dealer remote start crank time

stumpy

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For the 2nd Gen dealer installed remote start, does anyone know how to adjust the cranking time?
 
I've been interested in having this done...how much did it run you? Mines a gen 1, but I wouldn't think it'd be that much different
 
I have the same issue on my 02. Unless it was run withing the last 10 minutes or so, it takes two attempts. Based on sound, the engine is just half a second from catching, too.

Unfortunately, it's tucked up behind the driver's knee board sheetmetal, ziptied and taped up like a mofo, so I can't read. I thought it was a DEI unit, but later found out I was looking at a bank of relays for the remote start.
 
I have the same issue on my 02. Unless it was run withing the last 10 minutes or so, it takes two attempts. Based on sound, the engine is just half a second from catching, too.

Unfortunately, it's tucked up behind the driver's knee board sheetmetal, ziptied and taped up like a mofo, so I can't read. I thought it was a DEI unit, but later found out I was looking at a bank of relays for the remote start.

chances are if it is using a DEI relay pack, then it is also a DEI RS system
 
chances are if it is using a DEI relay pack, then it is also a DEI RS system

One of these days, I'll get around to digging in and replacing my cluster bulbs with orange. What kind of model number should I find? I only ask because these things tend to have multiple numbers printed on them.

bump for anyone who did this?

You'll need to provide the model number of the unit. It's likely mounted behind panels near the driver's knee. Look for wires that don't match the car, crimp connectors, taps, and zip ties to follow them to the unit. Presumably, there's also a transponder bypass mounted next to the key hole behind the accent trim panel
 
What kind of model number should I find? I only ask because these things tend to have multiple numbers printed on them.
grab or take a picture of everything/number you can... some have tons of different numbers on them, some only have one or less.


Presumably, there's also a transponder bypass mounted next to the key hole behind the accent trim panel
a lot of times, the bypass module can be in the same area as the main brain with just a couple of wires and maybe an antenna to/around the ignition switch.
 
grab or take a picture of everything/number you can... some have tons of different numbers on them, some only have one or less.


a lot of times, the bypass module can be in the same area as the main brain with just a couple of wires and maybe an antenna to/around the ignition switch.

Ah, the antenna was what I meant. I didn't know they had a module as well. I had only seen what looked like a glass transponder pill half covered by shrink tube with wires coming out.
 
I didn't know they had a module as well. I had only seen what looked like a glass transponder pill half covered by shrink tube with wires coming out.

yeah, see those a lot on ford or chrysler, another popular one is a ring shaped antenna that goes around or in front of the OEM transponder ring, and that nenn is usually connected to either a small box with a transponder chip inside of it or another antenna that you slip a spare key into.

now days I prefer to use a small data module. they are flashable to specific cars or firmware so one module can virtually cover almost every car. they can learn resistances for most GMs, they work with almost all transponder based keys, with a built in CAN controller, a lot of them can be done by just tapping into one or two of the cars CAN bus and then from there, you have full control (depending on how integrated the car is) with way fewer wires, hell most cars actually start themselves and you just have to tell it to do so. if this kind was used on the LS, there will just be two wires that solder into the factory RX and TX wires at the harness for the OEM transponder antenna.
 
Interesting. I think you'll get a kick out of this... Tuesday at work, I jump started a used 2012 Explorer. It had dealer installed remote start. Everything seems normal as I drive it to where it needed to go. I turn the key to off, and realize the car is still running. I take the key out. I put the key in, turn to run, turn to off, remove key. Nothing. I say "well it's not my car..." and turn the key all the way to start, in hopes of resetting it by recycling it. The starter doesn't crank at all (not surprised, safety feature presumably, new Fiestas don't let you hit the starter without going to off first) turn the key back to off, still running. Tap the brake with the key out, still running.

Drove it over to service with the key out, gave them the key, explained the situation, and left it there. Last I heard, they unplugged the battery. Maybe they unhooked the alternator too? Iunno.

Ever had that happen?
 
Ever had that happen?

actually, when my brother in-law bought his brand new (then) 2010 fusion, the dealer had put their RS on it (and I gave him a bunch of sh!t about paying more and getting less from them) and he didn't notice any problems with it at first because he always has a pretty decent drive to everywhere he goes, we ran out to lunch one day and just had to drive a couple of miles to there, when we got there his car never shut off, tried everything same as you... so we grab our food and get back to the shop and take a look at it and it shut off when we got there and turned the key off. thought OK weirder... turns out the hack dealer tech never hooked up the brake wire (the wire that tells the RS to shut off and lets the car run on the key from there) so every time the car was remote started, it would run the full run time before shutting off. turns out since he has such a long drive, it would time out before he turned the key off and he never noticed it before. he asked if he should take it back, by then I already had it connected, I told him, if it was my car, I probably wouldn't ever take it back there...
 
