[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm totally ok without remote start, which is mostly a waste of gas in my opinion.
I wouldn't mind having remote door locks; however, since purchase I've always used my key.

The previous owner had a "Directed" DS4+ with Viper 4-button remotes installed. It's either not a good system, or the installations wasn't well done:
A. It uses an estimated crank time (virtual tach), so sometimes it doesn't start, and other times the starter keeps running even after the engine is running.
B. It always honks when locking and unlocking, which I find tremendously annoying.

Now...to the problem: I suppose I did exactly what you're not supposed to do with these systems and attempted to reprogram it, hoping that I could get rid of the honks and reset that virtual tach. Long story short, I messed up the programming entirely. I hoped that I could save it by disconnecting the battery, but that made it worse. So this is where we are:

• pressing lock/unlock does produce the normal parking light flashes and honks but the door locks do not do anything
• pressing the trunk button opens the trunk AND simultaneously locks the doors
• pressing the start button unlocks the doors and cranks the engine, and the starter keeps running until you cut if off by pressing the button again

Yes, a complete mess!

On a side note, I opened the fuse compartment on the brain, and there actually was a blown fuse; however, replacing it with a new fuse had no effect.

Now my question: is there anyone here who can make a recommendation how to fix this myself? Or anyone in the Richmond, VA area who could help me? I'll buy you a coffee.
I know I can take it in to have it reprogrammed, but honestly it's not even worth it to me. I can just use my key old-school.

 

[Grog6]

I would carefully remove the system; My Tbird had one when I got it. It was the same viper system, and had similar problems; dealers must have got a serious discount on these. They are crap.
I'd remove it, and buy a factory remote. it will probably still work, if you remove the pos viper alarm, mine do.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I'd remove it, and buy a factory remote.

I don't have a factory keyless system, so a factory remote wouldn't work. But again, I can live with using the key if I have to.

But yes, removing it is an option.

 

[racecougar]

You can rob the factory system from a donor and install it. That's what I did.

 

[Grog6]

These guys usually have boxes:

TBSC Shop Lincoln, Ford, Mercury, & Jaguar Parts New and Used hard to find parts

TBSC Shop Lincoln, Ford, Mercury, & Jaguar Parts New and Used hard to find parts

www.tbscshop.com

 

[mercenvy]

In my experience, remote starters create more problems than they solve.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I wont touch those aftermarket systems unless its removing them. Either the install sucks and it doesn't work right, the system sucks or got old and doesn't work right, or both, but never neither.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

So...simply removing the "brain" and securing the wiring isn't an option. Tried that, and the car doesn't crank at all.

For the time being, I put the brain back in. Only way would be a proper removal, i.e., bring all the wiring back to stock, which I don't have the patience for right now.

 

[XR7-4.6]

So...simply removing the "brain" and securing the wiring isn't an option. Tried that, and the car doesn't crank at all.

For the time being, I put the brain back in. Only way would be a proper removal, i.e., bring all the wiring back to stock, which I don't have the patience for right now.

The good news with these installs(and a source of their woes) is they only split a few of the factory wires in key places like the starter circuit, while the others are simply tapped into the uncut circuits like running lights, horn, power windows or whatever else with the only the section of shielding removed, and on lot of installs I've de-converted most hackily done by simply wrapping wire strands around with tape holding it together since few who want these sorts of accessories knows how to solder, which is convenient lol The factory wires are all color coded so even if you need to splice a whole butchered section it's not a complicated effort where you need to add labels and jot down notes.

My current dash harness was the messiest I had seen where everything seemed to be tapped into the short elbow of wire harness going to the ignition switch, I'm good at wiring and even I was intimidated by that repair at first, but once the aftermarket crap was out of the way I got it tidied up fast.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

So I decided to proceed with the removal...ugh.

I just feel that's the only clean way to handle this. It's frustrating though.

