viper smartstart in a 2nd gen mdx

godd dan it wrote: Im not that familar with Idatalink, so the model of the Idatalink would be helpful. Theres 9 different ones for your vehicle.

That may be difficult. Nothing on my invoice says what it is and I still don't know where the unit would be installed (under the dash, under the hood?) so not sure where to look. And would the model # be easily readable once I locate the unit? This is frustrating that this forum doesn't allow multi quoting.

godd dan it wrote: Ok I was wrong. The 5101 does have a panic mode. I guess if the installer hooked up the factory horn, then it should work. Horn function says its for both "confirmation honk and panic" according to the manual. I just installed a Viper 5901 system not long ago. Basically the same system, but with an alarm. Didnt hook up the gray wire at all. It still works. It is a safety feature, but if you dont want to use it.....you dont have to.

Then my guess is he did not hook up the factory horn as we have no honk confirmation either. I do not actually *want* a horn confirmation as our vehicle doesn't do that from factory. We have a nice soft beep. But I've lost that when I use the phone app. The factory fob still causes the beep though. So, I'm fine without the horn confirmation or in panic, but wonder where the beep went? So with the 5901 you did, did the vehicle start with the hood open? I'll have to track down this gray wire, maybe it's touching something it shouldnt be and making it think the hood is open.

It should be under the driver's side dash. The bypass module should look like this. http://store.idatalink.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=1  Its not that big. I dont know if it will have a model number on it or not.

Yes you can still remote start it if the gray wire isnt hooked up. And it doesnt matter if the hood is open or not. You said there is no hood pin switch installed. Its either touching something or (read below).

Its possibly that the Idatalink bypass module has a "hood pin status output". If the gray wire was hooked up to that and the bypass isnt working correctly, that could be your problem too.

godd dan it wrote: It should be under the driver's side dash. The bypass module should look like this. http://store.idatalink.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=1  Its not that big. I dont know if it will have a model number on it or not. Yes you can still remote start it if the gray wire isnt hooked up.

I'll see if I can locate it although it might be too cold in the garage already to spend anytime in there after recovering from being sick the last 2 days. What I meant by the grey wire, was did your 5901 start with the hood open? The guys at Acura told me that the systems are supposed to have it set up so they do NOT start when the hood is open. I would like mine to be set up this way and want to know if it can be without the grey wire hooked up.

Read my post above. I added more info.

I used to work at a Honda dealership installing. Worked on a few Acuras while I was there too. I remember when I installed Flashlogic CAN modules (same thing as Idatalink) and they had the hood pin status output if I remember correctly. Ive hooked it up on a Pilot before, popped the hood while it was remote started, and it didnt work. I think it did work once on a certain model Pilot....I cant remember. So its possibly that your MDX doesnt support the hood pin status output from factory. If the installer hooked up the gray wire to the Idatalink bypass....maybe thats the problem? I dont know.

Thanks. I am understanding more how this works now. The unit worked once it left the installer's place, this is just since Acura did the work fixing the module the installer fried. They had to unhook the units to do their work and they hooked it up again after and obviously made an error. I believe I found my iDatalink module on my receipt. The ADS-AL CA http://store.idatalink.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=20 Funny thing is, if I browse by vehicle on iData's site, that model doesn't come up for the MDX, but when I find it manually it does says it's compatible with my vehicle.

Sorry, didn't realize this forum didn't automate links and I am not allowed to edit so here is the link again http://store.idatalink.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=20

cerulean~blue wrote: I believe I found my iDatalink module on my receipt. The ADS-AL CA http://store.idatalink.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=20 Funny thing is, if I browse by vehicle on iData's site, that model doesn't come up for the MDX, but when I find it manually it does says it's compatible with my vehicle.

Yup...the ADS-AL CA does have a hood output. Im guessing the installer hooked up the gray wire from the Viper system to the ADS-AL CA. Like I said, if the MDX doesnt support this and its hooked up, it might not allow you to remote start the car. I could be wrong though.

So if this is the problem....have your installer install a hood pin switch and hook the gray wire to it. Then you will have your saftey feature that you want.

I haven't been able to get inside the vehicle and look around as the kids would be alone, but I've confirmed that our vehicle does have a hood sensor. Our manual specifically states that the alarm will not arm if the hood is open and if the security system is armed, opening the hood will set off the alarm. This means to me that the grey wire should be connected, correct? I will verify that tomorrow. That wouldn't explain why it won't start when the hood is closed though.

cerulean~blue wrote: I haven't been able to get inside the vehicle and look around as the kids would be alone, but I've confirmed that our vehicle does have a hood sensor. Our manual specifically states that the alarm will not arm if the hood is open and if the security system is armed, opening the hood will set off the alarm. This means to me that the grey wire should be connected, correct? I will verify that tomorrow. That wouldn't explain why it won't start when the hood is closed though.

Like I said before, if the gray wire isnt hooked up at all, the remote starter should still work. If the gray wire is hooked up to the Idatalink module and theres a problem with the module, then that could keep it from being able to remote start. Or if the gray wire is touching ground.

Seems like the installer really messed up. You said he fried a control module right? Thats not something I would do. So my only guess is that the gray wire on the Viper system is not properly hooked up.