2008 mercury mariner, remote start

This forum has been super helpful in my research for getting ready to install a remote starter in my wife's car. I wanted to post my plan and see if y'all could give it a once over. I am comfortable making wiring connections in the car, but this is my first time for a remote starter. I am getting my vehicle wiring information from alldata. I had a couple of questions as well: 1) I am not planning on using the D2D capabilities. Can I just connect the +12V and Ground wires from the PKALL bypass unit to those on the remote starter? What am I giving up by not using D2D? 2) For the tach wire, can I go to a coil, or should I use the fuel injector wire? The car has over crank protection built in and also has one touch starting (the starter will run until the engine starts even if I release the key), so do I need to connect the tach wire at all? 3) I am routing some wires to the smart junction box under the center console, mostly because I know what these wires do and where they are, and I won't have to hunt for them in the kick panel or elsewhere. Also, I think this will make a cleaner install with one bundle going to the SJB and one going up the steering column. Do you foresee any issues with this? 4) Where is the best place to install the hood pinswitch, or does this car already have something I can use? Specifics: Vehicle Information: 2008 Mercury Mariner Premier Alarm / Remote Start Unit: Avital 4103 Bypass Module: xpresskit PKALL         Alarm / Remote Start / Bypass Unit   Vehicle      Connection     Color     Description     Color     Location: H1/1     Light Green (Black)     (-) factory alarm disarm     N/A     Not connected H1/2     Green (White)     (-) factory alarm rearm     N/A     Not connected H1/3     Yellow     (+) ignition output     Pink     HV1 on remote start module H1/4     White (Blue)     (-) activation input     N/A     Not connected H1/5     Orange     (-) ground when locked     N/A     Not connected H1/6     Brown     (-) horn output     Brown     Smart Junction Box, connector B H1/7     Red (White)     (-) trunk release output     BROWN / Yellow     Smart Junction Box, connector C H1/8     Black     GROUND     GROUND     Scraped metal in driver's kick panel H1/9     White     (+) parking light output     Violet/White     Smart Junction Box, 2 wires connectors E & D (front and back) H3/1     Black (White)     (-) safety switch input     Toggle switch     Vehicle already has starter lockout if in gear. Will connect to included toggle switch to manually control remote starter H3/2     Violet (White)     Tachometer input     Not WHITE/ Violet     One of the coils (not coil 1, both wires are the same color) H3/3     Brown     (+) brake shutdown input     Violet/White     Smart Junction Box, connector B H3/4     Gray     (-) hood pinswitch input     Hood pinswitch     Install pinswitch under hood H3/5     Blue (White)     (-) rear defogger input     WHITE/ Orange     HVAC EMTC defogger wire / switch HV 1     Pink     primary ignition output     WHITE/ Orange     Ignition Harness HV 2     Violet     primary starter output     Blue/White     Ignition Harness HV 3     Orange     accessory 1 output     Violet/Green     Ignition Harness HV 4     Red     (+) 12V high current input     Blue/Red     Ignition Harness HV 5     Pink (White)     igntion 2 output     N/A     Not connected HV 6     Red     (+) 12V high current input     Blue/Red     Ignition Harness Lock 1     Light Blue     (-) unlock output     Yellow/Violet     Smart Junction Box, connector C Lock 2     N/A N/A     Not connected Lock 3     Green     (-) lock output     Blue/Green     Smart Junction Box, connector C Sat 1     Blue     (-) status output     Blue/White     PKALL Bypass connector 2 Sat 2     Orange     (-) accessory output     N/A     Not connected Sat 3     Violet     (-) second starter output     N/A     Not connected Sat 4     Pink     (-) third ignition output     N/A     Not connected PKALL C2/1     Violet (White)     Rx data in     Violet/Grey     PATS connector on key cylinder PKALL C2/2     Yellow (Black)     Tx data out     Yellow/Orange     PATS connector on key cylinder PKALL C2/3     Blue (White)     (-) status while running     Blue     Starter module, satellite harness PKALL C2/4     Green     N/A     N/A     Not connected PKALL C2/5     Pink     ignition     Blue/Brown     PATS connector on key cylinder PKALL C2/6     Black     N/A     N/A     Not connected PKALL C1/1     Blue     12V     Red     One of the red +12V wires (HV4, 6) on the remote starter PKALL C1/2     White     N/A     N/A     Not connected PKALL C1/3     Black     GROUND     Black     H1/8 on the remote starter PKALL C1/4     Red     N/A     N/A     Not connected Preemptive thanks for any help!

