viper 5501 ’94 volvo 850

Trying to get a Viper 5501 installed in my '94 Volvo 850 2.4L. I found multiple wire diagrams on the internet and all of them have the same wire color information.

With my Viper 5501, I hooked up Starter 1, Ignition 1, Accessory 1 and 12v Constant to the appropriate wires per the wire diagrams. Also hooked up the RED / black (accessory/starter input) to 12v constant as well. Tapped power for brain off of 12v constant, grounded the ground on H1 along with the neutral safety switch to a know good location under the dash. Plugged in the toggle switch and set it to on.

Programmed viper per manual (set transmission mode to automatic, changed tach sensing to voltage) done.

Tested remote starting and it worked! Shut down with remote. Tried to remote start again with remote and the main vehicle power shut off, but came back shortly. Tried remote starting again and vehicle power shut off again. Tried starting with the key and it just cranks and cranks with no start.

I have tried locking/unlocking many times with factory remote to no avail. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm currently without a vehicle. Thanks all!

After unplugging all connections from the Viper brain, disconnecting power to the vehicle for approximately one minute the vehicle starts again. Also noticed the viper brain is not holding programming and doesn't recognize when a door is closed even tho I have it hooked up to the appropriate wire that has been meter verified.

On a side note, I had everything working correctly, but as soon as I unplug the power to the vehicle, its a complete crap shoot if it will work or not when I reconnect the power to the vehicle. Went on a short drive and the engine randomly shut down as I was driving. All the wires I tapped into have been metered and verified to be the correct wires. What else could be wrong?

Some thoughts:-
Bad solder joint
Immobiliser by-pass required? Did it start with the key in the ignition?
The engine shut down seems to be an ignition/fuel pump problem.
Look at fuel pump relay.
Damaged engine management?


-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

When it lost power was that complete failure or was the ignition still engaged?
Where did you connect TACH? Bosch injection/ignition systems on Euro GM and VW have given me grief in the past with tach leads connected to an injector wire.
You could even have a faulty ignition switch.


-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

sounds like a loose connection to me. maybe when you soldered the wires the wire got hot enough to melt the main plug a little bit and its allowing the wire ends to jump in and out of contact

-------------

No Immobilizer required. Wouldn't remote start with key key in ignition.
Damaged engine management? - I suppose it could be a weird coincidence. Car seemed to be working fine before installing remote start.
When the car died the engine shut off but everything else remained on.
Ill check the fuel pump relay.
this is just baffling to me as the correct wires have been tapped. The viper brain I bought was a refurb. Is it possible that it was faulty and messed somethong up? Thanks again everyone!

Please don't tell me that not only was it refurbished but via fleabay.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Oops. And also after looking at everything...I think the viper brain is messed up and shorted something out in my car. And since I'm not an authorized installer and since I bought it on eBay I suppose I have zero recourse?

the only thing you might be able to do is have the seller swap the brain if it was bought from a reputable ebay store. if you just bought it from some random guy then im afraid there isnt much you can do. the fact that it wont hold programming and wont recognize your door trigger i think says it all.

-------------

Another brain would be great, however, since hooking it up last night and trying to remote start it...the car will not start. Even with viper brain unplugged from the car. I think when i tried to remote start it the first time, the brain fried something internally on my car as there was a big blue spark from the negative terminal of the battery when i tried to remote start it a second time last night.

all i can say is make sure you checked every fuse in every fuse box and inspect every bit of wiring you can see for signs of damage. look at contacts and circuit boards for signs of burnt traces. check anywhere you put a screw and where you drilled through the firewall for the siren because maybe you drilled into something you shouldn't have or grazed a wire harness with a drill bit leaving some cut or exposed wires.

-------------

No holes were drilled. No screws added. Only tapped 2 constant 12v wires @ ignition harness as well as starter, ignition and accessory. Power for brain was tapped on constant 12v before the fuse. Good known ground was used. Can get car to start by unplugging car for a minute. Starts rough and idles fine. As soon as i put it in reverse and back up a little bit the transmission light starts blinking and the car dies and won't start until process is repeated..

