automate 553 messed up can’t remove

Honestly I know very little about this whole thing but I'd like to drive my car, which is impossible right now. It has an early model automate 553 installed and I think it is the cause of all the problems. I don't believe it ever was installed properly. I will give all the details I can. If someone could get the car to start that would be great. I don't want to keep the alarm/remote/start features. I will post all the info I can.

99 Dodge Carvan

automate 553 [early edition] grey remotes.

The van had a lojack system at one time. It was partially removed by me.

The automate never worked well. The interior lights would only stay on for about 5 seconds and the I'd hear a click and they went off.
The power door locks would not work at this time either.

5 weeks ago...I found no power to the OBDII port so I could not pass emissions. I jumped constant power to the pin in the ODBII port that was supposed to be powered and suddenly my interior lights and door locks worked after the 5 second shut off. I thought things were fine.

Last night I shut off the van and tried to restart 5 minutes later. Lights started flashing like in alarm mode, instrument odometer sometimes lit up, sometimes not, Gear indicator sometimes shows I'm in all gears or none. Sometimes the gear and odometer readings are dead.

Relay under hood marked "auto shutdown" constantly clicks with key on.

At one time it went into auto start mode. It would autostart, run a minutes shut down and autostart again.


I have unplugged everything from the 553 module and the car won't start. But the relay under the hood clicks constantly.

How do I remove the gremlin, I'd like to strangle it.

Can I install the 553 module with minimum inputs. What I mean is install the module but without....let say the shock sensor just to make less wires under the dash. I guess what I am asking is...if any one item is not connected will that shut down the car?

I don't know what else to tell you.

I just cut most of it out. The relay in the under hood box, "auto shutdown" constantly clicks and the engine will start but not stay running. I'll rip the rest out tomorrow if I have time.

Good luck with your exorcism, I suspect your troubles don't lie with the automate itself. The auto shutdown relay is factory equipment and not something an alarm or remote start interfaces with in general. Considering your OBD2 power issue, I would start by checking all fuses.

From what I have read, the auto shut down relay, once started, is held in run mode by several inputs. One being "ignition on", I would thing the remote starter would have to provide that signal to work. There is a small rack of 4 relays that looks like it's not factory. I don't know if that can come out. Back to the auto shut down relay, I might be able to rig a wire from an adjacent relay that cycles with "ignition on" to do the work of the ASR. I only need the car to run another 60 days, then it off to the scrap yard. Thanks for your help.

Took out the rest of the Automate system. All good so far.