2005 explorer, avital 4303l

Hello everyone. Just wanted to note that the information given on this site during all of my research is absolutely phenomenal. A lot of individuals should be paid! So here's the scoop...I have the Avital 5303 ready for install and have a couple of basic questions. I have read through much of the stickies on this site, a bunch of Explorer threads, and the pictorial for the Mountaineer/Explorer. I was thinking to use the idatalink ADS-TB since idatalink seems to have high regards here. The installation guide makes it seem that it would be plug in and just program with the 2 keys. I feel that I am missing some information that is kind of scattered or I just didn't find on here. I see in descriptions that the idatalink has a harness that has a bunch of wires that do not get used. It seems to only need ground, 12v constant, and GWR for power, and the ignition connections. I get all that, but what I do not get is knowing what exactly is needed to connect the doors from the Avital unit. 1) The system shows different zones for door triggers -- why? lol. 2) I see labels such as door trigger input for these different zones -- what do these do? 3) I have done the factory alarm test and I do not have one, nor do I want it (that's why I bought one), but would activating the door lock from the Avital remote enable the alarm for the Avital while just having the negative door lock outputs connected? 4) Does it make a difference with the unit that the stock remote requires a double tap to unlock all doors? Also, If there is a better bypass that will meet my needs, chime in! I just want this system hooked up to start my truck in the frigid temps, be an alarm, pop my tailgate glass, lock and unlock my doors, and not be like a Galaxy S4 battery and explode lol. I do not have all the fancy extras like heated seats and crap. If there any additional suggestions for me, let me know! Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance!

Hello,    somewhere on this site is an Explorer of this generation alarm/remote start install with some pictures in it. You'll have to do some searching for it. 2002-2005 are basically the same. 1) the 5303 has 3 trigger inputs: 1 is for the trunk, the second is for the hood, and for the 3rd its for the doors. The doors has 2 inputs to it, the green negative door trigger or the purple positive door trigger. The reason the 3rd has 2 types of inputs is to make it more flexible to the different types of cars out there. You'll only use one or the other based on what car you have. In your case you will be using the Purple Positive input. 2) The different Zones will alert your remote in different ways. When someone opens the hood while the alarm is armed you will see the hood open on your remote as it pages you. If the shock sensor goes off you will see a hammer symbol next to the windshield appear as the remote pages you...etc. 3) Yes, and you will be just using the Negative lock/unlock off the Avital to the negative lock/unlock on the Explorer. Depending on the wiring diagram you have, it may also list lock/unlock "motor" wires. Those wires you will not be using. 4) Hooking up the door lock/unlock as stated in #3 all the doors will unlock at once. You will loose that feature unless you want to add it using the 2nd unlock wire off the Avital as well as a relay and some extra wiring. If want that the doors act like the factory remote, I can list how you would wire it up. Some thoughts: The Positive door trigger: The easiest way to wire in the door trigger is to just use the BLACK/ blue dome light wire. This will detect all doors including the hatch and the rear glass. Therefore the trunk trigger wire off the avital will not be used. You will need a relay to convert the negative trunk trunk release wire off the Avital to a Positive signal for the Explorer to be able to pop the glass at anytime(even if the doors are locked) Now here is my thought. If the doors are locked then most likely the Avital is armed. Since you are using the BLACK/ blue dome supervision wire as a door trigger, when you pop the glass the dome light will go on telling the Avital a door is open. Will that set of the Avital alarm...hmmm not sure. I think it will. See if you were able to use the separate trunk trigger off the Avital, I know the Avital will ignore the trunk trigger when you pop the glass. I don't think it will ignore the door trigger though. SO you would most likely need to unlock the doors, then pop the glass. Ok... Now since you would have to unlock the doors to pop the glass anyway. There is another option to pop the glass that doesn't need a relay, but requires that the doors be unlocked first to work. You get where I'm going with this? So that wire will test as a negative when you press the button on the outside of the hatch near the license plate. The best place to test for this wire is at the connector going out to the hatch at the rear roof of the car. You will see a plastic trim in the trunk on the roof at the edge of the headliner going from left to right. Pop that off and you will see the rear hatch harness. Both your Positive and negative glass release wires are in there. Test for which one you want up at that connector in the roof and write down the colors. You can find the same wires in the drivers side rear door sill. test for them there. Makes it a little bit easier so you don't have to run a wire all the way to the roof. In running wires to the roof you would have past the same wires that are in that rear door sill anyways...LOL As for the bypass, I personally use the Idatalink TB unit as well, but that needs to be programmed using Idatlink's USB programmer. Plus to access the programming section on their website you need to be a registered dealer. I personally have used Fortin's Key-override-all or Key-override-SL2 for years on Fords and NEVER had a problem. They come pre-programmed. I mainly do newer Fords now and their encryption on the keys has changed. I can no longer use them for the newer Fords, so I use the TB now because they can be used on newer and older Fords and I only need to stock the one piece. You'll need 2 original Ford keys to program either bypass. No cloned keys will work. Wow, ok Thats my thoughts. Other then that, its a pretty easy install. Ignition wires are easy to get to as well as the transponder wires. You won't be using the Pink/White heavy gauge wire for this car so just tape it off. Brake wire is easy to get to at the pedal. You can find parking lights at the switch or the kick panel. Door locks and Door trigger are in the drivers kick panel as well. And glass pop is under the drivers side rear sill plate. oh and its easy to get through the firewall for your siren and hood pin Switch and tach. I use a mercury switch for the hood pin. I also run a ground wire from inside out to be shared with my siren and my mercury switch. This way it doesn't corrode from being under the hood. For tach signal, use an uncommon wire at one of the fuel injectors. Avital's don't like the wire off the coil on Fords, they like the fuel injector signal.

