1999 cavalier, remote start issues
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Security and Convenience
Forum Discription: Car Alarms, Keyless Entries, Remote Starters, Immobilizer Bypasses, Sensors, Door Locks, Window Modules, Heated Mirrors, Heated Seats, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=110119
Printed Date: July 07, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Topic: 1999 cavalier, remote start issues
Posted By: hobojoe
Subject: 1999 cavalier, remote start issues
Date Posted: December 27, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Car: 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier - Auto Trans Remote start unit: Compustar 1w900FM-S, Module CM5200 Bypass Unit: DEI 556L The car will not start with the auto start system, it cranks and begins to turn over and then shuts off. I think the issue is with the bypass unit. If i put the key in the ignition and turn it to the "on" position the remote start system works and the car starts with the key fine (not using RS). The LED on the bypass unit comes on and stays on when the car is started with the key, but does not light up at all during the remote start attempt. Here is the wiring details: Bypass unit: BLACK/ white (bulb check): connected to the car, black wire in black ignition harness Black: connected to black wire on passlock wire harness Pink: connected to car ignition (pink wire, white plug) Blue: connected to RS unit - Black wire listed as "Status/Ground while running 250mA negative (-) output" Violet wire: connected to RS unit - RED / black wire listed as "2nd Starter 250mA negative (-) output" Red: 12V ignition harness
Yellow and BLACK / YELLOW: connected to cut yellow passlock wire. Thanks for the help in advance.
Replies:
Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: December 27, 2008 at 3:28 PM
put the key in the ignition cylinder, but don't turn it on, try remote starting if it does then it is a bypass problem, if it doesn't start but does when you turn the key to the on position , then it could be that you have your ignition wire mixed up with an accessory wire. just a thought.
------------- COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF.
PSALMS 37:5
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: December 27, 2008 at 3:53 PM
I think it might be the other way round depending on how the key works. If it works like the transponders on Euro cars it will shut the transponder down as soon as the key is inserted. My bets are on bypass or tach learning.
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: December 27, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Thanks for the replies, it was the bypass unit. I unplugged the power to the unit, re-learned the R-code. All is well.
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: December 28, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Car: 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier - Auto Trans Remote start unit: Compustar 1w900FM-S, Module CM5200 Bypass Unit: DEI 556L The car starts with no issues using the remote start system. However, when using the key it works fine until turning to crank. Nothing happens with the key when you turn the ignition to crank. I've tried it with two different keys to ensure that the key did not lose the R-code for the passlock system. I have checked all the fuses, all connections were soldered and are still connected, and the harnesses are in place in the ignition switch. Is there an easy way to test the ignition switch at crank? Is it possible there is an issue with the relay on the starter wire for the RS unit? Thanks
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: December 28, 2008 at 2:39 PM
make sure the bypass is wired correctly. the bypass may be trying to send a signal during a regular start making the cars sense the resistance of 2 keys. try disconnecting the ground from the bypass and then start with the key, if it starts then there is a problem with either the status wire(usually blue from the bypass, not sure what color it is on a compustart) but this wire should only be ground when you try to remotestart. also check the starterkill relay if you have one to make sure it is wired right
-------------
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: December 28, 2008 at 2:59 PM
The bypass is wired correctly because it was hooked up a week before the RS unit, everything worked fine until today. I did not wire a start kill relay, i'm starting to think the ignition swtich went bad because apparently there is a recall on it. I'm going to call the dealership tomorrow and see if the recall has been done on the car.
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: December 28, 2008 at 3:23 PM
even if the bypass was hooked up before the remote starter, it doesn't matter. what i am trying to say is to make sure that the wire FROM the remote starter TO the bypass isnt keeping the bypass on all the time. of course you wont have a problem when it's just the bypass that is installed because there is nothing else installed to activate it.
do you have a volt meter? you should test to see if the starter wire gets power when you turn the key. also check the ignition plug, it might be loose. i had that happen to me on a vett once.
