Saab 9-7x / Trailblazer remote starter

Hi all,

Ran into a spot of bother over the weekend attempting to install an Avital 4103 with a 556uw in a 2005 Saab 9-7x.

As the install progressed I realized that the high current wires from the Avital remote start 6-pin connector are of a heavier gauge than the wires that are supposed to match up to them from the ignition switch in the center console. Which, to me, doesn't seem to match up right as every other remote install I've done had same gauge wires under the steering console. I looked behind the drivers rear seat at the other harness but found no other wires of a similar gauge. The wires off the center console ignition are around 14awg and the Avital remote start wires are significantly larger.

To compound the uncertainty I ordered a 556uw in which the Saab 9-7x key won't actually fit and I believe is the incorrect interface to bypass the specific security in this Saab.

There also seems to be some slight variances between 2005-2006 and 2007-2009, my particular Saab 9-7x has GM Passkey 3 where 2007 and later uses SAAB'S TRANSPONDER ANTI-THEFT SYSTEM.

Are the wires for remote start really at the center console and are supposed to be that thin of a gauge? What other bypass module should I look into to bypass the Passkey 3 so I can remote start the car without having to lose a key? Also if anyone has any installer photos or reference material they could share it would be much appreciated.

Directwire

2007 Saab 9-7X - North America

Remote Start, Security, Keyless Entry, Accessories


Item Wire Color Polarity Wire Location


12 Volts orange (30A) + trailer brake pre-wiring on harness going thru driver firewall


Starter yellow + ignition switch, black 12 pin plug, pin 11


Ignition pink + ignition switch, black 12 pin plug, pin 5


Second Ignition white + ignition switch, black 12 pin plug, pin 10


Accessory orange + ignition switch, black 12 pin plug, pin 7


Second Accessory brown (required) + ignition switch, black 12 pin plug, pin 12


Keysense lt. green (required) - ignition switch, black 12 pin plug, pin 4


J1850 purple (Class 2 Serial Data) data data link connector, black 16 pin plug, pin 2


Power Lock (use Directed interface module or see Tech Doc 1053)   


Power Unlock (see power lock)   


Lock Motor gray 5 wire rear fuse box under left rear seat, white 68 pin plug, pin F6


Driver Unlock Motor tan 5 wire driver window switch, gray 24 pin plug, pin B2


Passenger Unlock Motor tan 5 wire rear fuse box under left rear seat, white 68 pin plug, pin D8


Factory Alarm Arm (arms on lock with door open)   


Factory Alarm Disarm lt. green (driver door key unlock) - driver window switch, gray 24 pin plug, pin A4


Disarm No Unlock (Passkey and ignition)   


Parking Lights (+) brown (F); brown (R) + rear fuse box under left rear seat, black 68 pin plug, pin C3; white 68 pin plug, pin E2


Parking Lights (-) BROWN / white - steering column junction connector, black 48 pin plug, pin E7


Hazards white - hazard switch, black 9 pin plug, pin 2


Turn Signal (Left) dk. green + steering column junction connector, black 48 pin plug, pin A5


Turn Signal (Right) lt. green + steering column junction connector, black 48 pin plug, pin A4


Headlight BLACK/ white (LO); yellow/black (HI) - steering column junction connector, black 48 pin plug, pins E6, E11


Reverse Light lt. green + rear fuse box under left rear seat, white 68 pin plug, pin E5


Left Front Door Trigger gray/black - driver window switch, gray 24 pin plug, pin A2


Right Front Door Trigger BLACK/ white - passenger window switch, gray 24 pin plug, pin A2


Left Rear Door Trigger lt. blue/black - rear fuse box under left rear seat, white 68 pin plug, pin F10


Right Rear Door Trigger lt. GREEN/ black - rear fuse box under left rear seat, white 68 pin plug, pin A12


Dome Light gray/black + rear fuse box under left rear seat, gray 32 pin plug, pin B6


Trunk/Hatch Pin pink/black - Liftgate Module in liftgate, white 9 pin plug, pin 6


Rear Glass Pin purple - Liftgate Module in liftgate, white 9 pin plug, pin 4


Tachometer white ac instrument cluster, gray 24 pin plug, pin A12


Fuel Pump gray + underhood fuse box, white 32 pin plug, pin F3


Rear Defroster purple 5 wire Liftgate Module in liftgate, black 4 pin plug, pin B


