remote start advice

Now I dont know if something was installed wrong or what. All I know is that I wired my car alarm up the same exact was as my g/f's car was installed by a professional (we have the same car, 02 and 04 cavalier and the same alarm, scytek5100RS/asianwolf 8000RS. Anyways, one day I wanted to use the remote to open my trunk, but instead I hit the remote start. The alarm chirped 4 times. As soon as that happened, I quickly hit the button again to stop the car from actually starting. the next morning I remote start my car only to hear my car running very loud, with the trac off and check engine lights on. I went and had it towed to a garage. They had to replace the entire ignition box plus the cata converter (since the car ran rich, the converter went bad). From what I think caused it, when I hit the button to prevent my car from actually starting, I must have done it too late. A signal must have been sent to the igntion telling it to start but couldnt actually start since the button was pushed. Doing so screwed up the alarm.

That would be the same as putting your key in the ignition, turning it on, then turning the key off. Never heard of a remote start causing any kind of problem like this unless its not hooked up correctly. Did the unit work fine up until that point?

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Yeah, but as soon as you shut the remote start off, your ignition, your acc.....including the passlock, everything should of lost power. The passlock doesnt supply any power to any of the wires, it just tells the car if it should start or not......i dont know man, like i said, never heard of something like this. You got me interested now. Hopefully so other people will check this out and shed some more light. Glad everything was under warranty. That could of been expensive.

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I agree... that passlock is wired to the r/s brain .. when brain goes off... passlock stops "de-immobilizing" the ignition immobilizer.  Have you had any issues with battery drain on your cavalier (the one w/ the problems) since your r/s install 1/2 a year ago?

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The search function is your friend.

   I can't believe it- I may be able to help you, here !!!   I'm a mechanic, not an installer, you can read my knuckle-headed Scytek post yourself if you don't believe me!  I think you MAY have just experienced a "coincidence" with your car.  GM has had a LOT of problems with ignition switch durability on it's vehicles.  Yours may have just failed at the same time that you experienced the "trunk release" issue.  I'm completely mystified by the catalyst failure, and consider it a separate issue.  If the vehicle set a P0420 code, it is POSSIBLY a result of neglect.  GM tells you that spark plugs last 100k miles, but I always recommend them at 30-60k miles (depending on plug-type), and I always recommend periodic maintenance as a means to avoiding costly repairs of this type.  As much money as we spend on rims, car stereo, security, and bling- buy your car some filters and fluids once in a while- you'll be glad you did in the long run!!

Well I also have heard from several people that remote start actually ruins the ignition box (in time). Im not sure this is true or not. My g/f hasnt had any problems with her car yet since she bought it, but then again its a 2004 (mine 2002), and she also hasent made the mistake of doing what I had done. But this is one reason why I bought the pc network thing for my alarm. What I had about the remote I use is that the trunk release and remote start are right next to eachother, but on either side of the remote, but pretty close to eachother. On top of that, you must hold them both for 3 seconds just for those functions to work. But with that pc network, I can (and will) change the remote trunk pulse from needing it held for 3 seconds, to just a one press and it releases. That way i dont have to worry about accidently hitting the remote start. Another thing that reall set me off is that I went to an car audio store (which I have been buying stuff from for atleast 6 years. I asked them to install an alarm in my car, that I would buy the alarm from them, and as soon as I mentioned the car make and model, they blew me off saying that remote starts arent allowed in GM vehicles because of the passlock. So I took matter into my own hands, looked for the same alarm as my g/f had, finally found the same basic one (asianwolf 8000RS, she has scytec 5100RS)and bought the passlock bypass (DEI 556L I think) and installed it by myself in 2 days. Took alittle long, but it was my first alarm and It was installed in a car thats still under warrenty, but I did cheat alittle bit since I used my g/f's car as a guide.

As a part-time installer and a full-time mechanic I have seen a lot of mistakes on installs, by both professionals & diy'ers. I have never seen any remote start system fry an ignition box. You could burn up the pcm or bcm if you really try, but that would happen right away, not 6 months down the road. as for the cataclysmic convertor.....no way!  Just like eb426hemi suggested it seems like a coincidence, except for  the cat, I think your shop saw something that your extended warranty company covered and made himself a few dollars. IMHO!

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Ed

Actually the cata converter was really finished. They dont last too long if your car runs rich. As for the ignition box, it could just been a coincidence

If by ignition you mean the actual coil fried, well you may have been dumping raw fuel into the exhaust which certainly would kill the o2 sensor and/or the cat.  That's the thing about failures, they almost always occur during startup.  Which is why you will see the mechanics eyes gloss over when you say something like "Well it was working fine yesterday.", as if that should mean something.

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