Flobee, Thank you for the very detailed response! I did mention that I checked out the thread you suggested about the install, but the vagueness of the information led me to my questions. No biggie. Lol For number 1, just to be clear, you mentioned the different triggers. I am under the assumption that “trigger” is what sets off the alarm, not locks/unlocks the doors? I know there are separate wires(-) for the door locks like you mentioned. For number 4, I would like all doors to unlock at once, so we are good there. 1) You stated that the trunk release would need to be converted to a positive signal to pop the glass, but later said that the trunk release would test negative at the harness when the button is pressed? I’m confused…. 2) My complete understanding is that if the dome light turns on period, with the alarm on, it will set off the alarm, making any popping of the glass useless unless unlocked. Am I right? Thank you for the heads up on the bypass needing to be programmed by the way. I took your statement and experience with the Fortin products into consideration and purchased the Key-Override-All. What is this mercury switch you mentioned using for the hood pin? And are butt connectors generally frowned upon for the install? I am an Electronics Engineer and have no problems with soldering, but if at some point I sell the car, it may make removal of the unit easier. At least for the thinner wiring.

hello, yes I mean the triggers that set off the alarm. 1 & 2)I did mention both Positive and Negative for popping the glass. There are 2 wires that can open the glass. One is Positive and is listed in the data sheets. If you use the positive wire to pop the glass you will need a relay to convert the RED / white wire off the 5303 to a positive. Also if you use the positive, you would be able to open the glass at all times. Even with the doors locked. The result of popping the glass with the doors locked would most likely result in the 5303 going off because the dome light would turn on. Now there is also a Negative wire that pops the glass. It tests off the button on the hatch. It will only pop the hatch if the doors are unlocked. It is not listed on any of the Data sheets that I know of, but its there. Since the RED / white off the 5303 is already negative, once you find the wire you can connect directly to it. Since you need to unlock the doors first(therefore disarming the 5303). The 5303 would not trip when you pop the glass. As for butt connectors, They are used when you cut a wire and need to joined them back together. In you install the only place where you might use butt connectors are for the starter kill, which are the heavy gauge purple and green wires. You are supposed to cut the starter wire on the explorer in half. Then the purple wire connects to the half going towards the starter and the green wire connects to the half heading back towards the key cylinder. I rarely connect that anymore as your car has a transponder system that won't let the car be hot wired anyway... So I usually just cut back the green wire and only us the purple wire. When you only use the purple wire, you will be tapping into the explorers starter wire, not cutting. As for all your other wires you will be tapping into not cutting, so butt connectors will not be advised. there are something called T-Taps. search for them on ebay. You will need both Red and Blue ones. You can also search youtube to see how they are used. Don't use them on the ignition wires. Those you would want to connect directly to by stripping back a section off the insulation. Then poking a hole in the middle of the exposed wire. Then thread your remote starter wire through the hole and start wrapping it around the main wire. tape it with a good quality black tape such as scotch super 33. Sorry, you will need red butt connectors also to connect the siren to the siren wire and connecting the mercury hood switch to the hood trigger of the 5303. This is a mercury hood switch: This is one installed(borrowed from a member on here):

I appreciate the info I have been provided with so far. Here's what I have figured out from the various guides for wire colors, locations, etc. There are a few that I don't even know if they need to be connected. Also, The Fortin bypass says it needs a ground when running(GWR) from the RS. However, the stupid install guide quick reference doesn't list that, but rather it has ground when armed... 2 of them! If someone could clue me in as to if that is just improper terminology on the part of 2 different companies, that would be great. Please help me fill in my blanks! lol