Mirror Defroster (Class 2 Serial Data)   


Left Front Heated Seat (Class 2 Serial Data)   


Right Front Heated Seat (Class 2 Serial Data)   


Speed Sense dk. GREEN / WHITE ac instrument cluster, gray 24 pin plug, pin B9 or radio, black 12 pin plug, pin E (some models)


Brake Wire lt. blue + trailer brake pre-wiring on harness going thru driver firewall


Parking Brake lt. blue - parking brake switch or rear fuse box under left rear seat, black 68 pin plug, pin B1


Horn Trigger BLACK / YELLOW - steering column junction connector, black 48 pin plug, pin D4


Wipers purple (LO); dk. blue/white (HI) +; - steering column junction connector, black 48 pin plug, pins E4, E5


Left Front Window (Up/Down) dk. blue - brown A driver window switch, black 4 pin plug, pins B - C


Right Front Window (Up/Down) lt. blue - tan A passenger window switch, black 4 pin plug, pins B - C


Left Rear Window (Up/Down) dk. blue - brown A left rear window switch, brown 8 pin plug, pins F - G


Right Rear Window (Up/Down) dk. blue - brown A right rear window switch, brown 8 pin plug, pins F - G


Sun Roof (Open/Close) brown - orange (function with ignition on only) - sunroof junction connector, black 16 pin plug, pins L, H


Memory Seat 1 white + driver window switch, gray 6 pin plug, pin 2


Memory Seat 2 purple + driver window switch, gray 6 pin plug, pin 3





Audio




Item Wire Color Polarity Wire Location


Radio 12V orange + radio, gray 24 pin plug, pin B1


Radio Ground BLACK/ white - radio, gray 24 pin plug, pin A12


Radio Ignition (Class 2 Serial Data)   


Radio Illumination BROWN / white (dimmer) + radio, gray 24 pin plug, pin B4


Factory Amp Turn-on gray/black or pink + radio, gray 24 pin plug, pin B3


Left Front Speaker (+/-) tan - gray or tan - dk. green +,- radio, gray 24 pin plug, pins A8 - A9


Right Front Speaker (+/-) lt. green - dk. green or lt. green - ORANGE / black +,- radio, gray 24 pin plug, pins B11 - B10


Left Rear Speaker (+/-) brown - dk. GREEN / WHITE +,- radio, gray 24 pin plug, pins B8 - B9


Right Rear Speaker (+/-) dk. blue - black +,- radio, gray 24 pin plug, pins A11 - A10


Aux. Audio Input Left (+/-) BROWN / white - BLACK/ white (satellite audio) +,- radio, black 12 pin plug, pins J - K


Aux. Audio Input Right (+/-) dk. GREEN / WHITE - BLACK/ white (satellite audio) +,- radio, black 12 pin plug, pins H - K


RSE Audio Left (+/-) BROWN / white - BLACK/ white +,- radio, black 12 pin plug, pins J - K


RSE Audio Right (+/-) dk. GREEN / WHITE - BLACK/ white +,- radio, black 12 pin plug, pins H - K


Satellite Radio 12 Volts orange + digital radio receiver behind glove box, black 16 pin plug, pin 16


Satellite Radio Ground BLACK/ white - digital radio receiver behind glove box, black 16 pin plug, pin 9


Satellite Radio Ignition (Class 2 Serial Data)   


Satellite Radio Antenna (coaxial cable)   


Satellite Audio Left (+/-) BROWN / white - BLACK/ white +,- digital radio receiver behind glove box, black 16 pin plug, pins 2 - 10


Satellite Audio Right (+/-) dk. GREEN / WHITE - BLACK/ white +,- digital radio receiver behind glove box, black 16 pin plug, pins 3 - 10





What Fits




Item Size Depth Location


Headunit double DIN center of dash


Left Front Speaker 6.5 left front door


Left Front Tweeter 3.5 left front dash


Right Front Speaker 6.5 right front door


Right Front Tweeter 3.5 right front dash


Left Rear Speaker 5.25 left rear door


Right Rear Speaker 5.25 right rear door


Satellite Radio Tuner   behind glove box






Notes:

Second Accessory Must be powered up. If not, the vehicle will crank as soon as it sees ignition.