Another question I forgot to include: The remote start unit I got only has 1 jumper, and the installation guide indicates it is for the parking lights. I assume this lets you output either a (+) or (-) signal. I am going to have the light wire connected to the (-) side of the relay. The installation manual doesn't indicate which jumper position I should use. In the box, the jumper is taped to the top of the unit. An older version of the manual indicates 2 jumpers (lights and tachometer) so I don't just want to use that manual. Thanks!

Do not connect h1/3 yellow wire to anything. That is only if you have an aftermarket alarm already installed. It is not needed. Set your parking light jumper for the + setting if you're getting the + violet/white vehicle wire. With that remote starter I would avoid the coil as tach signal and get an injector wire. You can get the pinout of the pcm on all data and figure out which wires are the trigger wires for injectors or if it's a 4 cylinder you can access the injectors themselves. When facing the wiper cowl with the hood open, you can pull up any one of those plastic retainers and slam a hood pin in it's place or you can source a ball bearing tilt/mercury switch and affix it to the hood.Advanced

dasbogie wrote: Do not connect h1/3 yellow wire to anything. That is only if you have an aftermarket alarm already installed. It is not needed. Set your parking light jumper for the + setting if you're getting the + violet/white vehicle wire. With that remote starter I would avoid the coil as tach signal and get an injector wire. You can get the pinout of the pcm on all data and figure out which wires are the trigger wires for injectors or if it's a 4 cylinder you can access the injectors themselves. When facing the wiper cowl with the hood open, you can pull up any one of those plastic retainers and slam a hood pin in it's place or you can source a ball bearing tilt/mercury switch and affix it to the hood.

Thanks for the input. So I won't attach the yellow H1/3 wire to anything. Looking at the diagrams again, If I attach the parking light wire to the Blue/Grey wire going from the switch to the SJB, that is the negative one. I'm still not sure which jumper position to use (not indicated in the manual which position is which). I will use an injector wire coming out of the PCM for my tach signal.

If you are going to use the vehicles negative parking light wire you will have to interrupt the switches ground wire as well. You will need one spdt relay for that. If you do not interrupt the ground wire, you will nuke your light switch. Positive parking lights are readily available at the bcm and it's right on top.Advanced

dasbogie wrote: If you are going to use the vehicles negative parking light wire you will have to interrupt the switches ground wire as well. You will need one spdt relay for that. If you do not interrupt the ground wire, you will nuke your light switch. Positive parking lights are readily available at the bcm and it's right on top.

Agreed 100%

dasbogie wrote: If you are going to use the vehicles negative parking light wire you will have to interrupt the switches ground wire as well. You will need one spdt relay for that. If you do not interrupt the ground wire, you will nuke your light switch. Positive parking lights are readily available at the bcm and it's right on top.

I thought that's what the jumper was for. You can set the jumper to either a positive output to provide power to the lights, or you could set it to a -200mA output to ground the light relay which would turn on the lights. If the jumper is set to negative, then I won't fry the light switch if I connect on the wire that runs from the switch to the SJB. I would just be providing a ground instead of the switch providing a ground. I would rather use the negative output setting on the remote starter. The documentation says that if my lights take more than 10 amps, then I would need to add a relay and wire it to the negative input wire to the SJB anyway. The wiring diagrams indicate that the lights run off of a 15A fuse. So I have 2 choices, set the jumper to negative and connect it to the ground input for the parking light relay, or set the jumper to positive and install an additional relay that would then connect to the ground of the parking light relay. Either way I am on the same wire at the SJB. So the big question remains, which position on the jumper is negative and which is positive? Thanks

On the back of the avital near the edge where the jumper is there is a little guide which shows position of jumper for which ever ouput you decide. As far as saving your light switch, you can search this forum as there have been many diyer's who have posted here after they installed their remote start their light switch either doesn't work or remains on all the time and the only way to shut it off is to pull the battery cable. It's not the remote start that poses the problem when it comes to current draw, it's how the switch is designed. It doesn't matter what remote starter you use. There is even a tag I've seen on many new f150s to not use negative at the switch. It's just how ford designed there light switches and we installers just have to interface properly. The tech doc to isolate the ground wire is available in the downloads section of this site. It will show you how to interface properly when using negative parking lights at the switch. If you're already running wires to the sjb, the + violet/white is actually one of the easiest to access. I had an 08 escape, installed an omega remote starter, powered it by the ignition switch constant 12volts and used + parking lights at the sjb. I had no issues. I'm just trying to give you fair warning about proper interfacing so you don't return here with the light switch problem. Advanced

dasbogie, thanks for the insight and the info! I will go ahead and use the positive wires out to the lights. And I found the jumper diagram, I hadn't looked on the bottom of the unit.