Anyone ever try and retrofit ths stuff?

I really want the remote locks as the key just annoys me and I figure it's not so tough with existing power locks.
The kit I bought does both.

I can totally live without the remote start, especially as the wiring job looks like a nightmare waiting to happen.

Just curious has anyone else done either how troublesome was it?

PS - I am pretty experienced with electronics and soldering etc....

 

If you want to control the door locks from your alarm/kit/whatever, you will need to tap into the door lock wires. Find the door lock relay (behind the left kick panel or just above, in the dash) and use the thin light blue and thin black wires to lock or unlock the doors. Use 12V to do so.

If your alarm/kit has a ground trigger for door locks (most do), you would need to convert this ground signal to a 12V signal, either using relays or by modifying the alarm output (a MOSFET would do nicely).

If you need more help, it would be good if you clarified what exactly you have and also what car it's going into.

Lou

 

I'm not sure what brand you bought but I just installed a Bulldog Deluxe 500 Remote Start/Keyless Entry in my '91 about 4 weeks ago. It's got a 2-way remote that shows me a picture of a car and has animated icons to show me what's going on (remote start, someone opens the door when armed, etc). Bulldog sells a T-Harness that goes in between the connectors of the ignition switch on top of the steering column so I was able to hook up all of the ignition wires for the remote start without splicing into the factory wires. This is nice in case I ever decide to get rid of the remote start, all the factory wiring is still in tact. The entire hook up was time consuming but not so hard. As long as you can read a wiring diagram (I had to refer to the schematics in Chiltons a couple times) and use a test light then you can do it. In addition to the 5 ignition wires to the T-Harness, I also had to hook up a VATS bypass module which was about 5 or 6 more wires and then for the remote start you have to run a wire to the brake switch as a kill mechanism in case someone gets in the car while it's in remote start mode. For the keyless entry there was the two lock/unlock wires and two power wires for that. Then there was a horn hookup wire to make the horn chirp on arm and disarm and for the panic mechanism. Oh yeah, there was one more wire that I wired to my hatch release button in the dash for remote hatch release. There's also supposed to be a wire or 2 hooked up to the parking lights to make them light up on arm and disarm and during remote start but I chose not to hook up that feature in my setup.

The most important thing when hooking one of these things up is to take your time. Don't rush it, make sure your splices are REALLY good and make sure you tape the wires up REALLY good. Make sure you test your connections before mounting the control module.

I'm not going to lie, there are ALOT of wires (MANY unused wires for optional accessory hookups) and it looks like there's alot of wires there because there is. I zip-tied groups of wires together and taped up unused wires to make everything look as good as I could. Most importantly, after I reinstalled the underdash panels everything looks completely original. You wouldn't know anything was done without taking the panels off again.

 

a keyless antry and remote system is extremely east to do in these cars. what model didi you purchase? as for the door locks they are very simple you just have to tap the door lock and unlock wires with the ones on the unit. As bigbabylou said they will need a positive signal. most units if not all come so they can be used on either positive or negative trigger door locks. you will need to tap your parking light signal if you want them to blink when you lock and unlock the doors. you will also need to get 12v constant, ground and ignition. if you decide to add the remote start feature you will need to tap the positive side of the brake switch, the starter wire and accessory wires, and also a tachometer signal.(this will tell the unit to shop cranking the starter and that the car is running. the only problem you may run into will be a vats bypass if you want to do the remote start but that will depend if it has vats or not. just take your time and pay attention to make secure connections and route the wires in a way to prevent chafing and shorthing. HTH

 

I also installed a Bulldog remote starter in the wife's 99 Taurus. Simple enough, took about 2 hours to wire everything up. Their T-Harness makes life much easier and the install much cleaner. Go with one of their kits.

 

Thanks guys. I might find a brand with the t-harness so I can minimize the splicing into factory wires. Not even sure what brand I got off the top of my head, a CHEAP one though.

As for the remote locks, yeah I know they do look pretty straight forward, only really the remote start that I am wary of with all the splicing into VERY important wires!

 

FYI...don't use cheap as a basis of buying a system. esp if using a remote start. I have seen some pretty disasterous things happen from cheap made electronics. Not to mention most cheaply made kit give you some crappy instructions. Not that I am saying all cheaper units are going to give you problems cuz I'm pretty sure someone on this board has had some good luck with them. but look at features and ease of installation before you buy strictly for price.

 

I totally agree onesickss....however often my choices are, cheap one or none ya know? ;(


anyway....I have decided I am just not gonna bother with the remote start, I never really cared in the first place, it was more about the remote locks and "IF the remote start is simple to do...."

So I will prob get a remote lock only kit now.
Unless someone on here more knowledgable than me thinks I cas ONLY use the remote lock function without having to wire up the remote start on the same kit? I would think it is a 50/50 whether that will work....
I will call the tech line of my specific brand and ask anyway tho...

BTW - Mine is a "BOA" which is REALLY cheap, but this thing does have fantastic instructions, page after page after page written so a 3 yr old can understand it, plus several websites u can log in to to pull schematics for almost any car around, to make it specific to ur car so even though they are very cheap and may not last too long, as far as instructions go BOA impressed me greatly.