Front Speaker (+/-) On vehicles with amplifier, the door speaker wires are tan - gray at the amplifier in right rear quarter panel, gray 24 pin plug, pins A5 - A6. The dash speaker wires are dk. blue - lt. blue at the amplifier, gray 24 pin plug, pins A9 - A10.

Right Front Speaker (+/-) On vehicles with amplifier, the door speaker wires are lt. green - dk. green at the amplifier in right rear quarter panel, gray 24 pin plug, pins A7 - A8. The dash speaker wires are orange - dk. green at the amplifier, gray 24 pin plug, pins A11 - A12.

Left Rear Speaker (+/-) On vehicles with amplifier, the door speaker wires are brown - yellow at the amplifier in right rear quarter panel, lt. gray 8 pin plug, pins B - G.

Right Rear Speaker (+/-) On vehicles with amplifier, the door speaker wires are dk. blue - lt. blue at the amplifier in right rear quarter panel, lt. gray 8 pin plug, pins C - F.

Thank you. I am researching a DBALL2 for this particular application in order to get the remote start to work without having to loose a key.

Still seems "not right" to have such a heavy gauge wire going into another that's of a smaller gauge. I'll post a photo to further highlight this and to help others who opt to install a remote start in a Saab 9-7x.

With aftermarket Remote starters they have to use the one size fits all method for design. As older vehicles need the circuits direct powered and newer vehicles are control based for relays.

Funnily enough I picked up a 9-5 HOT over the weekend,haven't really played with it yet but, those wires are only a thin gauge because they feed a relay board up in the dash.
If the wires are quite a bit thinner cut and join (I would de-pin the heavy duty plug and re-pin ) thinner cables. And on Euro Fords, I use 18 ga. wires with one 15 amp fuse for all.
I was about to add that you'll need a 556U and bury the key when I realised that this is using a GM rather than Euro Saab wiring, i.e. 2nd ACC.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Re pinning is a option for those who have the connectors and open barrel crimp tool or are good with needle nose pliers to crimp them.
Soldering is also a option if you have the connectors. Most DIYers wont have the colored wire or terminals. So you can thin out the heavy gauge wire to be a closer match to the wiring you are connecting too. Then tape and zip strip(tie) them to the bundle of wires you have connected to securely.

Could I suggest soldering mandatory once everything checks out OK?

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Yes best for armatures (newbie's) to solder all connections.

I only solder security connections, under hood(Engine compartment), and any other connection that are resistance based along with resistor and diode connections. All other connections are through hole twice and tightly wrapped down wire then added wire is folded flat to connected wire and tapped down wire and back up then zip stripped (tied). Have a Viper 550HF installed since 1994 in one of my cars still going with out issue and have never had a comeback due to wiring.
Also no cheap tape 3M (Scotch Brand) Tartan 1710 or Super33+ for exposed connections only!

Hey all,

After reading what Lurch228 stated, it makes sense that the remote start industry is a "one size fits all" and that my particular application has smaller gauge wires but that's ok. Just threw me for a loop as I've not encountered that before.

I did have a 556U but the Saab 9-7x key would not fit inside it and the more I dug into the electrical system and it's onboard security/data, it appears that I needed to get the DBALL2 interface in order to get the remote start and key to work without having to loose a key. We'll see how that goes this upcoming weekend on the install.

This is the harness from the center console below. I was in a bit of a rush to get something to work last weekend and all had was red wire to extend the harness. Howie II's suggestion about de-pinning re-pinning is a viable option and one that I am inclined to go after. I also will solder and heat shrink my connections, I have a Weller bench digital soldering iron as well I picked up after I learned my lesson about t-taps and other mistakes a young guy can make along the way.

And as luck would have it I do have Super 33+

Thought I replied but I was stuck in a hospital A&E with poor WiFi and signal.
As I noted before your ignition system is US GM, doesn't have nearly the same "quantity" of immobiliser "gizmos" the Euro cars have so run with the DB-ALL2 it should be fine.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Thought so actually your Saab never saw Europe! Built in Canada with my 9-5 interior/dashboard/centre console, actually one of these:-
Buick Rainier
Chevrolet TrailBlazer
GMC Envoy
Oldsmobile Bravada (2002-04)
Isuzu Ascender
Chevrolet SSR

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Sadly it has been lovingly referred to in the family as a faux Saab.

