VIPER 550 ESP problem

Try this first.... look at the fuses under the dash and in the engine compartment for any burned fuses. Then go under the driver dash ( if you can not see any burned fuses ) and look for the remote starter unit and find the inline fuse for the system. There will always be two fuses ( about 30 amps each and they are green in color ). Check these fuses...... go to the next step as last resort

• Try to look under the driver dash area and find the installer remote starter and unplug the harness that is plugged into it. There will be about 3 or 4 on the Viper. I will assume that the starter disable is installed too, so if you do this you may not be able to start the car at all.

Hey suayan1,

From what you describe, you didn't do anything that would normally damage the remote starter nor the car.  It really sounds like an ACC fuse would have blown under the hood. . . but the question is WHY?   The only possible reason would be a current spike whereas the car would have had to feed over the limit of the fuse.  What other accessories do you have?  Do you have a cell phone adapter that plugs into the lighter socket?  I've noticed on some cars that these adapters short out the socket.  I'm really curious as to what might have happened...keep us posted.

Hey cpgoose,

Don't get confused between the fuses that feed the coils of the relays and the fuses that feed the circuits in the car. 

Hey Jeff,

BTW it can't be the fuses on the r-starter cause there's acc power with the r-starter but not with the key.

Quote: Originally posted by Big Dog on August 14, 2002
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Hey cpgoose,
Don't get confused between the fuses that feed the coils of the relays and the fuses that feed the circuits in the car. 
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So what should the correct fuses be?  On the 4-relay satellite, there's 2 red power
wires that go to 12v+ in the car.  Both of those have 10amp fuses.  Then there's
a smaller red wire that goes from one relay to another in the satellite, and that's
also 10 amps...are these the correct sizes?

Hey cpgoose,

To be honest...no it's not what's usually there.  The Big Red wires that have the inline fuseholders normally have 30 amp fuses and the small red has 3 amps.  Why they're all 10 amps I don't know.  It doesn't mean that it won't work, it just means that one might blow if the heater is turned up full blast or if the starter motor draws heavily as it ages.  If I were you I'd change it before running into trouble,  and to be on the safe side, change the small red fuse to 3 or 5 amps max. 

syayan1:

1.  I apologize for sort-of taking over your post with my own question...I didn't
realize it until now.

2.  I think you blew a fuse, too.  Did you check your fuses like VELOCITY MOTORS said?
Check the ones under the dash (by your feet or knee), and also the ones under the hood.

But like BIG DOG said, there has to be a reason WHY you blew a fuse (if in fact you did).
Do you in fact have other accessories (like the cellphone adapter) like he said?

The other day I blew a fuse and I couldn't tell which one.  My radio, air conditioning,
and a bunch of other things (like you said) didn't work.  I checked all of the fuses under
the dash and under the hood, but they were all ok.  Then I realized that I forgot the
"blower" fuse under the dash.  It looks different from the "blade-type" fuses (like these below):

It's a bigger fuse like this (I couldn't find a picture (or name), but it looks like this from the side):
      __
__|__|__

When I replaced it, everything worked again.  That could be your problem.  But again, there
has to be a reason why it blew.

PS- Not sure how to check the fuses?  Go here:
https://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/45791/article.html#

Hey suayan1,

Before you have it towed anywhere, find out if one of the guys will come out to your car to have a look if it isn't too far away,  most shops would.  Like I said before it isn't the remote starter's fuses that are the problem especially since the BLUE/RED ACC wire in the car is not required for remote starting hence it probably isn't even connected to the remote starter.  It's an ACC fuse under the hood for sure.  It might be that the amp is connected to the ACC line and the volume might have been left wide open when the car was turned off so that when you did the key take-over the instantaneous heavy draw blew the ACC fuse.  Check the cars fuses. . . replace the one that's blown. . . make an appointment to go back to your installer for a check-up. 

Hey Big Dog,

2 more questions for ya, now that I found that mistake with the fuses:

1:  Do you know what size the wire is (the 2 power, 2 ign, 1 purple remote start, and 1 orange)
from the remote start relay satellite?  Along with the wrong fuses, some of these wires are very
short and I wanted to extend them...and I'm having trouble determining what size they are (12awg?).

2:  Do you know what size fuse goes with the red wire in main harness?  I know there's another wire
that has a fuse in the main harness but I can't remember which one to ask about.  Oh well.

THANKS!