-------------
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: December 28, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Here is the wiring details:
Bypass unit: BLACK/ white (bulb check): connected to the car, black wire in black ignition harness Black: connected to black wire on passlock wire harness Pink: connected to car ignition (pink wire, white plug) Blue: connected to RS unit - Black wire listed as "Status/Ground while running 250mA negative (-) output" Violet wire: connected to RS unit - RED / black wire listed as "2nd Starter 250mA negative (-) output" Red: 12V ignition harness
Yellow and BLACK / YELLOW: connected to cut yellow passlock wire. I'm worried if I disconnect the power to the bypass unit I will lose the stored r-code and then i won't be able to start the car at all. I'm going to pull the tape off the ignition side of the starter wire and test it at crank.
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: December 28, 2008 at 9:00 PM
UPDATE:
Ignition gives power at crank. Car starts with key when the RS unit unplugged, but needs the bypass unit to start.
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 02, 2009 at 1:20 PM
I will be looking at this system again this weekend. I plant on testing to see if the car will crank with 1. Both units unplugged, 2. Just RS unplugged, and 3. Just the Bypass unplugged. Any pointers after reviewing the way i have the bypass wired?
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 9:37 AM
the black wire you hooked to the passlock ground can just be grounded instead of being connected to this wire. i dont remember having to use this wire like you did even though that is what it is for.
bulb check? is your car a diesel? if not dont worry about this wire
make sure you have you yellow and yellow/blk wires connected in the correct direction
also try unhooking the pink wire coming from the bypass that you hooked to ignition and see what happens
-------------
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 9:49 AM
The blub check wire is for the bypass system. Here is the manual for the bypass system explaining the wires for the Passlock 1 system. https://www.directedstore.com/manuals/556LW.pdf Here is the RS Manual. https://www.directedstore.com/manuals/556LW.pdf
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 10:03 AM
are you sure you are dealing with passlock 1 and not passlock 2?
-------------
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 10:21 AM
COLOR POLARITY LOCATION
Battery RED (2) (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Ignition 1 PINK (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Ignition 2 WHITE (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS PCM+CLUSTER
Accessory 1 ORANGE (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS (HEAT/A.C.)
Starter 1 YELLOW (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Anti-Theft Type RESISTOR BASED SYS
Anti-Theft Descript PASSLOCK
Key Sense LIGHT GREEN (-) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Neutral Safety YELLOW (-) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Tachometer VIOLET/WHITE (AC) PIN 8 OF BLU PCM CONN PASS KICK PANEL
Speed Sense VIOLET (AC) PIN 61 PCM BEHIND DRIVERS KICK PANEL
Parking Lights BROWN (+) LIGHT SWITCH HARNESS
Brake Lights WHITE (+) AT BRAKE SWITCH
Reverse Lights LIGHT GREEN (+) AT SWITCH ON TRANSAXLE
Horn BLACK
according to this, you have passlock 1. with that said, you have too many wires connected for your bypass. you dont need the 2nd starter or bulb check wire. this is how you should wire your bypass.
red- 12v constant
black- ground
pink- ignition 1
blue- remote start (-)status output
yellow- r-code wire, key side
blk / YELLOW- r-code wire, other side. note, make sure your solder is good on this wire because any extra resistance will throw off the reading
these are all the wires you should need. hook it up like this and re-program the bypass, and try it. if that doesn't work, try a new bypass if you can or you can try it the old fashioned way
https://documents.audiovox.com/700056.pdf
-------------
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 10:29 AM
According to the instructions that came with the bypass unit the bulb check needs to be hooked to the wire on the car, and it needs a (-) starter signal from the RS unit. Is it possible that the 2nd starter out from the RS to the bypass is incorrect?
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 10:31 AM
https://documents.audiovox.com/700056.pdf
i was just reading this link and up at the top it says that passlock 1 only went up to 96. so you must have passlock 2, but you can still wire the bypass like i have it in the last post. and it seems like this was probably your problem all along because you had it wired for passlock 1. hope this helps
-------------
Posted By: soundnsecurity
Date Posted: January 03, 2009 at 10:34 AM
hobojoe wrote:
According to the instructions that came with the bypass unit the bulb check needs to be hooked to the wire on the car, and it needs a (-) starter signal from the RS unit.