Soldered up all the connections and neatened up the harness a bit. Have a few wires I am unable to make connections with, primarily off the DBALL2 and it may be due to the remote start (Directed Avital Model 4105) not having the applicable input/output?

https://directechs.blob.core.windows.net/documents/dball-dball2-gm1_en_ig_cp20121218a.pdf

RED 12 Pin Connector
3: GREEN / WHITE: (-) Door Status Output***
4: RED / Black: (-) Trunk Status Output
5: Violet/White: (AC) Tach Output*

BLACK 10 Pin Connector
6:WHITE/ Black: (-) AUX3 (Heated Seats) Input**

Tomorrow morning is when I'll finally be able to hook this all up and see what happens ;)

Haven't looked at the diagram but red 12 pin:-
GREEN / WHITE to green on Avital
RED / black to blue on Avital
Violet/white to same on Avital

Black 10 pin
White black refer to DB-All 2 instructions, just looked connect to aux 3, or any spare aux, set it for latch so you can turn it on/off from that aux.
Look at that diagram, possibly the simplest I've ever seen.

I just realised, took another look at the diagram, if you go D2 rather than W2W you only need the 4 pin connector from the 4105 to the white D2D on the DB, unless it doesn't have one. (Not familiar with the 4105) plus of course the OBD connection, guessing light green.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

OK, looked at the diagrams, red 12 pin:-
GREEN / WHITE to green
RED / black to grey, use a diode from the red black and another in the line from the hood switch, both 1N4004, bands away from the Avital.
Forget heat seating, I can't see any aux outputs on that Avital unless you used trunk release with a timer.
Hate to say it but the Avital is entry level hence no aux or separate trunk trigger wire.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Cheers Howie II, I had to look over my Viper 5902 to even see if that had the additional aux. The main reasoning behind the Avital was simply for remote start, the heated seats and extras were nice and newly discovered options but certainly not needed ;)

I have managed to run into another snag with this remote start setup. Currently the DBALL2 will not light up and is not able to be recognized for any sort of flashing.

I have tried hooking the xkloader2 up via USB and then the four pin harness is connected from the xkloader2 to the powered up and connected DBALL2.

I have power coming to the DBALL and to the Avital 4105. I can hit the remote start button and the vehicle lights come on, fuel pump primes but no starter actually engages.

I do have a relay wired in for the second accessory as well.

Only thing I can think of now is either I have missed a wire, like keysense, in which I still do not know what wire needs to be connected, or I have a bad DBALL. I do have the tach wires hooked up but one would think that you could use virtualtach or AC voltage and the unit would choose what ever one it wanted, however I am not able to get the programming light to come on the Avital 4105 even though the unit actually does attempt to remote start.

I went over the settings in the Avital 4105 with my bitwriter but did not see anything glaringly obvious to enable or disable.

Well I opted to leave the key in the ignition and attempt to remote start, and of course, it works just fine.

Problem still is that the key needs to stay in the ignition, which indicates that the DBALL2 I have is either defunct or the wiring is still incorrect. The door lock/unlock from the Avital 4105 also tells me that I may be on the right track with the DBALL2 beind bad.

Please check your wireing. Is this a GM car that has a second ACC?
Keysense is more relevant to unlock whilst running, nought to do with the actual R/S.
Never seen a bad DB-ALL2, try re-flashing it?

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

** SUCCESS **

The macbook I was using with windows was not connecting to the DBALL, so I opted to use another computer and had success.

The last hurdle is the trunk/doorlock buttons on the keyfob from the Avital the lock button works, but the unlock does not and neither does the rear hatch.

I'll be investigating that now.

So far the lock/unlock buttons are working however unlocking the car results in the locks immediately engaging again after the door is opened. The hatch button on the Avital keyfob does nothing and I believe that is due to the Saab not having a dedicated trunk release button but instead relies on the unlock button being clicked twice to unlock all doors including the rear hatch.

Still investigating the door locks. The remote start feature is working fine now, thanks to using a different computer to flash the DBALL2.

Door locks are sorted out now. Everything's all wired up and tucked away and integrated back into the harness. Everything's soldered up, heat shrunk and super 33+'d. The Mrs thought I was insane for going through the de-pinning and re-pinning process but ultimately in the end it turned out much cleaner, not that anyone's going to look under the dash ;)

I was genuinely looking forward to doing another after I finished this one. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback, insight and wiring diagrams! I hope that this helps another Saab 9-7x owner who opts to install a remote starter in their vehicle.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.