A lot of cut wires here, next to the parking brake:

And a lot of taps here, under the steering column:

 

[XR7-4.6]

Yep that looks like how my ignition switch wiring was lol

The wires next to the parking brake look easy, I think they’re the power lock inputs. The turquoise wire is the aftermarket junk and splits pink yellow and the blue wires split the pink green. Take the aftermarket wires out of the equation and match them up and your good to go.

 

[racecougar]

I'd pull the seat to gain some space to work in there.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

The wires next to the parking brake look easy, I think they’re the power lock inputs. The turquoise wire is the aftermarket junk and splits pink yellow and the blue wires split the pink green. Take the aftermarket wires out of the equation and match them up and your good to go.

Matt, these were actually pretty tough. There's zero slack in those wires, plus that entire wire loom is squeezed between sheet metal and that black plastic panel - what was Ford thinking?

So...what I did is: I cut the aftermarket wires at about 2" each, then I crimped those together. Not pretty, but my real concern is that the aftermarket wires are a narrower gauge than the factory wires (pink/green and pink/yellow if I remember correctly). Does that put me at risk (e.g., wires getting hot)? Sorry if that's a stupid question; not much electrical expertise here.

The ones under the steering column, except for one (red/light blue), were all spliced and easy to remove. The red/light blue one, I did the same, i.e., I used about 2" of each aftermarket wire and crimped those together. These aftermarket wires were the same gauge as factory. Again, there was no way to reconnect factory wires only due to the amount they cut.

Let me know if I did anything wrong.

So I'm remote start free. Car starts up and everything works. Yay!

Oh, and if there's anyone who has a use for this "equipment", please message me. In another car, this may work great.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Sounds good. I’d probably be more concerned with the gauge being smaller if they were for the power windows since the current is continuous and spikes at the stops, but for the locks I wouldn’t worry about it, you’d see evidence of burned wire in the aftermarket wires if they were undersized. Ford has pretty standardized color coding for a given year across models so they may have been specifying the wire with that color/strip to that gauge to cover everything from Escorts to E series Club Vans, a coupe with two lock solenoids isn’t putting too much load on the circuits

The red/light blue wire is the starter solenoid wire fwiw

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Honestly, I'm happy this thing is gone. Never worked right. Now back to our regular programming with wood and suede!

 

[Kenz]

My Cougar was orginally from NJ, so it had the 90s vintage viper alarm. Of course it didn't work when I got it, so I spent a few hours taking apart the wires and soldering and heat shrinking them back together.
Fortunately whoever installed mine used the quick splices for the smaller gauge wire so I just had to tape those.

 

[mercenvy]

My 1st gen explorer had aftermarket key fob and remote door locks. The doors would lock when ignition turned on. Obviously this was not factory.
I ended up locking myself out with the engine running once due to this ridiculous setup, had to break in through back window.
Next day i removed all of that crap, it was all located behind the kick panel, same location as yours. As expected, it had been wired in with scotch locks by someone.

 

[Metallicaman0258]

My 97 has a turn of the century AutoPage system on it. They took the alarm siren out from under the hood. The people I got it off of took it in on a trade 10 years ago and couldn't figure out how to start it because the key doesn't work in the ignition. I put a fuel pump in it because it wasn't working from sitting so long, pressed the blue snowflake button and the starter engaged. A few more tries and it started. To this day I use the remote start to start the car because the key simply does nothing but unlock the wheel and keep it from shutting off after 15 minutes. I've inspected the lock cylinder and done some electrical tests on it and it seems to be functioning correctly but the aftermarket system is messing with it somehow and I dont feel like fooling with it till the weather gets better. Its my daily at the moment and I don't want to risk killing it. Good work on cleaning your mess up, I'll do mine eventually.

 

[Grog6]

There's probably a relay in line with the starter wire,and it blocks the signal from the key.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

There's probably a relay in line with the starter wire

^^^this

My system had two relays, i.e., standard 5-prong relays, within the wiring mess. One of them likely controlled the parking lights; the other may have controlled the starter (I didn't really look closely how they were connected). Both of them had an in-line fuse wired up and taped to them.

Which, incidentally, is the one good thing that came out of this: I got two free relays. I'll put those to good use at some point.