2004 Explorer remote start relay problem
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=43521
Printed Date: July 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Topic: 2004 Explorer remote start relay problem
Posted By: jonkolo
Subject: 2004 Explorer remote start relay problem
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 9:16 PM
Wow! This is a cool site. I wish that I had found it sooner. Anyway, I installed a Viper 791XV in my parants explorer and I am having problems with the remote start relay pack. The explorer will not crank, even with the key. I show voltage on the relay packs green key side wire while turning the key, but the power does not go through the relay to the purple starter side wire. I thought that I had a bad pack so I pulled the good pack out of my 04 Mustang, and tried it in the explorer. At first the explorer would crank with the key, but after I tried to remote start it, the same problem re-appeared. I think that I blew out both packs. Although no blown fuses. I have looked at the wiring digrams and I seem to have everything connected properly. The two red fused wires are connected to the explorers yellow wire. The green wire is connected to the red wire (ignition switch side), the purple wire is connected to the vehicle's red starter side wire, the orange wire is connected to the GREEN/ lt.green wire, and the pink wire is connected to the RED / green wire. Anyone know what is happening? Did I wire things correctly? Any help would be greatly appreciated because they need the vehicle over the holiday weekend. Thanks
Replies:
Posted By: jonkolo
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 9:30 PM
Also, I just remembered that I forgot to learn the tach signal. Could that have anything to do with it?
Posted By: jrilla
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 10:04 PM
The car should still start with the key no matter what is happening with the tach wire. You might have screwed up the PATS. What happended when you plugged the unit back into the mustang? What is the theft light doing on the dash when you use the key? if it flashes then that might be your problem. Thats pretty scary when the car wont start with the key?
------------- J Rilla
Owner/Installer
Posted By: Hymer
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 10:14 PM
What bypass did you use? Try old faithful and send 12v to the starter and back track from there. My guess is the factory anti theft isn't bypassed right. They can be a bit tricky at times..
Posted By: jonkolo
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 11:08 PM
Thanks for the responses. I just tried a few more things. If I unplug the small rainbow cord which comes from the main module to the relay pack the explorer will start. I tried learning the tach and I was unsucessful. I metered the uncommon coil wire (where I connected the tach wire), and there was no AC, but there was 14.4 volts DC. Do I need to get the tach signal somewhere else like in the dash? I still don't understand why the explorer will not start with the module cord plugged into the relay pack????????? Does it have something to do with the anti-grind feature, since there is no learned tach signal yet?
Posted By: jonkolo
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 11:13 PM
Also, I used a 556U, but I have not learned the key that's inside yet. I just want to get things working normally before I try to remote starting and learning the new key. I want to get the car cranking from the ignition, then from remote starting.
Posted By: jonkolo
Date Posted: November 21, 2004 at 11:21 PM
Also; What about connecting the tach wire to a fuel injector? I did that on my Mustang and it works fine. Is it better to get the tach signal somewhere else. Thanks
Posted By: gus1
Date Posted: November 22, 2004 at 3:23 PM
The alarm wouldn't happen to be armed, would it? This would turn on the starter kill. You may also want to check the programming of the starter kill.... it may be on passive (you want active) Menu #1, step 9.... Automatic engine disable. When you said it starts fine with the little harness unplugged from the XRCS, this leads me to think that the alarm is either armed, or passive engine disable is turned on. Try pressing the unlock button on the remote.... then change your programming accordingly.
Gus
------------- Wherever I go, that is where I end up......
Posted By: jonkolo
Date Posted: November 22, 2004 at 9:24 PM
Thanks for the replies. I took the explorer to a shop and they found the problem. The relay that I had installed to flash the headlights and honk the horn was back-feeding negative back into the orange ground when armed output, therefore causing the starter kill to activate. This never occured to me because I am more familiar with the older systems which used a seperate starter kill relay. I did not realize that the orange wire from the main harness was common with the negative wire inside the rainbow cord which activates the starter kill in the relay pack. A simple diode solved the problem and now everything is working great. Thanks again.
Posted By: jrilla
Date Posted: November 22, 2004 at 10:04 PM
So does that mean you installed the starter output on the wrong side of the kill switch?
------------- J Rilla
Owner/Installer
Posted By: jonkolo
Date Posted: November 23, 2004 at 9:02 PM
No, everything was wired correctly. I installed two relays in order to flash the headlights and honk the horn. When armed, the headlights flash with the parking lights, and during an alarm the horn sounds at the same intervals as the lights but only when the system is armed and the siren has voltage. I used a special low voltage RBSTTL relay to make a closure from the lower voltage on the brown siren wire when the siren is sounding. In order to do this I needed to use the orange wire from the main harness to activate a dual relay. Using the positive power from the parking light circuit I was able to set it up so one side of the relay sends power to the headlight circuit at the same time the parking lights flash providing the system is armed, and the other side sends a ground to the explorers horn circuit providing the TTL relay is also closed from the siren output. It was the dual relay that was back-feeding a ground into the orange wire and causing the main module to activate the starter kill which is located in the seperate relay pack. I guess the orange main harness wire is common with a negative trigger for the relay pack's starter kill relay, even though it has a seperate harness.
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