wawa_rx8

I finally got this thing working. Doing my research with the help of this web site, especially LURCH519, I was able to find the right wires to get this thing going. I chose this product because I have an 05 MT that came with the switchblade key fob. I wanted a remote start for the convenience of starting my car and letting it warm up (or cool down on hot Houston days). I didn't want an extra remote on my key chain, so this product is what I went with. I've already had a few pm's from people interested in doing this themselves, so here is my contribution to this forum.

Of course, get yourself the Valet 561t. The prices range from $55-$129.00 so dont get ripped off. (got mine from ebay) Then, for the bypass, there are several that will work out there, ones where you have to leave a spare key in the box, or those that you don’t. I went with the "IM04" DATA DL & BYPASS INTERFACE...no key required. Please note that these bypasses require you to have 2 valid keys to program the bypass. Got this bad boy from Auto Tech Security Systems for 50 bucks, plus 10 for shipping. ph:407-870-8880.

This is from my install, and all wire colors and locations I got from this web site, so like myself, use this site and my instructions at your own risk.
Make sure you have proper materials, connectors, extra wire, 1-1k ohm resistor, 12v tester and or voltmeter, etc.


First pic, remove plastic cover
second pic, remove 4 screws, remove metal cover
third pic, remove 3 screws, take off cover beneath steering wheel

wawa_rx8

next, remove 3 screws to panel below steering wheel.
then remove 2 screws holding on to the foot rest. Then, pull up on the kick panel held on by snap pins. This should be removed completely like in pic 4.

wawa_rx8

This next one is tricky. I'm moving along with the install instructions that came with the unit, so follow along. In your rx8, look for the wire harness in the driver side that is coming out of the door itself. follow it, and on the inside, it'll be wound up then goes down to a large harness connection. Tap in above this connection.

In the 9 pin connector(of the 561t) H1, the Light Green/Black will go to the Green/Red wire as shown in pic 5. It's kinda hard to get to, but can be done. This will disarm the factory alarm when the 561t is activated.

Next, on the same pic, get the White/Red wire from the 561t harness, connect this to the Red/Green wire as shown in pic 5. NOTE: this is your "lock motor" wire. when you hit "lock" on your remote twice, this is what feeds the 561t it's input. If you choose to have another input, good luck. I beat myself up (and lurch) on this one till I thought of this.

Next, take the Green/White from the 561t harness, connect a 1k ohm resistor to this, then connect it to the Light Green/Black wire of the 561t harness. (the one connected to the factory alarm wire) A negative trigger through a 1k ohm resistor will rearm the car if the remote start is deactivated or timmed out.

Next pic, Take the black wire from the 561t harness, ground it. In pic 7, I used the screw above the fuse box.

wawa_rx8

Next, take your White wire from the 561t harness, connect this one to your parking lights. This is found under your turn signal below the steering wheel. It is the Light Green wire.

wawa_rx8

Pic 9 Alright, moving on to the main power wires. I removed the (-) cable from my battery, just to be on the safe side. The pic I took looks kinda jumbled up, but it's pretty easy. Thee isn't room for mistake here, so be careful. First, there are 2 red wires. Take one of them, connect it to the Yellow wire of the ignition switch. This is your constant +12v. as for the second red wire, the manual said to find another +12v source. All I did was connect it directly to the first red wire, works just fine.

Next, take the Pink wire, connect this one to the Black/Yellow in the ignition harness. This is your +12v ignition.

Next, take your Orange wire, connect this one to the Blue/Green in the ignition harness. This is your accessory output.

Next, take the Pink/White wire, connect this one to the Red/White wire. This is for second accessory, and optional user menu features

In pic 10, Take the Purple wire, this is your starter output. You can bypass your clutch with this wire. Look for the switch behind your clutch. there are 2 wires coming out of it. One will be White/Blue(same wire coming out of your ignition harness). Connect the Purple wire to the OTHER wire. this bypasses this switch and sends the signal directly to the starter.

wawa_rx8

At this point, you can connect the 2 wire harnesses to the 561t unit. (the H1 and main power harness.)