Unfortunately for you, you've discovered the hard way why the instructions say "not for DIYers, get it done professionally".
Also maybe in future you won't be in a rush to buy second hand product from fleabay.
Unless you find a blown fuse or non-continuity to your ignition switch or a burnt out wire, taking it to a pro now is probably equal to writing off the car.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

I've installed about 20 remote starts just like this one with no problems. All of the wires that were tapped in to were metered first. The reason it was bought on ebay and installed myself is i wasnt about to pay $400 to have a remote start installed in my winter beater that's worth about that much. Guess I just thought the whole reason for this forums was for "diyers" to get help...thanks anyways.

cpuguy06 wrote:

---

I've installed about 20 remote starts just like this one with no problems. All of the wires that were tapped in to were metered first. The reason it was bought on ebay and installed myself is i wasnt about to pay $400 to have a remote start installed in my winter beater that's worth about that much. Guess I just thought the whole reason for this forums was for "diyers" to get help...thanks anyways.

---

obviously something was hooked up wrong. ive seen a lot of things go wrong with remote starters over the years but the truth of the matter is that its not possible for a properly installed remote starter to hurt a car like what happened in your case.

the ignition functions are done through internal relays so they will either work or they wont. if the remote starter somehow sent ground to a 12v wire then there would be a blown fuse somewhere.

either you damaged a wire somewhere and it is hanging somewhere unhooked or grounded out or you hooked one of your other wires, (door pin maybe?)to something it should not be hooked to. i will almost guarantee that if you investigate your whole install that you will find something wrong with something.

-------------

The car wasn't starting due to a bad throttle position sensor...coincidence that it stopped working at the same time as the remote start was installed?? Eh, working now so immaterial. Got that replaced and the car starts fine without remote start connected. As far as the remote start connections...
-Door trigger (+) is hooked to a yellow/white wire that shows 0 volts when the door is open and 12 volts when the door is closed.
-(2) Constant 12v wires both show 12 volts all the time and 14 and some change when car is started.
-Accessory wire shows 12 volts when the ignition is on, but car is not started. When the car is cranking (car starts pretty quickly after initiating start), the voltage dips down to 1 volt and then comes back up to 14 when the car starts.
-Starter wire shows 12 volts when cranking but no other time.
-Ignition wire shows 12 volts when key is put in the run position and dips down to around 10-11 volts when cranking and then comes back up to 13-14 volts.
-Power for the brain is tapped off of the 12 volt constant.
-Ground is attached to bare area of metal with a screw.
-Brake (brown) shows 12 volts when brake pedal is pressed and 0 when its not.
-Neutral position switch is attached to same place as ground.
I'm definitely open to suggestions, but I think everything is hooked up correctly...Thanks again!

ok. your door pin is backwards, you should be using the negative door pin wire if it shows 0v when the door is open. this still doesnt explain not holding the settings in memory though.

-------------

Sorry, Mis typed. Is hooked up to green wire on viper brain which is negative door trigger.

And now it's morning here I would have made exactly the same point that Soundnsecurity made about the R/S not causing the grief.
I also mentioned ECU originally so don't dare accuse us of not giving advice.
Your ground is wrong, a self tapping screw will
a)Make a poor ground.
b)Work loose.
Use a an M6 (10mm spanner) bolt at the firewall and scrape the paint away, or even an existing ground bolt, contrary to the instructions there's nothing wrong with that.
Assuming you're using a crimped and or soldered ring terminal.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

A)Nothing wrong with ECU...the viper brain is messed up. After all I did buy it on "fleabay".
B)I didn't use a self tapping screw. I used an existing one. Sorry I left that detail out.
Thanks again!

Aside from the possible bad "Re-Furb" Viper unit, found this info that lists a second Ignition wire.  Sounds like you
already throughly checked the vehicles ignition harness properly with a DMM and would have found it.  These wire
guides are usually lacking in accuracy and testing everything with a DMM is always the best way to go.

Constant 12 volts       RED   IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Ignition          BLUE/RED   IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Ignition #2   BLUE / YELLOW         IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Starter          GREEN/ RED IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Accessory    YELLOW/VIOLET      IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS

The Viper comes factory defaulted to Flex Relay Output ( Pink/White ) = Ignition1, so no programming required.

Another possible "dumb" thought :  Are the Vipers RED, Red, RED / White and RED / Black wires all connected to +12V
constant?

Think I would go with Tach Mode and connect to the Blue wire at the vehicles coil.  More reliable starts in all
weather conditions.

