Remote start failure & electrical problem.....

[19dabeast85]

I've had a Compustar keyless/remote start/alarm installed on my car for over a year and it has worked flawlessly until yesterday....

I started the car with the pager and it ran for about 2-3 seconds then shut off. Did it repeatedly and same result.

So driving my car today i noticed that:
If driving lights are OFF......they(exterior corners) come on & interior panel dims when the brake pedal is pressed.....WTH??....also when done at idle a small but noticeable load is put on the engine.

If the driving lights are ON....nothing changes when the brake pedal is pressed.

My remote start used the alternator signal to know the engine is running if that helps.......any input is appreciated. I'm going out right now to check fuses, alternator pickup, etc....

[19dabeast85]

Just checked the voltage on the reference wire going to the ECU from the alternator (that the remote starter picks up on) and it's ~1.2v while not running and 14.00v when running.

Don't think that is a problem so i'll continue checking, anyone have an idea where to start with tracking down this issue?

[19dabeast85]

Ok...so it's an electrical short, not a problem with the remote start system.

What's happening is whenever the brake switch activates, the parking & dash lights come on exactly as if i turned them on normally. The "lights on door open" warning signal activates also when the brake pedal is depressed (key out). The remote start will shut the car off if the brake pedal is depressed before the key is switched ON, so it is detecting the brake pedal depressed all the time thus why it will only run for 2 sec.....even when the brake pedal is not pressed in at all.

So I must have a short somewhere within the brake switch/parking lamps/alarm wiring harness system....gonna be fun to trace down!

[19dabeast85]

I traced the green/white wire from the brake light switch to the alarm brain and found no raw places. I also traced the red/black parking lights wire from the fuse panel to the alarm brain and likewise found no raw places where it could be shorting out.

I have been having a problem with the center console PRND321 lights not lighting up until I "hit" the shifter a certain way.....dunno if this could be connected, but i'm going to check it just so tomorrow.

If that doesn't fix it, I'm going to uninstall my keyless/alarm/start system completely and go from there.

Has nobody ever had this problem before??!!

[MR.PHIL]

i have a remote start in my coupe,never had that problem before.
like you said sounds like an electrical problem or it might just be a fuse

[19dabeast85]

Checked fuses already, but i don't think a blow fuse could possibly cause the parking lights to come on when the brake is depressed lol.

One other thing I thought about is maybe there is a short in one of my taillights so that when power is sent to the brake lights, it's crossing back up the parking light/instrument panel circuit....gonna do some serious checking later today and try to track this down.

[19dabeast85]

For anyone that searches for this same problem in the future.......it turned out to be the left outside tail lamp bulb. One of the 2 internal filaments had evidently heated up enough to bend over and touch the other filament, thus creating a short between the "brake light" and "park light" circuits.

Also explains why the remote start wouldn't work: The remote start system starts the car up and then switches the parking light on to show you that it's running....and so when it switched the parking lights on, power went through the fused filaments in the rear bulb, into the brake circuit and the alarm detected that the brake was being "pressed" without a key in the ignition switch and so it cut the power to the ignition. So it was going in a vicious cycle haha.

Hope this helps someone in the future...pics:

[MR.PHIL]

For anyone that searches for this same problem in the future.......it turned out to be the left outside tail lamp bulb. One of the 2 internal filaments had evidently heated up enough to bend over and touch the other filament, thus creating a short between the "brake light" and "park light" circuits.

good work Bro,glad you found it

[2.2litrebeater]

lol i had that happen to me before on a customer car, at least it was a cheap fix

[19dabeast85]

Yeah, glad I bought a few extras of those hyper white bulbs! Now I wonder what would make the filament melt like it did to bend that way....something must have increased the resistance along the circuit, i'm glad it was the filament that melted and not some connection somewhere.