 

if I am correct the BOA system are made by directed electronics who alsm make clifford, avital, viper and so on. Boa was made for the more do it yourself guys so you got a decent system. You can use just the doorlock features on remote start/keyless system. just hook up the door locks along with the power to the system, the antenna, and the parking lights and you shoudl be good. the brake, tach, and other ignition, accessory inputs you can just tape up and leave alone.

 

Thanks onesicks. I was planning on attacking that this w/e as I have to take my door cards off AGAIN anyway for some other stuff

That doesn't surprise me, at all, I was surprised by the quality and the VERY detailed instructions when I opened it up.
I'll post on Monday so you can tell me what I may have done wrong when I tell you it doesn't work LOL

 

well, not much luck!

after hours with my head up my cars a$$ I got all the remote lock wires hooked up, and power etc....nothing worked though.
It is only a few wires so I find it hard to see how I could have gotten it wrong....maybe I do have to wire ALL of it .....

 

didi you make sure to hook up the antenna?? if the car doese nothing at all then most likely it's not transmitting. make sure that you plugged it into the right spot also. I always used to plug it in wrong pin and the freak out when it doesen't work. also make sure you have a good ground. did you hook up the parking lights?? do they flash at all when you lock/unlock the car??

 

no antenna to hook up, it just hangs loose and the instructions don't even mention it.
I could not locate the parking lights. Supposed to be the brown wire on my car, I tested every brown and "almost" brown wire in the kick panel and under the dash/ignition harness, nada.

One thing I did forget is the "door lock trigger"....the instructions show HOW to wire it up, and the instructions for MY car say it is a white wire, but unlike all the others wires it does not mention how to TEST for that wire???
Any idea which it is?
There is on in the kick panel, plus one or 2 under the dash.

Also where is the door lock relay?
I DEF have the right wires, one for lock, and one for unlock, but the diagram says u have to tap certain wires either before, or after the "relay". But I can't find out where it is, so I just tapped where the driver side door wires come in near the kick panel...

PS - I am certain my ground is good, I used that point for all my testing of the other wires with the test light and it worked fine.

 

I have a similar (if not the same) BOA DIY remote start and remote unlock system. Except, that I haven't installed mine. I tried once, but I was also afraid to cut into those important wires, but now I got special connectors by 3M that do not require cutting...
anyway, I also notice with the instructions given, that the remote lock/unlock system, its for negatively-triggered door locks, and I'm 90% positive that our cars have positively-triggered door locks. So I believe that we need an additional relay which is what BigBabyLou was saying in the second post... that could be a reason why the remote isn't working (also, I believe you have to program the remote first, so the system's ecm will recognize the remote), hopefully I'll install mine here pretty soon...

 

would we need this relay to interface with the negatively-triggered system?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bosch...QQcmdZViewItem

 

do you have a link where i can look at the schematics?? or at least a model number for the unit. You should be able to get the parking lights in the kick panel, at the headlight switch itself. it;s a brown wire that tests 12v positive when you pull the light switch out. also with the door locks you can test them by using a multimeter. place your positive lead on the door lock wire and then ground the negative. when you hit the door lock switch it should meter 12 volts. are the wires for the door locks red and green?? if so you can use a part made my DEI called the 451M relay pack for door locks. you can get it at any car audio shop. it comes with the instructions to wire it up and will plug right into the door lock outpus on the brain. it;s been a while since i did one of those BOA's and i only did two of them. soI'm a little rusty on them.

 

I knew this would end up being way more complicated than it needed to be.
I did TRY to program the remote, that is the easy part (when it works) u just hold the prog button.

Like I said above onesickss I tested every brown, kinda brown, possibly faded brown wire I could see and nothing worked on my test light. (they provide a special test light, with red and green LED to test for all the different wires)

Model# BOA 265B.
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BTW - I just found a cheapo keyless entry kit for $10!
That works on + and - triggered locks already, I doubt I could even buy the relay I need for that!

(yes that is TOO cheap I know)
(although I only paid $25 for the BOA when most places want $60-80)

 

hmmmm i find it kinda odd that none of the parking light wires can be found what year and model car are you doing it on BTW? Usually you can even get it along the door sills as those same wires also run to the rear tailights. I would prolly try to get a different test light to use when testing your wires. they are good to have all the time as well as just for this one time. or even a multimeter, which i would recommend over a test light. but of you have a f body then they all have the same headlight switch and there should be a brown wire in there that is yours. as for the cheap keyless entry kit.. there isn;t really much to one so they aren;t that much. once you get the remote start part in it...it gets pricey.

 

I have a multimeter.
I don't think the test light is the issue, it worked fine on everything else.

If anything it is the wiring itself. Last night I turned my lights on and drove down the street...soon realized my lights were NOT on even though the dash lights came on!!!

To be honest I am gonna scrap this unit and just get a Keyless ONLY one, that is Neg trigger ready. That is easier and less messy than re-doing all the sh*t on this one. If I did that the first time it would have been the first 4-5 wires I KNOW are right on this one and it'd be done!

Thanks though - I know lot's of what NOT to do's for next time (probably buying an older Camaro next time so I'll be doing this again, plus motors LOL)

 

Ok, I do have the same system as you did and I was able to successfully install it (both the remote start and power lock) today. In the Power Lock Instructions, our cars have Type A lock mechanism. The three wire setup. You only have to connect three wires from the kick panel relays. The color of the three wires are light-blue, orange, and black... let me know if you need help or have questions...