I am thinking of buying my daughter a remote starter for her '04 Escape for Christmas. Maybe I'll buy myself one too. Please give me suggestions on which brand to buy.

 

viper alarms are nice if your willing to get her an alarm as well, they can cost any where b/w 450-600 for a very good model. (kinda alot for a xmas present tho) you could get her the OEM remote start, my neighbor has it im not a big fan of it i can't for the life of me remember why i didn't like it tho its been a while i just remember i didn't like how it was set up, but i bet your daughter would like having it as part of her key rather than having something extra on her keyring

 

I will check them out. I was thinking, I might spend maybe $300.00. There is a good sales and installation business about 4 blocks from where she works and I think they carry Viper. I guess I will not buy one for myself. My Daughter has an illness and really is affected by cold weather so the starter would be very much appreciated. Thanks for the advice.

 

Don't mean to bump into your thread to much. I had a Code Alarm 421 installed this week, and so far I am not to impressed with it. I was told it had a range of around 600ft, but I am having problems getting it to start from 20-30ft.

Anyone know anything about this model?

 

Call Kcautosound and ask Travis. He sells Code brand.

 

I have a 5701 LE responder led 2-way from Viper and it works great. Operating distance is 2000ft. I had it put into my new Accord Coupe. $450 install with car starter and the starter keyless unit. If you hit another button on the remote the defrosters come on. The remote tells you when the time is running down and it tells you a temp range of the interior of the car. Great unit.

 

If your some what of a do it yourselfer talk to Travis a KCautosounds.com. I ordered my Code Alarm Srt9000 from him with the remote start option. I got it all for $365 and that includes the prewiring for my truck and step by step instructions on how to install it. I love my Srt9000 alarm and the remote start is great. I have a very very long range remote it says up to 1 mile away, and you can also call from any phone and activate any feature from a phone so I can really use it anywhere. The best part is I can program when I want the remote start to start every morning so I will start itself while I am in the shower. I would definitely look into them if you don't mind spending the extra little cash and you can do it yourself in about 1 to 3 hours time depending on your skill level. It is not hard and it definitely beats paying someone a couple hundred dollars to do something you can very easily accomplish. Do a search on hear for Travis he is a stand up guy and will help you with everything, he has nothing but great reviews.

 

I agree with 05 sprcrw. KC Autosound all the way. I installed a remote starter in my mother-in-laws 03 Escape last year. Same installation as your 04. It was quite easy with Travis's instructions. The Escape layout is pretty simple. You'll have 3 to 4 connections on the floor of the center hump by the firewall. The GEM module is there and you'll grab factory alarm disarm, horn honk, dome light, and parking lights there. The ignition has four wires there for heater, ignition, starter and 12 volts. Your two door lock wires are in the driver's kick panel and thats it. You got yourself a remote starter installed.

Hey Patatoe1. That CA421 is a nice system. I does have a really nice range. I would suggest seeing where they put your antenna for it. Also you should maybe see where the antenna leads to the remote starter and see what they did with the extra antenna cable. I looked at a co-worker's car that had a system on it with the same range complaints. The person who installed it bundled up the extra antenna cable and zip tied it to some power wires under the dash. That pretty much killed the range of the system. I unbundled it and coiled the antenna per Travis's instructions and BOOM! He had the range he was looking for.

Just a thought. I'm no expert but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night....lol

 

I agree I agree. I forgot about Travis than DirtyDogg remind me of him in a thread I posted about Remote starts. I called him and I will be purchasing one on Thursday. He made the installation sound simple.

 

It is very simple and he even includes pictures and words of each step and how to do it. And if that is still confusing he will take your call and kinda talk you through what your confused on. He is a stand up guy and will take care of you.

 

Hey thanks for the reply. The antenna is right next to my rear view mirror and the wires run under the upholstery to starter. Are you saying that if I was to find excess antenna wire (somewhere other than near the antenna) I should wrap it around the antenna itself?

Hope that made sense.

 

Not necessarily around the antenna just make sure it is not wrapped around a power carrying wire or by anything that will create power field that could potentially cause interference with the signal. It could be a defective part or something as well, have you called Travis at KCautosounds? Even if you did not buy it from him he has installed enough of them to help you trouble shoot. But either way it sounds like something is wrong with it.

 

Tomorrow I will poke around in the car and see whats there. If I can't find anything and am still having the range problem I will see if Travis wants to lend a hand.

Thanks for the reply.

 

I installed three CA421s today. You might take a look at where the antenna is plugged in to the starter brain. Its a 4 pin harness and if they get it wrong they can mess some pins up on it. I nearly do it every time.

 

Thanks Travis. Waiting for the snow to stop so I can go out there. Are the CA421s a decent unit?