5901 manual remote start

I just finished my installation of the viper 5901 alarm/remote starter.  It is installed into a manual 1987 Toyota MR2.  The alarm portion works just fine and does everything I want it to.  After that was all tested I tried to set up the remote start and ran into some issues.

First off I took the tachometer input from the IG pin of the test connector (this is where the service manual from toyota recommends getting a tach signal).  I started the car, press and held the valet button within five seconds and got the correct chirps/flashes of the led to confirm that the tach signal is learnt.  I then followed the instructions for remote start in a manual.  Press the brake and set the hand brake.  Release the brake.  Press any button on the remote (I chose unlock).  The car flashed the parking lights and the remote said "remote start on".  I removed the key from the ignition and the car stayed running as it was supposed to.  A second later the starter began to crank.  I pressed the brake and the car shut down.  I tried again and this time I didnt even get the key out of the ignition before it started to crank.  The remote once again said remote start on and then displayed the countdown timer for the remote start.

From what I can tell the remote start is acttivating instead of setting up to activate.  Has anyone experienced this before?  This is the first remote start I have installed.  I was very carefull in making sure I had the correcte wiring but I am human so I could have made a mistake.  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

check to see if you have one of the ignition wires on the start wire.

Will do!  I'm going to recheck each and every wire on the remote start harness.  I will be leaving town for a few days and wont be able to get to it for a while, but I will keep you updated.  Thanks for the reply.  I appreciate any help I can get!

Cheers,

I got the info straight out of the owners guide that came in the alarm box.

I haven't checked but I'm thinking that it is unlikely that I have connected an ignition wire to the starter.  The only reason I say this is because the wire to the starter relay was severed during installation.  One wire from the alarm is connected to the key side and another to the starter side.  When the alarm is armed it has no continuity between the two (starter kill).  I have confirmed that the car will not start while armed.  However, when the alarm is disarmed the car starts fine.  If I had an ignition wire connected in place of the starter wire I would likely not have any control over the starter at all (when starting with the key).  I still will check it out though.

As mentioned before the remote comes up with "remote start armed" and the run time is then displayed.  I was under the impression that it gave a different message when setting up for remote start, like "remote start ready" or something.  Joebubba can you confirm?

I also have the turbo timer/remote start button connected.   I haven't had a chance to get to the wiring again but I did try to set up the remote start using the button (same procedure but press the button in the car instead of the remote).  This time nothing happened initially, then the alarm chirped and the parking lights flashed seven times indicating a problem with remote start manual mode.  The remote also gave me the error tone and displayed "remote start error".

This is driving me nuts!  One thing I might try is returning the alarm to factory settings.  I have a bitwriter so I can do the "zap" to do this.  If anybody has any words of wisdom or advice or can even point out a simple (or complicated) mistake I may of made I would be more than happy to hear it.  Thanks.

Cheers,

When I set the alarm up with the bitwriter I set it to "no turbo timer".  And activating the turbo timer would just hold twelve volts on the ignition and accessory wires wouldn't it (unless of course I have made an error in wiring - still possible)?

When next I have a chance I will check over all my wiring in the remote start harness.  I will check everything suggested here.  I will also set the alarm back to defaults with the zap.  I will also reconnect the starter wire as it was pre-install and connect the starter wire from the alarm to a twelve volt light.  That way I can fiddle with it without fear of it cranking the starter while the car is running.

I will keep you guys posted and please keep the ideas comming.

Cheers,

Ok, things have gone from bad to worse.  The story so far:

I first took apart the car again to gain access to the alarm.  I connected the bitwriter and performed the "ZAP".  I then relinked the remote and taught the alarm the tach signal again.  I then followed the proceedure of brake, handbrake, release brake, press button, remove key, exit, close door, and arm.  SUCCESS!! The car shut down, the doors locked and the shift lever was displayed on the remote.  I then held my breath and pressed remote start.  The car started fine!

Next thing I wanted to do was to try and put it into pit stop mode because I knew I would be using that.  It failed.  I then tried to do the remote start setup again and it failed.  I tried a few more times and finally I was met with success again.  This time however, the car did not start.  When I pressed the button the alarm went off.  The remote gave me a "trunk open" indication.  I disarmed the alarm.  The trunk was not open, but I have the backup battery alarm trigger wired into the trunk instant trigger, diode isolated of course.

The battery had died.  Not a big problem, I figured it was because I had been starting the car and then turning it off fairly quickly so the battery didnt have a chance to charge.  I put a jump start box on the battery and started the car manually.  The battery is located in the trunk so I got out of the car and went and closed the trunk.  The plan was to let the battery charge up again by letting the car run before trying to do anything else.

The next thing I knew the starter was grinding again.  The alarm had activated it.  Immediately I jumped in and stomped on the brakes... no change.  So now I had to pull the trunk release, run to the fron of the trunk, pull the hoodpins out, take the cover off the top of the battery, find a wrench and disconnect the negative battery terminal.  All the while the poor starter is chewing itself apart.  Finally I got it off and the car shut down.

I decided to try and reconnect the battery a few minutes later.  It didnt have enough power to start the car, but it did try.  Now the alarm comes with a sticker that warns that the remote start may activate when the battery is reconnected, but I thought that was more of just a precaution than anything else.

I pulled the fuse that powers the starter relay and reconnected the battery and put on a charger.  For some reason the parking lights and the dome light were both held on, no matter what the state the car or the alarm was in.  I made what I now realize was a mistake and "ZAPPED" the alarm again thinking that something had gone wrong.  I then decided to try and start the car with the key again.  I turned the key one click (accessory position) and the car powered up and the starter cranked the engine.  I turned the key back to off and pulled it out and the car remained running.  I pulled the other two fuses in the remote start harness (that power the ignition and ignition 2) and the car shut down.

This is where I am now.  The alarm holds the parking lights and the dome light on all the time.  If I turn the key to the Accessory postition the starter cranks until I turn the key back to the Off positon.  I cannot move the key to the ignition on position to re-pair it with the remote because the starter will be cranking and the engine will start without shutting down the starter.

Going over the wiring diagram the accessory and the starter both get their power from the same 12 volt source (cant remember off the top of my head, but I think that it is the red with black stripe wire).  So new as I can figure something had gone wrong in the alarm/starter itself and power is somehow getting from the accessory output to the starter output (orange and violet wires if memory serves).  Also all of the outputs seem to be stuck in an on state (parking lights and dome light).

If I unplug the remote start harness from the alarm then everything behaves except starting because the starter wire was cut for the alarm install (starter kill).  So I am confident that my wiring is correct and that there is something wrong in the alarm.

Can I manually reset the alarm? 

I'd hate to have to purchase another one (I don't know if I can get this one exchanged if it is screwed because I did the install myself).  Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Oh, I should also point out that I have put the remote start switch in the off position and took the hand brake off and opened the hood.  None of these safety features preven the alarm from trying to start the car.

Cheers,