I was just reading Ange's thread and there seems to be some confusion as to if remote starters cause our starters to fail. I remote start my car with my Viper 790XV quite often during a day, and I haven't had any problems yet been a couple of months. But should I worry? Is there a difference between manually starting a car, and remote starting it?

 

yes because when it tries to crank the car, sometemes it doesnt work at starting the car. basically you can mess up your starter, but if your car is in good condition you should be ok.

-Michael

 

Michael, I don't say this often (because I try to be as impartial on the .org as I CAN be), but that's a bunch of And PLEASE don't take what I say personally.... it's strictly biz-nazzz!

But in reality, the remote start simulates a key in the ignition. So, you'd have just as much of a chance messing up your starter with a remote start as you would just normally starting your car with the key.

The ONLY caveats to that statement would be:

1. Tach was not properly set up by the installer
2. Faulty/defective remote start

 

Could any of you check to see if the remote starter stops the starter as soon as the car catches? If the remote starter is not smart, it may keep cranking (longer than if you start the car manually), thus causing premature wear on the starter.

 

ok so you have never heard a remote starter only crank a car without the car actually starting? you obviously have not been around them enough to experience that happening once in a while. ok so this is what youre saying is...if you leave the key in the on position, that wont mess up your car? thanks but i do not see how u cannot equate that to the remote start continuously trying to to crank the car...also, remote starters do have a hard time working when it is cold, so how would you explain that situation when it also tries to crank the car for some seconds? is that then bad for the starter? ok thanks for the input and teaching me something.

 

o yea and no offense, but those are some good points. THANK YOU UncleMax!!

 

I have had a cheap remote starter that I installed myself on my old escort. My wife also has a better one professionaly installed on her Forester.

The one I installed did not have the tach sensor hooked up. It could be hooked up but looked like a PITA. Instead it would crank the engine for a set amount of time then wait to see if it started (by checking voltage). If it did not start it would try again and crank slightly longer. I think it would be 2 seconds on first attempt, 2.5 seconds on 2nd attempt, etc. for three attempts. The remote starter definatly did not crank as hard as using the key but I don't understand why . My brother has the car now and the remote starter will turn it over but not start it, turning the key in the ignition starts it easily.

The remote starter in my wifes Forester seems to work fine but I do not think it has a tach hookup either. I have seen it take more than one attempt to start her car and I think it does not crank as hard as the key in the ignition. It seems to start quicker with the key in the ignition.

I do not know if cranking the car with less power is bad for it however. Many also feel that letting a car idle is the worst way to warm it up, if you are using a remote starter than you ar liklely to be warming your car this way.

 

OK, I don't have a remote starter, so I can't be sure, but if it cranks with "less power", that probably means the wiring isn't passing the full amperage to the starter that it needs (you would need to use bigger wire). This could cause it to crank longer and heat up the starter more. That would cause premature failure.

 

I doubt this is a problem...
Remote starters activate the starter relay, which then passes the full current to the starter motor. So the remote starter has no effect on how much power goes to the starter; it just turns it on or off.

 

I agree with you in theory but in my experience with two remote starters the remote starter does not seem to crank as hard as when you turn the key. I can't understand why this would be though.

 

thats the way it works no ifs ands or buts and if you think otherwise its all in your head

the voltage sense feature is just as good as tach. the remote starter monitors the voltage as it cranks the engine as soon as the engine startes and the voltage goes up it stops the starter. you will no if the tach is not hooked up or programed properly for voltage sense because you will here the starter start to grind when the car starts for like 1 or 2 seconds and that will kill a starter

 

Came across this old post doing a curiosity search regarding screwy remote start units..

We have a 2000 GLE with only 59k miles fully loaded etc..only issue is really bad misfiring..After switching to new OEM coils, new MAF from the dealer, and hours of troubleshooting, the problem still persisted. The only thing left to do was to remove the remote start system. Guess what..that was the source of the misfiring.

 

It was either defective or wasn't installed properly.

 

never had an issue with my autopage remote start/alarm on the max.

the starter died 1 time during 5yrs and that 1st replacement was a factory 1 with over 250K on it.

most remote starts offer different programming options.

1. spin starter to user defined RPM is reached or time limit exceeded.
2. spin starter for XXX of time (user set)

etc

odd about the misfiring issue, but glad its resolved

 

Was doing a search... What's the best remote starter brand? Or what brand do you have, and how'd it turn out?

 

remote starts are not bad in my opinion. car audio and alarms for 9 years. most remote starters prime the ignition and fuel pump longer and we take to put the key in and start or press the push button.

I had a 02 Spec-V that was a stick with remote start that was a manual and i had a issue with the throw out bearing. It was replaced via warranty and never had an issue up until I sold it.

 

Old thread is old...

10+ year remote start user on multiple cars. No issues.

All I've used is Viper and Clifford

 

gracias, probably go with viper

 

Installed the Commando EZ-2100 on my 98 MAX sixteen years ago and it has worked fine.

 

Truth.

Taking that one step further, pretty much anything from Directed will be fine, as long as you follow the installation guidelines. (eg: Viper/Clifford must be sold/installed by an authorized agent)

 

Had a remote starter installed on my '02 Max when it was around one month old. Use it for around 60-70% of all starts. Zero problems.

No idea what model... sorry.

 

I have a 1999 Maxima SE (named MAXINE). I bought it 2001 and I put a Viper ESP-150 remote start on it during that winter. It's STILL works great and I replaced my starter in 2012. Definitely NO COMPLAINTS over here.