Remote Starter for 2005 LGT

I am considering purchasing a remote starter for my 2005 LGT. Does anyone know whether or not I will need to have the valet key for install? I have read that they mount a box under the steering column so the key chip communicates with the CPU. Is there any way around this? I would appreciate any information someone could provide me with before so that I know what I need to have ready for install.

 

Thanks,

Ryan

I just had one installed in my '05 Legacy 2.5i, and found it didn't have an immobilizer. Call a dealer and provide your vin, they should be able to tell you if you do or don't based on whether the immobilizer parts are available for your car or not. Dealer said most of the '05's didn't have them, but then I'm in Canada so I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not.

Yeah, I found out that it does not have an immobilizer, but at best buy they told me I would need an extra key. Now I am confused:confused:

Best Buy is the last place I would go. I used to work at a Circuit City before they went out of business and it was terrible the installs they did. Best Buy hasn't proven to be much better imo. If it doesn't have an immobilizer you won't need a key.

you will have to give up your extra key...

 

went to a very good shop in the area... they dont make a relay for the LGT...

you will have to give up your extra key...

 

went to a very good shop in the area... they dont make a relay for the LGT...

 

If you don't have an immobilizer, you don't have to give up a key. I went to a guy who works out of his garage...

No immobilizer on my '05 with a remote starter. Uh, you do have an automatic transmission, right? Getting around the clutch pedal interlock on a manual is a bit tricky.

so immobilizer only came on limiteds? cause i have one in my 05.

Best Buy is the last place I would go. I used to work at a Circuit City before they went out of business and it was terrible the installs they did. Best Buy hasn't proven to be much better imo. If it doesn't have an immobilizer you won't need a key.

 

+1 on the circuit city install im so glad they went out of business. I had the worst install expierence ever with those guys, vowed id never go back and now I dont have to even think about it. Id imagine best buy isnt much better.

so immobilizer only came on limiteds? cause i have one in my 05.

 

Mine is a limited as well, no immobilizer. Might have to do with the build date, or might be a US/Canada thing, no idea. Best way is to call the dealer with your VIN, and they can tell you if your car was factory equipped with an immobilizer or not.

gt=immobilizer

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the input and suggestions.

i dont mind best buy.. but i am a installer for a competitor of best buy..

all u need is 2 FLcan bypass modules.. its quite a bit of wiring but at the end it all works out.

I have an 05 LGT and did not have to give up my key. I went to my local streo shop and had them do it all. I got a Clifford remote start, It has a 1 mile range. Best $500.00 I've ever spent!!!

Doesn't having the chip hidden in the column somewhere for the remote start kind of defeat the immobilizer?

Best Buy is great.

If you want Pre-fabbed speaker boxes.

 

Go to a local stereo shop(s), good stereo guys can integrate anything.

An aftermarket remote start unit shouldn't need an immobilizer key as it's an independant, added in circuit.

Doesn't having the chip hidden in the column somewhere for the remote start kind of defeat the immobilizer?

 

The chip in the column still needs a coil around it to energize before it'll work.. so having the chip doesn't completely render the immobilizer useless. Let's face it, if the theif is good enough to figure that out, you were screwed to start off with

 

I'm actually biting the bullet on a car starter for my LGT finally, and just found a few non-key bypass modules. A few years ago there were none that I knew would work. Some places listed it as possible, but they couldn't get it to work. I'll be getting it in after thanksgiving.. so we'll see if it works!

I Just got a Smartstart remote starter, and the Xpresskit DLPK Canbus bypass module, for my 05 LGT Ltd with MT. Put it all in this weekend, and I must say, their instructions are terrible at best. It took an astronomical amount of time determining the correct wiring points and the clutch bypass. I also wired in the starter kill/anti-grind relay. After many frustrating hours of searching for the correct colour id's of cables (even the remote starter manufacture gave two different wiring guides for the 2005 LGT, both with different colours listed for each device), I eventually had to resort back to the "vacation pix" for my car. Figured out all the connections and even figured out how to bypass the clutch switch without using a relay (run the "gnd while running" line from the remote starter to the ECU side of the starter relay coil).

 

I got the Xpresskit canbus bypass module to "learn" my cars programming, or at least it showed that the learning was successful. Set up all the options in the remote starter, including getting it to learn the vehicle idle from the tach.

 

The remote starter puts the car into ready mode, without any issue. Take out the key, hop out (or just open/close the door), and lock. The turbo mode worked and kept the car running for 1 min, then shut off and locked the doors, as it should. (locking and unlocking work fine as well)

 

Then I go to remote start. Press the key fob start, the vehicle flashes correctly, unlocks the doors, and tries to start. The starter turns for the max of 8 seconds, but the engine does not turn over. From there, the remote starter continues as it should, thinking that the engine is on! (re-locks the doors, and disconnects when I put the key in)

 

The "troubleshooting guide" for the remote starter only suggested that IGN 1 and IGN 2 may be reversed, but I checked and re-checked, and from what I see, they are wired correctly (I haven't tried reversing them yet though). I also thought that maybe my method of the clutch bypass was causing an issue, by triggering the starter relay coil, the ECU doesn't receive a +12v signal from the physical clutch switch, and maybe because of that, the ECU is not powering up the feul pump? So i sat in the car and put it through the remote start process, while keeping my foot on the clutch, so the switch remains closed (there is no sensor to kill the remote start from the clutch). Same thing, so that is not the issue (at least not this issue).

