Printer Friendly Forum Posts - 1996 Ford Contour remote starter

I'm wondering if someone can tell me where to locate the tach wire, which is suposed to be BROWN / blue, and located at the coil. I don't know where the coil is. But if you do, I would appreciate the help... I purchased a thor car alarm/remote starter, the instructions look like they were written by someone who can barely speak english. The instructions refer to a wire on the alarm that tells it, and I quote "the success of starting. It's connected to sense wire of electrical machine" I'm assuming this is the wire that goes into the tach?

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Supposed to be WHITE/ black at the PCM.The PCM is behind the power steering reservoir. For tach can also use any BROWN / stripe at the coil pack. The coil pack will have all the spark plug wires coming from it.

I have a new thor car alarm/remote starter. On installing my alarms remote starter, I'm noticing there doesn't seem to be a second ON wire for the ignition. So, I'm not sure what to do with this middle relay that's suposed to splice into this non-existing wire. Do I just totally cancel this out altogether? Please let me know. The wire I thought was the second ON wire is this red wire with a black stripe that has a constant 10 volts, no matter what position the key is in.(it's 16 guage, instead of 14 guage)... I'm also wondering if someone can tell me exactly where the location of this drivers side kick panel is located for the auto lock wires. I'm not totally certain what the kick panel is. I'm assuming it's below the fuse panel on the left side closer to the floor.

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The wiring from DEI says RED / black is keysense, no need to interface with it for remote start. Yes kickpanel is under the dash in front of the door. Here is what DEI says about the locks:
Also found at the keyless module located behind the glovebox, high in passenger kick panel. There are two yellow/purple wires - one unlocks drivers door and the other unlocks the rest of the doors. These two wires are common at rest through the keyless entry module. Diode isolate and pulse (+) to operate. Lock is WHITE/ purple at keyless module. May need relays.
I had a 96 Contour and if i remember correctly it was easier to get them on the drivers side forward of the kickpanel.

What is the PCM? what does it look like?

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Tach Signal

WHITE/ BLACK

AT POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE *

* WHITE/ BLACK Located At Pin #48 On Powertrain Control Module (PCM) Located On Passenger Rear Of Engine On Firewall.

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I cannot tell you what the PCM looks like, i would imagine its a black box with a lot of wires coming from it. Rear of engine, passenger side.

Alright. I got it. the power steering reservoir was a real dose getting out of the way.

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Look up to no one;
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Alright. I got it. the power steering reservoir was a real dose getting out of the way. thanks!

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Don't have a hero.
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Ok, I got the alarm installed. siren works fine, cars lights work fine, It seemed to be working good, but then I tried it later in the day and noticed that my lock buttons on my remote locks the car when I hit unlock, and disarms the alarm. and it unlocks when I hit I hit the lock button on the remote, while arming my alarm. I tried swapping the two unlock/lock wires from the alarm, but it didn't change anything, and I was about 2 seconds away from launching my remote across the street. Does anyone know why these locks are being a pain the neck like they are?

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
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Fixed the lock problem! Now I just have to figure out why the remote starter doesn't crank it over.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
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Starter is grey/white
ignition is green
acc is yellow
what happens when u try to rem start it?
nothing? turns over but does not start?
starts but dies?

when I hit remote start button. I can hear the stuff inside turn on like asif I just put the key in the ON spot, but nothing else really happens. Last night I was thinking I must install this last +12 v brake wire or it won't let it crank the motor over... I noticed that this final wire is involved in the harness part of the remote starter part that connects to the alarm brain. It basically doesn't kick over the last relay to send the power through the grey/white wire to start the thing. But I'll try afew more things tomorrow or something to see if it'll change. I just wish the instructions were written better. You can clearly tell that a Thor alarm is foreign by their lousy manual. The diagrams are good tho.

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Don't have a hero.
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Yes you definitely want that brake wire connected, and the first time u try to rem start it sit in the drivers seat with your foot ready to hit the brake in case the starter grinds or anything else strange happens.

Alright. All I did was just hook up this brake wire to a positive 12 wire. Cause the brakes on this thing has a switch that works by having a constant +12 charge on the orange / YELLOW wire. and when you hit the pedal, you just lose the charge. Now that I hooked up this wire, I get some chirps out of my siren, so I'm slowly getting closer. There is still one more wire for this particular harness for the remote starter that isnt' connected... It shows it in the manual as, and I quote; "Side door negative trigger". And that's as into detail as the instructions go for that wire. I checked over all my connections into my ignition wires and it's pretty simple and looks good. So I don't know why it won't send lift off to the final relay to try starting it. Unless this last wire is as important as I'm hoping it might be.