Changing the crank time is not an option. Re-learning the tach is an option. I will try this when the temps warm up.

now I've not done this on a ford dealer system but have had to do it for some other systems.
sometimes when its really cold, it takes a lot more crank to get the car started (and the motor itself is actually turning over slower) I find that the low normal operating temperature idle engine speed may be a little too low to get the motor actually fired up, its will just crank and right before it catches, it will give up. almost always the second attempt is a success. if this is the case, I try program the tach a little higher than normal idle RPM, like I will give it a tiny bit of gas to get the RPM up just a couple hundred more then setting it in. this almost always takes care of it.
 
Loud, I hadn't thought of that. That makes quite a bit of sense. I don't know why it would have activated in the first place, but I know my LS has a sticker and... hold on, I'm an idiot. THAT sticker DOES say it is specifically a DEI RS system, now that I think of it... moving on, the sticker says "if the battery is reconnected, the RS may try to start the car"

This Explorer was dead and jump started. However, it was started with the key in the ignition. I guess that's not to say something flaky didn't happen, but I should be able to find out Monday. It SHOULD be fixed by now since that key was put back in our KeyTrak system, unless they just gave up and are letting it rot in the back lot, like our used CTS-V with a knock

So what's the typical DEI procedure for changing the RPM setting? I'll get the product numbers later, but is it a switch? Or like programming the PAC SWI-RC?
 
I know my LS has a sticker and... hold on, I'm an idiot. THAT sticker DOES say it is specifically a DEI RS system, now that I think of it... moving on, the sticker says "if the battery is reconnected, the RS may try to start the car"

do you mean this sticker??? LOL

mbyI3W6kCpvxD-2abHao6WA.jpg





most DEI brands have a programming switch(actually just a small black push button), start the car and within 5 seconds, press and hold the push button in until the LED (which may be on the main brain itself or may have a separate LED) lights up for a couple of seconds, no light, no valid signal detected

a20791c146d541274ff6cb_m.JPG
this is the DEI programming switch, its usually either snapped into a hole that was drilled for it, or taped up somewhere near the main system. but usually should be kinda of hidden (cause if you have a system that also has an alarm, this switch is used to disable the alarm incase something happens to the remote)

now DEI makes this a little tricky, because most DEI brands have an over/under rev protection built in so if the RPMs go too high or too low, it shuts the system down. with the LS the car will rev a lot higher for a short amount of time before it settles down to its normal idle speed. and it usually stays revved high for over 5 seconds. so most of the time if you start the car and program tach, once the car settles down, the RS system will think there is a problem and shut the motor down. what you need to do is let the car run for a while unit it reaches its full operating temperature, then shut if off and restart it right away and program tach, however the opposite can easily happen, and if its programmed too low, the initial high rev may be seen as a problem and also cause the car to shut down. so the slight revving of the motor may very well be needed to get it to set at the right level.


also because of this over/under rev protection, there is a problem with ford cars specifically, normally you want to get tach from either a coil/coil pack or the injector trigger wire. but with ford cars something happens to the signal after 1-2 minutes that will cause the system to shut down if you tap the wire into a coil wire (not really sure whats going on) so you have to tap the wire into one of the injector wires, if you have the V* these are pretty easy to get to but if you have the V6 they are buried under the intake manifold. when i did my 1st gen V6, it was before i had access to full wire diagrams so I tried to find one of the correct six wires inside the main PCM wire harness but had no luck. so with DEI brands, you can also just set the system to voltage checking, where instead of monitoring the tach wire, it will power up the ignition, test for voltage, then crank the desired amount of time, then after another 10-15 seconds it will check the voltage again to see if there is the correct amount of increase in the voltage of the car to see if it is running. if not, it will shut off and restart the process up to three times to get it started.

ideally, tach is usually better, but in a lot of circumstances, voltage checking will do just fine. in these cases, I usually set the crank time somewhere between .8 and 1.2 seconds depending on how easy the car starts especially when its real cold.

a20791c146d541274ff6cb_m.JPG


mbyI3W6kCpvxD-2abHao6WA.jpg
 
also just out of curiosity, when you say you saw a "relay pack"

did you mean like a pack of normal relays snapped on to each other like this

View attachment 828471115
note not actual DEI relay pack

AND

View attachment 828471116
actual DEI relay pack



or was it more like this box with a bunch of micro relays built in

mLKVHs4zKVHumcjMRgSDMFA.jpg


because if its the first one, those systems are actually a bit older than the car, they switched to the smaller setup in late 90's or early 2000's (now most of the newer systems actually use the smaller relays inside the main brain module)

$_14.JPG


mLKVHs4zKVHumcjMRgSDMFA.jpg
 
All of your pictures say "Invalid attachment" for me besides the push button

Great information. I did actually find that black pushbutton when searching for a RAP signal for the radio. I had also previously found a toggle switch (which I no longer know which way it's flipped since I took it out of the hole). Both are under the driver's knee panel. Is the toggle an on/off? RS still works

The relay pack is 4 normal 1" cube relays in a bank ziptied to the frame. If I have time, I'll take a picture. I'm going out now to regap my spark plugs and to replace all my COP connectors after butchering them with the Accel mod and cold weather
 
interesting, they showed up when i first submitted them?

usually the toggle is to manually disable just the remote start part of the system (keyless, trunk, fuel door, windows... all should still work)
 

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