This next part is fun. As you know, or dont know, the rx8 comes with a neutral safety switch. For manual transmissions, I highly reccomend you utilize this safty feature. I've heard nothing but horror stories from other forums about this, and this is why no one will install a remote start on a manual transmission. But lucky for us, this car will not attempt to remote start if it is left in gear.

in Pic 11, this shows where I went through to the engine bay. There is a small grommet that you can move aside, or punch through.

lurch519

u gotta type faster wawa. im in suspense here. lol. good write up so far

wawa_rx8

I read somewhere that you can take your neutral safety wire and run it through the shifter boot. Looking back now, I should have punched a hole through it. Instead, I took some wire, connected it to the Black/White neutral safety wire, went through to the engine bay, and down to the transmission area beneath the car. make sure you're on level ground and your e-brake is engaged. Jack up your car on the front driver side. When you get it up, I put an extra holder in place(for more safety). When you get to your transmission, it's sorta close to the shifter boot area. The wire is located on the driver side of the transmission, kinda toward the top. There are 2 grey wires. If you test them, one of them will test ground. The other one will read ground when the car is in neutral. Now you can test this by putting the car in gear, putting the key to the "on" position. Dont start!! obviously. Test both wires again, to be sure. One will still read ground, The other will not. That wire is the one you need to tap into. Therefore, if the car is in gear, this will send a positive signal to your 561t unit, this will not let the system remote start in this condition.

wawa_rx8

Alright. Now for the Tachometer input. ******[edit]******

After a day of having this thing in here, I already ran into a problem reguarding this step. For some reason, when I do a cold start with the remote start, it cranks, sounds like it's going to kick over, then dies. The system is programed to attemt a total of 3 starts if it doesnt start. I think it has something to do with the tach input to the system. You know how in the morning with a cold start, the tach shoots up to 2 1/2 to 3k, then starts settling down. well, I figure when the tach input reads that it is around 1k(normal idle), it cuts the starter and doesnt recieve a longer crank time like it should in the morning. well, to combat this, DO NOT INSTALL THIS WIRE! instead, there is a programable setup that will crank the starter for a preset amount of time. I'll make an edit at the end of this thread to show you how to change the factory setting of .6 seconds to 1.6.

wawa_rx8

Next, take the brown wire from the 561t harness. This goes to the brake wire. Located just above the brake petal. Look for the Black/Blue. Tap into this one with the Brown wire. This will kill the car if someone gets, hits the brake petal trying to take off.

wawa_rx8

Now, take the Grey wire, run it through to your engine bay. This wire will be connected to the hood switch. This ensures the car wont start if the hood is open. I drilled a hole as shown in pic 16. this may take some adjusting untill you get the proper lengh out so when you shut the hood, it closes the switch.

wawa_rx8

Make sure all harnesses are connected to the unit, including the button switch. Make sure you battary is connected. the hood is closed. On the 561t unit, there are jumpers located on the side. Make sure yours looks like mine like in pic 17. This will change the polarity for the parking lights.

Time to learn the Tach signal. The manual says to start the vehicle with the key. Within 5 seconds, press and HOLD the program switch. The LED will light constant when the tach signal is learned. Release the program switch. shut down your car.

Once this is done. it is now time to check to see if the unit will start without the key in the ignition. Shut all doors. make sure the car is in neutral. Put the key right up against the ignition switch, NOT inside. (I found the security will still register the key when it's right next to it.) Hit your LOCK button on your key fob or remote twice. Your car should honk once, then go through the ignition sequence and crank up to start. If so, you have hooked everything up correctly. if not, check your connections all the way through. I'll admit, I went through a little trial and error to get this far, but all these connections should get it to start.

wawa_rx8

Before you attemt this next part, make sure your car will remote start without your key. This will eliminate any chance that the bypass unit is messed up. As I told you before, I bought the keyless bypass(pic19). There are several on the market, but this one taps directly into the RX And TX lines from the security box. These are instructions I followed to make it happen. If you buy something else, just follow the instructions that came with that unit. All in all, the Blue wire on the "4-pin satellite harness" will go to the bypass unit.

In pic 18, the wires are connected just below the ignition switch.
-From the bypass unit, connect the Black wire to chassis ground.
-Connect the Red wire to constant +12.
-Connect the brown wire to the Blue wire from the 561t unit off of the "4-pin satellite harness"

These next wires are easy to find. Your bypass unit should come with a diagram to locate these wires. On that harness, there are 4 wires. To find it, start from one side, connect your test light to that wire. insert your key to the "on" position. This will be Ignition +12. If your test light doesnt come on, go to the other side of the 4 wire harness. When you find it, the wire next to it is ground. the next wire will be your TX. The last one is your RX. Verify this in the instructions that come with your bypass.

-Connect the Green wire to the TX line from the wire harness in pic 18
-Connect the Pink wire to the RX line from the wire harness in pic 18.
pic 20 are the wires jumbled up together.

To program this, the instructions says different than what I'm going to post. Only because I did what they said and nothing happend. First, I put in one of my keys, turned it to the on position, waited for the security light to go out. then I took the key out(note, the bypass unit will have a constant light untill the security light goes out.) With in 5 seconds, put in your other key, switch to the on position. wait for the security light to go out, then take out the key(note: same thing happens on the bypass unit). within 5 seconds, remote start the car. This should work.

