Help with remote starter / alarm installation

[WMX267]

I wonder if you guys have time to help me install prostart on a 1997 ford explorer xlt 4.0

I'm a little worried to screw things up, but would like to try it out. Basic knowledge about wiring.

I included the links to the prostart model I have. I'm using Haynes as a reference on the ford side.

6-pin Harness:

1. Where do I connect the (green) 5th relay on the 6 pin harness of the RS?

2. The two (red) battery wires go on the two "live" wires in the ignition switch? Can they get switched? What's the different between 12V ad +12V?

3. the (orange) Accessories wire as to go to the blower motor? Or just the accessories in the ignition switch?

12-pin Harness:

1. Where do I connect the disarm(-), rearm(-), unlock(-), and lock(-) on the RS in the vehicle?

5-pin Harness:
1. Which door is the priority door? where do I connect this in the vehicle?

On the link for the Wiring Schematic of the RS, there's an enclosed item for the Optional Starter Kill relay. Where do I connect these?

Also, where should I put relays in? There was one supplied in the kit. Do I need extra relays and wires?

What could be the worst that could happen, let's say I mistakenly switch two wires? What will happen if I leave some not connected.

Finally, how can I test the system without damaging anything, let's say after I believe everything has been connected correctly.

I hope you would find time to help me out here. Thanks in advance.

Wiring Schematic:
http://www.engines911.com/asdocs/CT_...s40_080820.pdf

Installation:
http://www.engines911.com/asdocs/CT_...s40_081015.pdf

[shorod]

You're asking for a lot of information here, nothing that is horribly difficult, but it all takes time to address.

What you might consider is purchasing a t-harness for your vehicle. A t-harness will address your 6-pin harness questions with nice taps so you won't need to cut and splice into the heavy gauge wires.

The priority door is the driver's door. This is an optional feature and may require an extra relay if your Explorer doesn't already have the keyless entry keypad on the driver's door. The "priority" feature means your driver's door only will unlock after the first press of the "unlock" button on the remote. A second press will unlock the remaining doors.

Sites like "the12volt.com" may have a nice wiring pinout for your vehicle describing the wire functions, locations, and colors for the common alarm/remote start connections.

The starter disable will require a relay and, unless you live or travel to areas of high vehicle theft rates, may not be a wise feature for a beginner installer.

The disarm and rearm wires are probably used as discretes to disarm or rearm the add-on alarm/RS when an OEM method is used. You could utilize the keypad on the door to unlock the vehicle and, at the same time, disarm the aftermarket system you are installing.

The big safety things to consider are to be sure you fuse all the power inputs properly so that if you do make a bad connection, the fuses will protect the wiring and critical systems. You also want to make sure you properly install all the safety features such as the hood pin switch, the brake pedal switch, and the park/neutral switch.

-Rod

[WMX267]

Thanks Shorod! I understand that I do have a lot of questions. I just want to make sure I don't burn anything up. I also realized that I can choose which features I would like to enable. Am I correct in saying this? If so, if I want to have the essentials of a remote start plus a simple keyless entry function on the Ford, which one's should I be connecting? And is it safe to just leave the others unconnected until such a time that I am more sure about where and how to connect the rest of the features?

Originally Posted by shorod

You're asking for a lot of information here, nothing that is horribly difficult, but it all takes time to address.

What you might consider is purchasing a t-harness for your vehicle. A t-harness will address your 6-pin harness questions with nice taps so you won't need to cut and splice into the heavy gauge wires.

The priority door is the driver's door. This is an optional feature and may require an extra relay if your Explorer doesn't already have the keyless entry keypad on the driver's door. The "priority" feature means your driver's door only will unlock after the first press of the "unlock" button on the remote. A second press will unlock the remaining doors.

Sites like "the12volt.com" may have a nice wiring pinout for your vehicle describing the wire functions, locations, and colors for the common alarm/remote start connections.

The starter disable will require a relay and, unless you live or travel to areas of high vehicle theft rates, may not be a wise feature for a beginner installer.

The disarm and rearm wires are probably used as discretes to disarm or rearm the add-on alarm/RS when an OEM method is used. You could utilize the keypad on the door to unlock the vehicle and, at the same time, disarm the aftermarket system you are installing.

The big safety things to consider are to be sure you fuse all the power inputs properly so that if you do make a bad connection, the fuses will protect the wiring and critical systems. You also want to make sure you properly install all the safety features such as the hood pin switch, the brake pedal switch, and the park/neutral switch.

-Rod

[WMX267]

Ok... so i've spent a couple of hours how hooking the wires up. Nothing happens when I powered up the module. All it ever did was a sound when I put in the fuses on the two hot wires from the ignition harness and that the antenna started to blink. But flashing of the hood pin, programming the remote and programming the tach didn't do anything. I don't get any feedback from the vehicle of any sort (i.e. parking lights blinking). The vehicle still starts fine with the key, but the module isn't responding to anything.

Here's what I ended up doing:

On the 6-PIN harness, I connected everything except the 5th relay.

On the 5-PIN harness, everything is connected.

On the 12-PIN accessories harness, I only connected the negative (-) parking lights. I left everything not connected, so of course I don't have keyless.

I wanted to make the remote start work first, but then this. If I only want to have the remote start working, is it okay to leave the non-essentials to this function not connected? What would be the essentials?

I hope someone can help me out here... if it's not something I can figure out, then I'd have to go to the pro's to diagnose the problem. I hope they don't charge me as much as I've done most of the difficult part (e.g. laying out the wires).

Thanks in advance!

[shorod]

A couple of questions, have you completely read the installation instructions, and are you sure about your connections on the 12-pin harness? The manual and wiring diagram suggest the negative parking light output is part of the 5-pin harness and not part of the 12-pin harness. Also, if you did not connect this wire to the coil ground of a parking light relay, this is not the correct wire. I would have expected that you would have tied in to a wire that is hot with the parking lights on, then connected the positive parking light output (yellow wire at pin 5 of the 5-pin secondary harness) to the circuit.

Correct the parking light circuit, make sure the antenna is plugged in, verify the fuses are still okay, and see if now you get the parking light and other appropriate indications when going through the programming.

-Rod

[WMX267]

Thanks for the reply Shorod!

The system is working now. What I had done wrong was to connect the hood pin switch to the plastic cover in the engine bay, ergo, no ground. It was transferred to metal and it worked. Also, I saved the model I gave the link for the schematics for, for my jeep and got an older model CT-3300 2 in 1 to install on the ford. the negative park light is in the 12-pin harness on the model i installed. sorry for the confusion. the keyless entry option was installed and it works fine, except that i suspect there is a problem with the door actuator of the driver side.

unlock switch on the driver's side doesn't work, but the lock switch locks everything except the driver door itself. on the passenger side, unlock and lock works with everything except the driver's door. does this seem to be an actuator problem on the driver's side? remote works with all doors except of course the driver's side.

[shorod]

The main issue with the driver's door lock is probably a solenoid issue. Before you dig too far in to the door though you might want to make sure you don't have a broken wire in the door jamb connector between the driver's door and the cab. It's pretty common for wires to break in that connector.

-Rod