Is it possible that the 2nd starter out from the RS to the bypass is incorrect?
yep, dont need it. -------------
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 2:57 PM
The vehicle is Passlock 1, passlock 1 goes from 96-99. There is no issue with the bypass wiring, if there was an issue with the bypass wiring the car would crank with the key when the bypass is unhooked. But it does not crank with the bypass unhooked WHILE the RS unit is hooked up. As long as the RS unit is plugged in the car will not crank with the key. Tested the following situations. Nothing hooked up: Cranks Just bypass hooked up: cranks Just RS unit: no crank both RS and bypass: no crank So it seems like there is an issue with the RS unit, which i'm sure everything is hooked up correctly. It had to have worked at one time because i wouldn't have been able to learn the tach if it did not. I had both units plugged in and started the car with the key to learn the tach.
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 4:06 PM
This is interesting...in theory you would expect nothing to happen with the bypass unplugged, since the R-code wire has been cut.
Stupid question, but you did cut the yellow R-code wire on the car and wire the yellow from the 556L to the key cylinder side and the BLACK / YELLOW to the BCM side, correct?
Also, what's the voltage reading on the heavy gauge yellow starter wire on the car when you're getting the "will not crank" condition?
------------- C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Well it will crank when the bypass is unplugged, but it will not turn over. Obviously because the r-code wire is cut. Yes, that is how it was wired for the bypass unit yellow starter wire (key side) gives 12.5v at crank position when the car will not crank.
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Ahh...that's making sense now.
By chance did you install a starter kill/anti-grind relay? Or otherwise cut the big yellow starter wire during your install?
------------- C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 4:38 PM
The compustar has a pre-wired starter relay for anti-grind. The starter wire (on the car) was cut and the relay was wired to the cut wire. I took the relay from another compustar system i have (installed on my 91 integra) to test to make sure the relay was good. So I ruled out the relay being bad, and double checked to make sure the starter wires were hooked up properly.
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 4:42 PM
Ok...the next thing would be to press the unlock button on the Compustar's remote(whether or not your car has power locks). Wait for the parking light flashes to confirm, then try cranking with everything plugged in.
------------- C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 04, 2009 at 8:15 PM
Thank you Chris!!! Well the car starts with the key while everything is plugged in now! Is there anyway to turn the lock/unlock feature off? since those wires are not hooked to anything. On a side note, at some point the bypass lost the the R-code and now it won't remote start (startts and shuts back off).. ugh... So next time I'll be able to re-learn the code (hopefully) and all will be well. (Yes I did make sure the tach was learned properly) Thank you again for your help! I knew I wired everything right, I'm not new to wiring cars up.
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: January 05, 2009 at 12:28 PM
There might be a program option to disable the starter kill feature. I'm not familiar with Compustar but other alarms have a setting where the anti-grind output can be set to only come on with remote start.
------------- C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 06, 2009 at 6:01 PM
So now the bypass will not re-learn the code. I have tried the learn sequence and it has not worked, the light flashes the way it's suppose to but it still does not work. The car tries to start and shuts right off, with the key in the on postion the car starts with the remote start. Yes, the bypass use to work....
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: January 06, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Hmm...check ignition output from remote start, as well as the GWR output. LED flashes suggest that the bypass has constant power and ground.
------------- C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two
Posted By: mike swanson
Date Posted: January 06, 2009 at 6:56 PM
"The LED on the bypass unit comes on and stays on when the car is started with the key, but does not light up at all during the remote start attempt".
this is what he said in his 1st post
check the GWR the light should come on during RS
Also check to see if that BP can only be programed once for 1 car only
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 10, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Ok, I was able to get the bypass to learn the R-code and start on Thursday, tested it 4 time that night. It worked Friday morning but then the bypass stopped working Friday night (starts and shuts off). I think either the bypass is faulty or just a POS product. Is it possible that the r-code for the key is hard for it to keep and I should try another key? Or should I just get another bypass?
Posted By: chriswallace187
Date Posted: January 10, 2009 at 12:30 PM
The key probably wouldn't make any difference. The R-code is sent by the lock cylinder, and the resistor isn't adjacent to the tumblers at all.
I'd say try another 556L. If it works fine, you probably have a defective bypass. If it doesn't, then the remote start may be to blame(intermittent GWR fault or something similar).
Also, how were your connections made?
------------- C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two
Posted By: hobojoe
Date Posted: January 10, 2009 at 3:02 PM
All connections are soldered, i'm going to look into getting another 556L.
|