Once you have everything working. Test out all your safety features. First, pop the hood. then remote start. Verify the car doesnt start.
Next. put the car in gear. Make sure you have the e-brake pulled way up and you have plenty of room in front of the car. remote start. verify nothing happends. You should be good to go from this.

wawa_rx8

*****[edit]***** Program the unit to change feature 2 from TAchometer checking type to Voltage checking type. If you look in your install manual, page 27, it's in there. To do this change, Insert your key into the ignition, flip it to the on position then back off. Press and release the 561t program switch 3 times, holding it on the third press. Verify the LED flashes 2 times. Press your "lock" button from your factory remote 1 time. (the input that triggers your remote start) verify led is not on. Release program switch. This will change this setting. Now, to change the cranking time, feature 5, insert the key once more, click to the on position, then back off again, take key out. press and release the program switch 6 times holding it down on the 6th press. verify LED flashes 5 times. press your "lock" button on your factory remote a total of 5 times. This will change the crank time to 1.6 seconds. verify LED flashes 6 times. release program switch. If you find in the morning it needs a little more crank time, go back to feature 5 and change it. so far, I have mine on 1.6 and it seems to be working just fine.

All Done!!! if you have any problems, please contact Lurch he seems to be the resident expert here. lol. Enjoy.

type59

how much range do you have for the remote start with your remote? good job by the way!

wawa_rx8

it's decent. I can remote start from my room which is toward the back of my house without a problem. The only thing I noticed is when my car is in the parking lot at the office, if I cant see it, it usually wont pick up the signal being behind cars and such. I'd say it's a good for 50-100 feet. but im just guessing

Keef

have you tried using your head too strengthen the signal? I know it sounds a little childish... But I've noticed that if you mash the remote into you temple, then you'll get some extra 10-25 feet...

Anyway, thanks for the right up wawa! A definate DIY I will do...

type59

lol! are you serious?! ill try that out later today. haha.

lurch519

its actually under your chin but yeah, its supposed to work

gothmogthebalrog

While working on this install of a remote start it occured to me rather than using the double "lock" of my factory key FOB, wouldn't it make more sense to use double "unlock"- After reviewing Lurch's wiring guides I saw lock and unlock are the same wire (green) . That does not indicate double lock (engine lock red/ blue) would trigger for double unlock off of the key FOB.

Basically, I can't figure out which wire to use for the double click of "unlock" on my factory FOB at the remote module to kick on my remote start. I certainly don't want to use the passenger door unlock- wouldn't the remote start get screwy if anyone pushed the unlock button in the car as well? In any event, would I still have to cut the engine lock wire (red/blue)? Maybe I'm overthinking this, but should the engine lock go on at the same time as the remote start? I'm probably overthinking this, but to be clear- can anybody think of how this works?

alexpod76

I think isaw some adds or maybe just a guy talking about having this particular remote start mod on speed vision( a Dish network channel), but i was just wondering from you exactly how long does the remote start last and from how far will it work?

www.satellitesimplified.com
alexpod76

gothmogthebalrog

Just read the instructions and the follow up conversation- the answer to both questions is there. The amount of time to start is programmable, and it works as far as your remote works, since you are using the factory remote, or farther if you push it into your temple.

gothmogthebalrog

"In the 9 pin connector(of the 561t) H1, the Light Green/Black will go to the Green/Red wire as shown in pic 5. It's kinda hard to get to, but can be done. This will disarm the factory alarm when the 561t is activated."

Actually there was no Green/ Red wire in the bundle- the wire for Lock Motor is Red/ Blue or Red with a Blue Stripe. I Actually used Red/Black which is Unlock Motor on mine. All of the other steps are dead on. With the exception that each step should have "Remove electrical tape and sheathing" in front of it.

Automatics- all these steps work for you as well- just disregard the neutral safety switch and tach inputs.

All totaled this setup cost me under $100 and less than 1 day to do. Thanks Wawa!

abesRX8

I just wanted to say thank you so so much for doing this diy, my buddies and i have been trying to get my remote start to work on my new 8 for about two weeks and i happened to think to look in the diy section and found this, and bam it worked! thank you so much!!!

Eight

iTrader: (2)

Great step by step diy!
I'm a complete noob and my brain just can't take it when it come to electronics but I'm planning on doing this mod next week, just wanted to clarify something...

I'm confused about pic 6 where it looks as if the resistor is connected to "both" green/white wires when it says green/white ->resistor->light green/black on the instruction.
Is it because you cut off a piece of the same wire to make an extension to the green/black and splice all three wires together (since the lgreen/black is already spliced onto the blue/red wire)?

My brain is tired