Viper smart start.

[monepit]

I am seriously concidering installing a <NOBR style="COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_0_0>Viper</NOBR> smart start remote start. The installer at best buy says no problem, He's done a vette before. I think this would be cool but I dont want to cause problems. I had them put a remote start on the Allante and it worked flawlessly for years. Does anybody have any thoughts? CCclark? I would like this but I know these are complicated cars and I sure dont want to mess with it and have it cause problems in the future.

 

[Cadillac Tech]

I've never liked remote starts. I think people should be in their car when it is started. We have seen many problems with remote starts over the years. JMO

 

[richardyoo]

I am seriously concidering installing a <nobr style="color: darkgreen; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal;" id="itxt_nobr_0_0">Viper</nobr> smart start remote start. The installer at best buy says no problem, He's done a vette before. I think this would be cool but I dont want to cause problems. I had them put a remote start on the Allante and it worked flawlessly for years. Does anybody have any thoughts? CCclark? I would like this but I know these are complicated cars and I sure dont want to mess with it and have it cause problems in the future.

I just put a Viper 5901 in my 05 Yukon Denali. I like it, but its definitely aftermarket. (the behaviour of the the OE alarm with the new alarm is not 100% integrated cleanly - it works, but you can tell that sometimes it has timing issues).

If I understand correctly, for the XLR you'll have to sacrifice a key and keep it in the car... the bypass system will apply power to the key to start the car.

Having now installed one myslef - I'm not certain that I'd trust a best buy to do the install... for the Denali I had all the right tools, the shop manuals, etc... and it took a decent amount of time. And if the best buy messes up your XLR, the dealer is not going to be much help if the Best Buy hacks up your car.

My opinion is that if you're certain that the shop can do the work, then it'll be fine. But if the shop messes things up, you're in for a world of hurt. Its all about the quality of the install.

Good luck.

 

[harrower]

I don't think you would want to leave a key in the car. Probably kill the battery over night and not very secure.

 

[XLR-V Lover]

And this unit is needed . . . why?

 

[harrower]

And this unit is needed . . . why?

Because it get cold up north. It's a nice feature to have in cold weather. Plus heated seats.

 

[XLR-V Lover]

Because it get cold up north. It's a nice feature to have in cold weather. Plus heated seats.

It isn't very good for a car to run until heated or nearly heated. It warms up best when the car is started and put into motion just a few seconds later. Maybe Bruce can shed more light on this.

Floyd (BB)

 

[monepit]

Gotta love Florida people. I does get cold here. It would be nice to warm the car up before I get off work. I had on on my allante, and I have one on my truck now, I also had one on on the Vette. All of them have worked great. The XLR never sits outside unless I drive it to work. But I dont like to have it sit too long so if it is not supposed to rain I will drive it even if it's cold. I'm going to talk to the tech at best buy and get a schematic of the work he will do and exactlly what it will entail. I'll let everybody know what I find out. By the way I plan on being one of those Florida people in 7 years so watch out.

 

[paulc17]

No need for a remote starter here. Mine is covered,on the battery maintainer and garaged for the winter. I won't take it out until the salt is off the roads.

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

I've got a remote starter on my Acura MDX. I love it, especially when the car has 6" of fresh snow on it after sitting at work all day! It all just melts away!!!!

The MDX's heated seats are great with the remote starter, since they're controlled by an old fashioned switch - High, Low, and Off. Remember, the XLR's seats are electronic, and will NOT turn on when restarted (though the interior will get warm).

I know that it isn't good for a car to be sitting idling, but it sure is nice to slip into a warm seat on a cold day! And the old girl has 145,000 miles on her, and she still runs like a top!

 

[monepit]

I would do the same execpt we dont have that problem. She would never see salt but it only snowed about 4 inches last year. she only ventures out on sunny days. Kind of like a ground hog.

 

[XLR-V Lover]

I know what cold is as I lived (existed) in NJ for 60 years before coming to the Sunshine State. But I always had a garage so the mornings weren't too bad. Leaving work was another story, but somehow I survived.

Floyd (BB)

 

[richardyoo]

I don't think you would want to leave a key in the car. Probably kill the battery over night and not very secure.

No - the bypass module applies power to the keyfob when it starts... then it disconnects the power. So there's no risk of that.

But I do agree that its probably not a good idea to have an extra keyfob sittig around in the car somewhere. If the thief knew there was a remote start in there, it would be simple to just tow the whole car - knowing there's a key inside somewhere.

 

[harrower]

No - the bypass module applies power to the keyfob when it starts... then it disconnects the power. So there's no risk of that.

But I do agree that its probably not a good idea to have an extra keyfob sittig around in the car somewhere. If the thief knew there was a remote start in there, it would be simple to just tow the whole car - knowing there's a key inside somewhere.

I was thinking the BCM stays active when the fob is left in the car. I know it dies on the Corvette and will kill the battery in a short period of time.

 

[richardyoo]

I was thinking the BCM stays active when the fob is left in the car. I know it dies on the Corvette and will kill the battery in a short period of time.

I don't think you're following what I'm saying.

Again - there is a battery inside the fob. When you use the fob with the bypass, you remove the battery and the bypass applies power to the fob as it needs.

When there's no power to the fob, the car doesn't know the fob is in the car. So there's no risk of what you're describing.

 

[monepit]

OK, I guess I can end this here. I stopped by best buy today and talked to the installer, Nice guy. We looked up the wiring diagram. It said "not recommended for this car". We called Directed electronics and talked to tech support. They said they have not been able to get the system to work consistently with the push button start. I asked then about the Vette they used in the video. He laughed. He said they had to take it off that car. He said it would always start but sometimes it wouldn't shut off. In fact he said one time the had to let it run out of gas to get it to stop. Bottom line NO WAY. It was a cool thought though. I guess Trixie will stay in the garage on the real cole days untill she can live in Florida.

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

Another option you could consider would be to install the engine block heater. I had one in a Thunderbird I had. I would plug it in to a timer when I got home to have it turn on in the middle of the night - it resuted in instant heat when I got in the car. It worked quite well!

 

[monepit]

The only time it would ever be outside of the heated garage is at work. No plug. Your right, they do work well though.