2004 Grand AM GT Remote Start

What make and model of your RS

Not sure to be honest.  Everything was done at the auto electrical shop.  If you think its that important i might be able to call tomorrow and find out what they used.

Sounds like the installer took a shortcut and used TACHLESS mode. If they hooked it up correctly it would be connected to a tach source which enables the remote starter to turn over the starter until it starts successfully. The tach provides an A/C signal that tells the remote start brain when the engine has successfully started. The starter will turn over longer if its very cold out, sometimes up to 5 seconds of cranking...whatever it takes to get the cold engine to turn over and successfully stay running. The tachless mode requires less time for the installer to put in because they don't need to run a wire through the firewall into the engine compartment and attach it to the ignition coil. The remote start unit cranks for a predetermined time. Usually about .5 seconds on the 1st attempt, .75 on the second attempt and 1.0 second on the final attempt (times vary by brand). More likely than not, this is what's causing your problem. Some cars start harder in very cold weather and don't always work well in tachless mode. Most professionals use TACH mode always because customers have come back with the same complaint that you have. As the vehicle ages, owners slack off on there tune-up schedules and the vehicles need more cranking time to start. Take it back and make them wire up the tach input so your vehicle will remote start reliably the first time, every time. Click the following link for more info:

Tach or "No-Tach" Explained in detail

PS. Try opening the hood and then remote starting the vehicle to see if they ran the hood safety pin switch. The vehicle should not start remotely if they installed the hood pin. This is for the safety of your mechanic, so he doesn't lose body parts while servicing the engine if the remote starter accidentally started the car while he was under the hood. If they skipped the tach wire they may have skipped this important safety feature as well.

Good Luck, Steve

Take a leson form thsi one, next tiem you need a alarm or waht ever dont have them do it.

yes some car do not work well without the tach installed some work fine . You can have erattic starting and it may not start in the cold.

it could be passlock failing if they used a module it could be bad or if they used resistors to do passlock the value could have been close enough to start at first but over time reisistors change slightly and it may not be close enough to start sometimes. Passlock can be funy like that ive seen vehicles that are close enogh to the value to start yet far away enoght to trip the security light. One thing to check is when you start it up and it dies What is the security light doing if its flashing that probably it.

Try putting the key in the Ignition but don't turn it on. Now try remote starting leaving the key alone. If it starts and remains running then you probably have a problem with your security bypass. If it starts successfully a few times...take the key back out and retry the remote start. If it fails again then you definitely have something wrong with the bypass.

PS. If your having a problem recreating the problem whenever it goes back to the shop...I would try pulling out a camcorder and recording it then taking it in and showing them what you keep experiencing.