99 buick century ignition / remote start

I am installing an Astrostart 2006 in a 99 Buick Century. I am having some trouble, but I think I am winning now. The Astrostart 2006 only has one ignition output on the main harness. The schematic for the car shows 3 ignition lines from the key switch. I initially hooked up only "ignition 1". Engine would not crank, and I got a "Tach Sensor" code from the Astrostart. I got confused with the Vats system, but was sure I had that bypassed correctly. To shorten up a long story, I now have come to the conclusion that I probably need more than one ignition wire hooked up to get the job done. I am going to work on that today using relays to get me more ignition sources from the Asrostart. Do I need all 3 wires or can I get by with just one more? Has anyone else done this install? Great forum. I will refer to it often!Mark

GM cars are very picky and can throw errors if all ignition wires aren't hooked up. There should be 2 Ignition and 2 Acc wires on that car. The brown 2nd Acc may not be needed for remote start, but you should at the very least do both ignition wires. Should be pink for primary ignition and white for 2nd Ign. Orange is primary ACC and brown is 2nd ACC. Use your meter and test them to be sure. If they still have power during crank, it's an ignition wire. Others are ACC wires. Some GM cars, you have to hook up the ACC wires for it to crank but I don't believe this car is one of them. I've done several Buicks of different years but I always try to duplicate what the key is doing. All ignition and ACC wires. If it's not cranking at all, could be a VATS issue. If it was truly a tach issue, the car might crank for a moment and not actually start. Or start and then shut off if the system isn't seeing a valid tach signal and then attempt again. Also, the remote starter only has one ignition output? It doesn't have an extra output that can be programmed for 2nd Ignition? Or a negative trigger for 2nd Ignition to feed a relay?

shortcircuit161 wrote: GM cars are very picky and can throw errors if all ignition wires aren't hooked up. There should be 2 Ignition and 2 Acc wires on that car. The brown 2nd Acc may not be needed for remote start, but you should at the very least do both ignition wires. Should be pink for primary ignition and white for 2nd Ign. Orange is primary ACC and brown is 2nd ACC. Use your meter and test them to be sure.

According to my diagram for the Buick, there are 3 labeled as ignition and one as Acc. I know have the correct Acc, and at least one Ignition correct. I will use your advice and test for the power during crank on the other Ignition wires in the diagram. I am building a resistor pack for the VATS system right now. I had that in place temporarily once, but took it out again when the engine would not crank. I now know I had that correct, but the lack of correct Ignition wire(s) hooked up was my issue. I think one of them I have not attached powers the ECM / PCM and that is why it would not crank... not the VATS system. I will know in a couple of hours... will post a reply here. Mark

The listing for which wires are ACC and IGN are confusing since different sites have different info. Directwire lists a primary and 2 others as possible IGN and one orange ACC wire. While Omega lists a brown as ACC and all others as IGN. I always test every wire to make sure.

Got it done and working well Frank. Thank you for your help! On my Buick, the pink wire was the Acc wire as noted, and there was one additional wire that went high when the key was on and stayed that way in the start position. That wire was a heavy gauge white wire. Since my Astrostart model 2006 only had 1 ignition output, and I wanted to use my other low current outputs for horn, truck release, and dome lamp trigger... I wired in a relay (coil) to the the single ignition output and used a new 12V source for the additional ignition wire needed. The install works great, and I am happy to have a unit that has been sitting on a shelf in my shop for 6 years back in service... especially since we are struggling to get above 0˚ here for the last week or so. I will miss my horn acknowledge on lock command that I have with the factory keyless entry system. I will have to think of a way to use the lock command wire to pulse the horn wire, but keep them isolated. Not today though! I am sick of laying on my back under the dash for while! Great forum here! Keep up the great work! I will visit often!Mark

Glad to hear it's working. Enjoy it!! This winter is proving to be a bit brutal.