97 civic abs light from a cs396i

Hello, I had a Command Start CS-396i installed in my wifes 1997 Honda Civic before christmas and when I picked up the car I noticed that the ABS light was on which was not when I dropped it off.  Being the idiot that I am I did not take it back in until after christmas at which time the big chain electronics store install manager told me that there was not chance that the installation of the remote start caused the lilgth to go on.  Prior to taking it back to the installer I had it scanned at a brake shop who found 7 error codes, they reset the light and the same 7 codes are coming up.  They tested the abs computers indiviually and they are fine and they cannot find anything that needs repair.

I have done some investigation and saw that it was mentioned that this can possibly be caused by not conecting all of the ignition wires properly.  I have found the wiring diagram for the 1997 honda civic from auto start indicating the cars ignition wires etc.  but I have not been able to find any kind of wiring diagram for the CS-396i indicating which wire is supposed to go where?  Any help would be appreciated. 

Yes I have a return appointment booked at the installer but being there #1 concern they cannot get me back in until for 8 weeks!!    Cheers

hernnuts

find the ignition wires (which shouldn't be too hard as you have the colors and location) and you will be able to see where the installer tied into the ignition wires. test ALL the ones left that were not tied into to see how they function and make a note of it. all those wires need to be powered by the remote start or added relays to duplicate that function. example=if you test a wire that tests as an "ignition" it needs to be powered as an "ignition", an "accessory" needs to be powered as an "accessory". i always connect all the wires in the ignition harness even if they are not required for remote start. of course this would be IF you want to try and tackle this on your own rather than wait.

hernnuts wrote:

---

Yes I have a return appointment booked at the installer but being there #1 concern they cannot get me back in until for 8 weeks!!    Cheers

hernnuts

---

WOW! That's friggin hilarious! I hope your next venture isn't an audio system, from the same, or you could be listening to static for the next decade.

Thanks for the advice, Howie yes I think they should have tried to get me in immidiately, by putting me off they are either trying to get me to fix it elsewhere or attempt to do it myself, or just give up and forget about it.  I am going to be selling the car as soon is this is fixed so I am trying to do it as quick as possible.  If when I find out what it anything is wired wrong they will be gettting a bill for the repairs, I doubt they will pay it but it will make me feel better.  As for the brake codes, they did clear them and the same codes came back upon starting the car again.  I think I forgot to mention that the same code "low ingition voltage" was the one the brake guy said was likely the one causing the other ones.  I have the codes at home I will add them tonight after work, may not make a difference.  Thanks for the advice.  I took a look at there wiring on the weekend.  Traced the wires to the ignition harness, noticed there is nothing tied into the white and black starter wire, would this be normal?  (I am a rookie at this stuff).

on a 96-98 civic there is a starter kill relay installed if your car has the factory alarm or is a manual transmission.  This relay is located to the left of the dash, in the area where you would keep your left foot while driving.  It is under the dash NOT in the kick panel.  The might have wired the starter wire after this relay, so there starter wire will not be up near the other ignition wires.  If your particular car does not have the relay, the car is still wired for one, but a jumper plug is installed. I usually tap into the starter wire there and install a starter kill relay there depending on what I'm installing.

As for your air bag light, I was thinking.  You said you had your light reset and it came back on again. The proper way to tell if its the remote starter or something with the car would be, to reset the light and discontinue the use of the remote starter.  Just start the car with the key, if it still comes on, it may not be the remote starter.  If you are using the key for a day or 2 with no light and then try the remote starter and the light comes on immediately after you use the remote starter, then I would say its the remote starter causing it.

Do you have a meter or a test light?

If so, you should know the difference in how a ignition wire tests versus a accessory wire. You ground your testing device against metal and the other probe you probe one of the ignition wires.  While turning the key an accessory wire will drop out(no voltage) while the engine is cranking, an ignition wire will continue to have voltage while the car is cranking. So if you test an ignition wire awhile using the key and it is staying on during cranking, then leave the probe on that wire and activate the remote starter.  Make sure the voltage is on while cranking also.  The remote starter has to duplicate the exact same thing on a wire as the key does. If it isn't duplicating the actions of the key then this is the problem.

Keep us updated...

Hi guys thank for the advice.  I just finished testing the ignition wires for the remote start and the key.  The BLACK / YELLOW ignition wire shows as ignition both ways, my yellow accessory wire shows as acc both ways, my white 12 volt wire shows as ignition both ways.   The BLACK/ white shows as acc with the key and has no voltage with the remote start either during or after the car is started, not sure if this is normal or not, it does get voltage once the i stick the key in and turn it to the run position.  I noticed that of the six larger wires coming out the command start unit that there is a green wire that is not connected to anything.  Also the brake shop told me that the abs light was cleared and did not come back on until the remote starter was used.  Thanks for any help in advance.  Here is the wiring info I got for my civic from autostart.

I think you lost me.

Sorry I am a retard, I was testing the wires under the dash where they come out of the wire harness there. at that point there is a white wire with a small black stripe tests acc and that comes out of the same box as the yellow acc and the BLACK / YELLOW ignition.  I have since taken the ignition plastic cover off and tested it there.  At the iginition box there is a different wire that is black with a small white stripe labeled as starter and that tests as  a starter (i feel very dumb).  However the other white with a small black wire is also there labeled as "acc" and tests as acc with the key and nothing with the remote.  The yellow wire which on my plan says is the acc wire it is labeled as 160A, may be not quite the right number but it tests as acc.  I traced this yellow wire back and it has two different wires from the command start spliced into it, is it possible that one of these is meant for the white with a little black stripe wire that tested as acc?

Ok, That WHITE/ black wire in the ignition harness is your problem.  It is listed here as an accessory 2 wire:

https://64.85.6.121/diagrams/printpage.asp?ModelID=13580&MakeID=3

You need to get that WHITE/ black wire tapped into and powered by the remote starter as an accessory.  I'm not familiar with your remote starters wiring, but usually coming off the remote starter is - 1 wire for starter, 1 wire for ignition, 1 wire for accessory.  There will be a 4th wire that will be programmable some how to act as a second ignition or second accessory.  This could be selectable as a jumper on the remote starter brain or a programmable option using the valet switch. Look at your installation manual.

As for the starter wire at the ignition column(BLACK/ white). I probably would not worry about that wire, they probably hooked that wire up correctly where ever they made that connection.  Otherwise your car wouldn't crank and actually start, correct?  So its got to be that second accessory wire not being powered up by the remote starter. Hook it up and call it a day, good trrouble shooting on your part!

Frank

Sorry I took so long to reply I was out of town for work.  So I found a manual for an auto start that is basically the same model as the command start I had with the wires ebing the same.  I has to swith the little chip to make the remaining wire act as an accesory wire.  I hooked this accesssory wire up to the second acc wire and yes it fixed the problem but did not shut the light off on its own.  This elimanted 5 of 7 codes.  There was another problem likely related to the original remote start installation, they had unplugged a 4 wire harness under the drivers kick panel that connects the abs system to the rear tire sensors, why they unplugged it I don't know.  Once this was also plugged back in the remaining codes cleared.  Thanks for all the help guys and let me be a lesson to all rookies BLACK/ white is not the same as WHITE/ black!