 

-------------
Soldering is fun!

And what does the throttle position sensor go straight to? Oh look engine management (ECU).
No way could the alarm if correctly wired have done that.
Why don't you try hot wiring from your connections to see if it starts, you should only need a constant feed, ignition 1 and then flash it to the starter, key out, parking brake on and vehicle in neutral.
That should ascertain if your wiring is OK.
You aren't getting 7 flashes are you when you try the R/S?

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

@Kreg - I hadn't found the second ignition so thanks for pointing that out! As far as the wires to constant...all but RED / white are as RED / white was for ignition 2 and I wasn't aware of a second ignition. I'll meter that wire and connect it.

@Howie - Yes it does, however, you said damaged engine management...the engine management was fine, it was a part connected to the engine management that was faulty. Slight difference. The remote start has been wired correctly since I first connected the wires. I metered first and nothing was connected incorrectly. The only thing apparently missing is the second ignition which wouldn't have caused damage either by not being connected. Hence why I think the Viper brain is hosed.

Kreg - Just to clarify...RED / White goes to constant 12 volts and the Pink/White (Ignition 2 / Flex Relay Output) goes to the second ignition wire (Blue / YELLOW)?
Thanks again guys!

Yes, that is correct for the Viper H3 harness. 

-------------
Soldering is fun!

When I said engine management ECU that was where to start looking and I was proven right as usual wasn't I.
If there was a management problem you'd be going nowhere and I'm sure Kregg and Soundnsecurity will back me up here so don't try to score points.
We gave you advice without prejudice.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

If you want to get technical...No, you weren't right....the ECU was fine. AND the Viper was wired to all the correct wires in the first place (save not connecting one ignition), though I do appreciate you offering up suggestions...

All that aside, since everything is wired correctly (and has been), there must have to be something messed up with the Viper brain...no?

i think you missed my point, which was that a faulty brain still wouldnt cause any physical permanent damage to the car unless something was not wired right to begin with. you missed a whole ignition wire which could have been powering up any number of vital functions like the fuel pump, ECM, BCM, etc. trying to run the engine without these can cause physical problems.

if it was powering the fuel pump then that explains why your engine ran on the first try because the pump was still primed with gas, but when you tried to start it again you started having problems.

-------------

All valid points...Right now I'm just thinking that the throttle position sensor dying was a coincidence.

What I forgot to mention (I apologize) is that after unplugging the negative terminal on the car for 1-2 minutes, plugging it back in and attempting remote start...the car remote started. I stopped it, and waited a 30 seconds or so and remote started it again and stopped it. Waited another 30 seconds to a minute and started it with a key, backed it up and down the drive way, pulled back into the garage and shut it off. Waited another 30 seconds or so and remote started and stopped it again without problems.

I disconnected the negative terminal again for 1-2 minutes, made no wire changes, plugged it back in and the Viper brain had lost its programming. Fine, so I reprogrammed and attempted remote starting. This time it failed. Only change I made was from Manual to Automatic transmission mode.

If it is my wiring, OK. If it is the Viper brain, alright. But why does it start and work fine one minute and then cause problems and do weird things the next? Also, is it normal for the Viper brain to forget its programming after losing power? The last few I've installed haven't...maybe they changed something?? Seems like not a wise thing to do, but I have no idea.

most alarms will do strange things when they lose ground but still have everything else hooked up.  so i guess its possible for it to lose programming. are you using a bitwriter to program or the valet button?

-------------

With the valet button. Worth picking up a bitwriter?

a bitwriter is only worth it if you regularly install viper alarms but it gives you access to a few other features and maybe some extra options for certain settings. it also lets you lock the program functions and lock the keypad programing so noone can change settings or add keypads unless you unlock it with a bitwriter. 

my reason for asking was to ask if you were sure you programmed the right settings or maybe changed a setting by accident that you didnt mean to. just a thought.

-------------

I was pretty sure I programmed it correctly, but I could have definitely done it incorrectly. Only needed to change one item in the third menu so, turned key to click just before start, then back off. Held valet button until the light flashed three times. I wanted to access the first option, so I clicked it once, let up and then pushed down and held it until it flashed the value of option 1. It was 1 flash so I hit the unlock button on the remote until it flashed twice. At which point I let off the valet button, turned the key back to the position just before start and then turned it off. That right?