Prostart install on ’96 Jetta

I would like some tips and forewarns before I try to install this prostart kit on my 96 Jetta (5spd). Anything I should watch out for? Will I need additional relays for doors/trunks/lights? wire tapping tricks for that hard to reach wire in the kick panel? do you know someone, who knows someone, who might know someone, who's installed this on a jetta before? :) any tips,help,suggestion is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Andrew

ACK. Those are not comforting words! I guess I will just have to play a game of roulette and bet on the 30%.

I spent the morning working on it, and so far I have the ignition harness wires soldered and taped. Will get onto the other 24 wires in a little bit. The installation is pretty straight-forward... That is, AFTER, I figured out what a kick panel is, and what the heck a firewall is, on a car. As someone who's never worked on any car electronics, I was quite hesitant to cut that big, thick, +12volt wire at first!

It was rainy and cold while I was working on it, that just reminded how much I will be needing the RS in the winter time. I got hungry, but had not finished installing, so I managed a trip through McD's drive-thru with dangling wires under my foot. Ever so cautious the clutch was not crushing my precious little wires. :)

From what I read in the past posts, a lot of people seem to have problems with doors. Anything special about the Jetta doors (and trunk)? Negative feed or positive?

Cheers,

Andrew

I am working on the doors and trunk now. My RS/keyless unit gives off 500mA neg pulse, but my doors and trunk require positive pulses. I suppose I will need a relay to reverse the polarity. My question is: on the relay, is it safe to splice and draw power for the 12v from the 12v wires going into my RS/keyless brain? I believe the 12v wires going into the RS brain are splices from the ignition harness (are they constant 12v?)

Please get back to me soon, I am off to pick up some relays.

Thanks in advance.

Andrew

Update on the Installation:

* Below are some notes and my log of the installation. From a first time installer to other beginners doing the same. *

I bought some relays today and have since started to put together the parking light "isolator". As noted on various diagrams: Gen III VW's need a SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw) relay to isolate the parking light at the switch side. The lamp switch to the left of the steering wheel is connected to a whole bunch of wires other than the parking lamp and head lamp. The output from the RS/KE will interfere with the other connected components if not isolated properly. Also note, after removing the plastic cover left of the switch there's a wedge-clip that keeps the switch mount in the panel. Simply push little wedge in, and pull switch out to reveal connector and wires.

There was not as much progress made today as I had hoped. Mainly because I had to run around trying to find relays and buy wires. I ended up running out of wire due to several incorrect splices. Anyways, live and learn. Yesterday was my first time using a soldering iron, and today I feel like a pro wielding it ;)

Cheers!

Andrew

Update on the Installation:

The install is now complete... sort of.  I ran into the problem Jeff mentioned about ProStart not be able to program. After ten thousand programming attempts and two product exchanges later, I figured out the failure was not due to product not functioning properly, but because of the a slight trick to programming it on a 1996 VW Jetta. I did not install the output from RS to 'second ignition' (in my case, a key sense trigger). Regardless, the system finally did program when I did not turn the key all the way to 'OFF' as it had indicated in the programming procedures. Instead, the key I turned from RUN to ACCESSORIES position (which is as good as off), and it programmed fine. The door, trunk, lock/unlock works properly now, but car will not remote start. I was unable to locate the parking brake wire (-) so the system cannot be set in Ready Mode. I will try again when we snow falls, it'll serve as a stronger motivation to correct it when I'm freezing my butt off. Anyways, I hope this help anyone who's had the same problem, or getting ready to install a ProStart on their car.

Regards,

Andrew

Hmmm, of the almost 4000 prostarts returned "defective" last year,  0.8 % actually had problems that needed repairing.

Hey, no edit button in here ? odd.

try:

BROWN / Yellow (-) at relay 173, on the back side of the relay bank. <-- this is from a 98, but I think they are the same, no ?

Ahh fantastic. Thanks Derek. I followed the relay open/close clicks yesterday and briefly tested that wire, but it didn't work. Thanks to you I tried it again today and it worked great. I have since finished the installation and packed it all up.

The hardest part of the install was working with the light switch wires. They barely cleared the dash bracket with I pulled out the switch. Nasty bugger with short wire length makes for extra pains in the buttocks.

The only problem I have now is that the alarm sets off whenever I remote start the car. I suppose that may be corrected with some additional programming options. I haven't had the chance to play with it yet.

Andrew,

Was your install on a Manual or Automatic Transmission. I am wondering if you needed to imploy a clutch bypass and how you may have done it.