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Don't have a hero.
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According to DEI the orange / YELLOW is a + and should go hot when u depress the brakes. i do not remember what i did on my own car but you better make sure you have the brake wire hooked to the brakes, the rem start will not disengage properly when youo get in to drive if you dont.

Side door trigger, sounds like a door trigger wire.
WHITE/ black is drivers door, WHITE/ red is passenger doors. Diode isolate.

If its just a rem start and not a security system you could just use one of the wires above.

ok, the door trigger is WHITE/ black. But this wire carries a positive 12volts, but the wire is called a negative door trigger. Is there going to be an interraction with negative and positive current? I don't wanna fry something. and I was wondering where do you get diodes? and does anyone know if this car has the electric trunk opening feature in it? I believe the 98 does.

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No it is a negative door trigger. There are not too many Fords that are negative but this is one of them.

Is "acc lock" the same thing as just acc?

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Don't have a hero.
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Acc Lock?
where are you seeing that?
On the switch? if so its not "ACC Lock" its "ACC" and "Lock".
Key in ACC the radio should play, in Lock you should be able to remove it from the switch.

about that brake wire dont u want it to go 12v + when u hit it to send back to the alarm thats how it cuts the alarm from the engine staying on and your saying it is 12v constant and it loses it when you press it this will cause the remote start not to work

No the brake wire should go +12v when you press the pedal.

for the remote start, the main relay that connects to the green wire and acts as a kill switch of some sort says I'm too connect the smaller blue wire wire coming out of it to "acc lock" in the diagram in the manual. I wasn't totally sure if they mean the "acc" wire or what. and about the brake wire, I never did anything with this yet. But I know on a wire diagram on this site for a 1998 contour, the wiring colours are pretty well the same as the 1996, and it shows n/a for brake switch HOT. and it shows orange / YELLOW for brake switch cold. and it's this orange yellow that loses 12 volts when I hit the pedal, but gets the 12 volts back when I let off the pedal. at some point there has to be a +12 from the pedal if your brake lights at the rear come on.

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Don't have a hero.
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ok that sounds like a starter kill circuit and if that is what it is the blue wire is probably meant for the True ignition circuit, in other words the wire that goes hot when you turn the key and stays hot during the crank cycle.

According to the DEI information, the brake wire rests at ground and when you press the pedal it connects the brake lights to 12v. If you are sure you have the correct wire, just because its the right color does not mean its the right wire, then maybe DEI is wrong but i do not remember what i did on my Contour back in 96. More than likely they are right and you are measuring the wrong wire. If you cannot find the right wire under the dash, look under the carpet running down the drivers door sill, there should be a bundle of wires there and use your meter to find one that goes to +12v when you hit the brake.

Looking at the diagram I am almost certain they mean acc, becuase in the picture the wire is coming from the part of the ignition where acc is written, and lock is written below.

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If its the starter kill, ACC will NOT work right. It needs true ignition, since i do not know for sure what purpose the relay is for, I am guessing.

alright. what I figured out with this little blue wire, when I plug it into my acc wire. once I turn on the acc, it powers the relay which disables my green ignition wire from allowing my motor to start. it'll still turn over when I turn it over with the key, but I get no starting because I'm not getting spark with the green ignition wire not having contact. once I remove this blue wire from any +12 power source and leave it alone. then the green wire has power.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
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That is the starter kill, it is wired up wrong. Your starter wire FROM the alarm box should be on the starter side, not the ignition switch side. The little blue wire should NOT be hooked to ACC it should be hooked to TRUE ignition, which is the Green wire. It also seems like you have that relay hooked to the green wire, that is not right either, it should be hooked to the Grey/white, you do not want it to kill the ignition you want it only to kill the starter. Move the relay to the grey/white and wire it up like I said.
Grey white should have the starter kill relay, and 1 wire from your alarm the start wire.
Green should not have any relays on it(other than the OUTPUTfrom the remote start that energizes it, but do not Interupt the wire with a relay), just the ignition sense from the alarm and the blue wire from the starter kill relay.

I figured out the whole joke with the brakes. There's actually 2 seperate switches above the brake pedal. the one above with orange / YELLOW goes hot when not using the switch and cold when pressing it. But the switch below also has an orange / YELLOW wire that only goes hot when you press the pedal, so this is where I hooked in this final wire.

