.

2 Do you have the bypass hooked up to the (-) status output wire of the 771? It would go to the ground wire of the bypass. This will only kick the bypass on during a remote start, and shut it off a couple of seconds after it has started. It does sound like your bypass is on all the time, which is what is causing the problem. The vehicle can see only one key at a time.

Thanks for the quick reply!

The BLACK/ white neutral satefy switch wire is grounded and the status wires are hooked up correctly. That was my first thought too as to why the bypass was not working. Is there an effective way to test the bypass? I'm not too sure as to how they work. I'm thinking, if I splice the status output wires, I can check the voltage there to see if the 771 is suppling constant ground?? I tested the keysense already. If it were giving off the wrong signal, the car would only crank, correct? Like I said, I'm not too sure as to how they work other than the signal being sent from the spare key through the antenna wire?? And maybe thats even wrong.

You're pretty much correct on how the 556U bypass works - it sends the signal from the key inside it to the antenna ring around the key cylinder.  It sounds to me like you may have switched the blue (-) ground-when-running input and the black (-) ground input around, which would cause it to be active all the time - however that still doesn't explain why the remote start won't initialize.

When you say the brake wire goes to 12 volts "when activated" do you mean when you're pushing the brake pedal or when you activate the remote start? If it's the first case - that's normal. Second case - you've got something else hooked up to it that's causing problems - possibly the parking light output and brake light output are shorted together.

If you were inclined to test the 556U - when you short the blue wire to ground (assuming the red wire is connected), you should hear the bypass click on; when that ground is taken away it should click off.

Ok I will try shorting the blue wire on the bypass when I get a chance. Thanks for the suggestion

The brake wire is showing 12 volts when it is pushed. I figured it was correct because thats how I've done them in the past. It worked everytime. The only reason I asked about it was because I retested it, which I never had to, and it showed ground when it wasn't pushed instead of 'open'. I'm not too sure if that would cause the system to not initiate the remote start process. However, the shutdown diagnostics say that it is the reason.