 

Then I came across this posting, and remembered that when installing it, i did notice that there was a thin copper wire coil built into the key chamber housing, wrapping around the chamber. you can only see it if you remove the lower plastic covering of your steering column (one screw). So now I am almost positive that I need to have a key RF coil, and lose a key to the remote starter. It would have been nice if that were even mentioned in the manual for the bypass module, even nicer if they included it in the box, being that it's just a simple copper wire coil.

 

I am going to be on the hunt today, for the key coil, and will throw my valet key in it, and i will let you know the results.

 

Now only if I can figure out how to get the remote starter to trigger the signal to open the trunk from the remote! That one has really got me!

I just got mine put in with a flashlogic key bypass which doesn't make me lose a key. I didn't do the install this time around, since the cost of the parts wasn't worth it in the end. The flash logic was actually pretty fancy. A unit that needed the two keys present, then the installer had to go upload data to the mothership, then they would download another flash for the unit to be written on. (Versus the Mazda that it would program itself without having to contact the manufacturer).

I don't think I would do this install myself again. It's the poor instructions that make it so bad. I'm not too sure what kind of monkies run that autostart company, but I was just looking back at their site again, to confirm some wiring, and this time I just opened up a wiring schematic only doc. Then I realized that their wiring schematic only doc online had some extra jumper pins, that aren't in the wiring schematic that is in the install manual, and I noticed that a couple of the connection wires had different labels/purpose than what is in the install manual. Luckily, I did not require any of those effected wires.

 

Anyway....I just confirmed it, for me. I just tried the remote start procedure, and when I took my key out, I slipped the valet key in (not turning it though), before getting out and locking the doors. It worked.

 

I looked up on the xpresskit site, and found that there is a RF loop that can be obtained for the bypass module I have. How theirs works is you take a good key, cut the chip out (I laughed when I saw that one), glue the chip onto a resistor on the wire, and then wrap a looped end around the cylinder. You are then supposed to be able to still use that key, which makes sense I guess.

 

On to figuring out the trunk release now!

If you paid for a bypass, then I'd get your money back. an rf loop is simply a coiled wire that gets energized when the starter turns on. Unless you always have it energized, then you aren't going to be able to start the car with just a regular key...

I was kinda wondering about that, because the RF loop that xpresskit says I need, is simply a wired coil with a resistor. You're supposed to glue the chip to the resistor, and wrap the coil around the key chamber, as close to the chamber coil as possible. So the bypass module only activates the coil when a remote start has been called. Now I did notice that they have a different RF loop for different vehicles, so I am assuming that it's just a different resistor, to vary the power to the coil, according to the vehicle/chip type.

So I'm about ready to give up on this thing (or just giving the Xpresskit a good toss at a wall! LOL).

 

Since the valet key worked for remote starting (with the key in, as a test), I went ahead and removed the chip from that key. I did another test, and just held the chip, at the opening of the key chamber, and initiated a remote start. The car started, just as before.

 

The only thing that I did notice, that I have to correct, is that when the remote start goes successfully, the car throws a code. The code is for a low voltage detected from the clutch switch. This is because I tried to bypass the clutch a slightly different way: In our cars, when you turn the key, it connects one side of the physical clutch switch to 12v. Pressing the clutch, closes that switch, and the 12v then can continue through the switch, and into the ECM. At the same time, when you turn the key, 12v also is connected to one side of the starter relay coil (normally open), the other side of the coil goes to the ECM. So when the ECM sees 12v from the clutch switch (from turning the key to start AND pressing the clutch), it then grounds the wire that goes to the starter relay, the relay closes and sends 12V to the starter motor. I was trying to bypass the clutch, without using another relay, so I connected a "GND when starting" line from the remote starter to the starter relay wire that goes to the ECM (diode isolated of course). However, it looks as though the ECM still looks for the 12V from the clutch switch. Oh well! It was worth a try.

 

 

Regardless, it would still remote start, so I was still able to confirm that the chip works. So I then took some 22 guage wire (from a CAT5 network cable), wraped one loop around the chip (tapped that up), and then wrapped a few loops around the key chamber, pretty well on top of the coil inside the chamber. Connected the two ends of that wire together, held it in place so that the chip was not near the key chamber, and attempted a remote start. It took some playing with, but I finally found that with 5 loops around the key chamber, the car would remote start, so the antenna works.

 

I took that and rigged it up a little more permenantly, and connected it to the xpresskit bypass unit. Didn't work. I tried many different positions, number of loops, etc., and nothing would get it to work. So I concluded that xpresskit must need to see the resistor that is in the RFLUB wire loop that they sell, and being that I could not find the value of that resistor anywhere, I just ordered one up.

 

Finally got it in. So I hooked it up, as per the instructions, put it in the car and plugged it in. Tried a remote start, and nothing. I tried coiling more wire, moving the loop to various locations around the chamber, even tried it coiled up inside the lip of the key chamber, and also took the plastic cover right off so I could place the coil as close to the chamber coil as possible. Nothing would work. So I thought that maybe the chip was damaged from hot gluing it (as per the instructions), so I unplugged it from the xpresskit unit, and held it up to the chamber (while it was even still connected to the RFLUB wire), and it started.

 

I'm now at a total loss, and my hands are ice cubes. Unless anyone has any ideas that I can try, I doubt that I'm going to play around with it again, until the warmer weather comes with spring.

 

poop!

clutch bypass.pdf

i dont mind best buy.. but i am a installer for a competitor of best buy..

all u need is 2 FLcan bypass modules.. its quite a bit of wiring but at the end it all works out.

 

Thanks for sharing this information. I had never heard of these but just looked at their website. Looks like great modules for alarm / remote start installs.