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Don't have a hero.
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This is the exact diagram out of my manual of the remote starting for my alarm. The yellow wire goes straight to this other yellow wire to my alarm. The white, WHITE/ black, blue/black, green wire are one connector that just clips to another connector from my alarm. Notice there's 3 relays together for the whole starting deal, and one other relay by itself that interrupts my green wire for the engine on, which I think, and others think should interrupt the grey/white starter wire instead. Either way, it looks simple enough, but doesn't do shhh for me. I don't have a spot to put the relay with the blue wire, since I don't have this second a/c, or heater on wire coming from my ingition, I only have the one green wire and other very small wires.

posted_image

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
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whoops. I meant the thick white wire. not the blue one.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
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Ok yes that diagram is incorrect, DO NOT put the kill relay on the green wire, put it on the Grey/white, Also the Blue FROM the starter relay should go to Grey/white.
White FROM the start relays should go to ACC, which is Yellow, to test for this wire, use your meter it should go hot when you turn the key to ACC and should lose power during the cranking cycle.
Black FROM the 3rd relay should go to Green Ignition, along with the white from the alarm brain AND the small blue from the starter kill relay. The small yellow from the starter kill relay should go to a ground when armed output from the brain.
Make sure to tie in the BLACK starter wire AFTER the starter kill, in other words on the starter side not the key side.
I do not see a 2nd ACC relay in this daigram so I am not sure what you are talking about there. It takes a minimum of 3 relays to do the job. The 4th relay is for the starter interupt circuit, and should also prevent you from accidentally grinding the starter should you forget and try to start it with the key after remote starting.

Ok, I was reading through my manual, and I think I figured out what this breaker relay is for and why it intersects the green wire. It says that my alarm has a robbery feature. where if someone is stealing your car and getting away with it, you hit the robbery button which kills the green wire, which cause the motor to shut off. I don't believe it's a starter kill switch.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
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Well that may be what they say its for, but i seriously suggest you DO NOT hook it to the green wire, if something malfunctions it could kill power to the ignition while you are driving and guess what? No brakes or power steering control. VERY BAD. And the idea that somebody would steal it and still be in range of the remote so you could do that is very suspect. If the brain has a ground when armed output use it to interupt the gray/white like i suggest, that way it will stop MOST criminals from starting the car in the first place. But if you do it their way you are opening yourself up to a lot of trouble.

Yah, I think that's for if you're actualling watching someone breaking into your car and you're too much of a weener to confront them, then you can stay hidden and just hit that button as they go to drive away or something and hopefully they'll get out and get lost, whereas myself, I'd just run out there full speed with a baseball bat swinging allover place.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
because if someone's leading the way, the best you'll ever be is second

LOL I don't recommend that strategy either, they are usually armed and would probably pop a few caps in you before you got your bat in range, and if you did manage to get close enough they would probably sue you(and with the nonsense going on these days win). Park in well lit areas and don't go the wrong part of town.

Alright. So I finally got back around to this remote starter issue. After looking over your recommended changes, I came to the conclusion that it is the best way to change it around. Since my chances of ever hitting the button to disable my ignition are about the same as winning the lottery, I did change that kill relay to work as my starter kill relay. And I did bring the white wire to my acc on. But, since the changes aren't really a whole lot different than what it was like before, I didn't expect anything different to happen, which I was right. It still doesn't remote start worth a crap. You just hear the ignition come on for about 4 or 5 seconds and then it goes off and that's it. I'm still waiting on my diodes to come in, so I can hook up my negative door triggers. I'm somehow hoping they're the reason it's not working, since they're the only thing left that isn't hooked up. but I doubt it. So if I can't get the remote starter working, I dont' care, aslong as the alarm works, and no dickface can steal my monster sound system, that's fine.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
because if someone's leading the way, the best you'll ever be is second

If the starter is turning but the car does not start it would have to be the ignition wire not getting the proper voltage. Check the relays and make sure there is voltage on the Ignition relay GREEN wire in the car. That wire provides power for the fuel system and everything necessary to keep the car running.

It won't do a thing with the starter. All it does is send power to my green wire, asif I just turned my key to the "on" position. and stays like that for about 5 seconds or so, and then just goes off. It doesn't even make it to the actual turning over of the motor. I'll play with it later when I my door triggers are all done after I get the diodes.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
because if someone's leading the way, the best you'll ever be is second