viper 4204 crank issue

I recently had a Viper 4204 put in my 2010 Honda Pilot. I am having an intermittent problem with it not turning over. I put it to the test today. Today it started when I left for work, once more after the kids went to daycare and a third time at lunch. The 4th time it cranked for maybe 2 seconds, didn't turn over and repeated 2 more times with no success. I took it back to the place it was installed and the installer could only come up with the battery is going bad after using a voltmeter. Said the resting voltage was only 12.2 and when the vehicle was cranking it was dropping to under 10. I had the battery tested and it comes out at 12.6 resting and full cca. I am leaning towards there being an issue with the installation. Thoughts?

it could be due to low voltage depending on how the alarm has been set up to work. i would ask the installer if the Tach wire was hooked up and if not then tell them to hook it up and program the viper to use the tach signal to start the car. the remote starter might be set to use a voltage sensing input to know if the car is running or not. some cars have a slow gradual build up of voltage when you start them instead of a sharp increase the remote starter is looking for so this could be causing the alarm to think that the car hasnt started yet and thus it shuts off and tries to start again. this is the most likely of many possibilities that can cause intermittent starting issues. other possibilities could be a loose connection, a problem with the car itself, or the remote starter programming might just need to be adjusted to a change in weather.

^Agreed.   Some of the newer directed units are very sensitive to weak/bad batteries. Could just need to relearn virtual tach, or hook up the tach wire.   Does this vehicle have an imobilizer?  If so what is happening with the theft light when its trying to start and failing?   

Definitely tach, if it was an immobiliser issue it wouldn't R/S at all.

vipercon99 wrote: ^Agreed.   Some of the newer directed units are very sensitive to weak/bad batteries. Could just need to relearn virtual tach, or hook up the tach wire.   Does this vehicle have an imobilizer?  If so what is happening with the theft light when its trying to start and failing?

The vehicle does have an immobilizer, but that is not the issue here, the remote start works half the time. There is a chip in the transponder of the OEM fob so it would never work if I had the key inside. I will suggest relearning the virtual tach or ask about the tach wire. My wife said one time she thought it revved up a lot after starting, but I have not experienced that. Could that point further to the tach issue?

soundnsecurity wrote: it could be due to low voltage depending on how the alarm has been set up to work. i would ask the installer if the Tach wire was hooked up and if not then tell them to hook it up and program the viper to use the tach signal to start the car. the remote starter might be set to use a voltage sensing input to know if the car is running or not. some cars have a slow gradual build up of voltage when you start them instead of a sharp increase the remote starter is looking for so this could be causing the alarm to think that the car hasnt started yet and thus it shuts off and tries to start again. this is the most likely of many possibilities that can cause intermittent starting issues. other possibilities could be a loose connection, a problem with the car itself, or the remote starter programming might just need to be adjusted to a change in weather.

The tech hooked up his tester to the system and said it was failing due to low voltage so I am going out on a limb and saying it is using the voltage sensing setting.

i dont know how this tech tested the voltage but a big drop in voltage is normal when the starter engages, its what happens directly after the starter disengages that matters to the remote starter. if the voltage does not go back up and climb past the battery's resting voltage fast enough then the remote starter wont see it as a successful start. it could be miscalibrated to the vehicle's voltage pattern, it could be a bad battery or maybe even a weak alternator, could be a loose or corroded connection that is causing a voltage drop. so with that being said, simply testing the battery is only a baby step to finding the real problem and fixing it.

soundnsecurity wrote: i dont know how this tech tested the voltage but a big drop in voltage is normal when the starter engages, its what happens directly after the starter disengages that matters to the remote starter. if the voltage does not go back up and climb past the battery's resting voltage fast enough then the remote starter wont see it as a successful start. it could be miscalibrated to the vehicle's voltage pattern, it could be a bad battery or maybe even a weak alternator, could be a loose or corroded connection that is causing a voltage drop. so with that being said, simply testing the battery is only a baby step to finding the real problem and fixing it.

He used a voltmeter run out of the hood and watched it while using the remote start. Not the most accurate in my opinion. In regards to the bad battery, I had it tested with a battery tester which came back as good as new. Cold Cranking Amps came back almost perfect and resting voltage was 12.6 v. I doubt it s a weak alternator, because the car has been perfect for us and turns over with the key very quickly. Connections were tested on the battery and have absolutely no corrosion. I know this, because I wipe down under the hood every time I wash the vehicle. It looks almost as good as the day it was driven off the showroom. With all that being said, I keep leaning back to everybody's original thoughts of a miscalibration or needing to hook up the tach wire.

Everybody's responses have been great. I appreciate the ideas.

i didnt really mean that battery terminal corrosion would have that effect but what i meant was that if the tach wire was ran into the engine compartment and hooked up then that connection could be corroded. it wouldnt be something you would know about unless you really look at it. a corroded or loose tach wire could cause those problems. thats all i really meant by that statement.