Remote start help

NYSpeed Automotive
1

Several years ago I had a Compustar installed in my Expedition. It’s a 1WAM-S. It’s just a basic 1 way remote start, no alarm, with a passkey bypass.

Since it started getting cold it fails to start the truck when first thing in the morning. When I hit the button the lights flash, all the electronic relays fire to life on the truck, but when it goes to crank over it only gives about 1/2 a crank and stops. If I hit again the same thing happens.

If I then go out and start the truck with the key it fires right up no problem.

After driving around for a while and the truck gets warmed up the remote start will work fine.

I’m wondering if it’s cranking just slow enough when it’s cold that the remote start doesn’t think it’s turning over? Is there an adjustment for this? It must be reading the RPM’s ok because it works fine once the truck is warmed up.

2

do you still have your book for it?? yes there is a adjustment that can be made

3

Never got a book, and looking at their site the only manuals I can find are end user types that only describe using the remote. Nothing about the various settings for the brain. :tdown:

4

check the brain for a knob if it has it turn it to the - side this will turn down the sence and make if firs more (if it has the knob )… if not you will have to go in and change the mode … its like .5,1,1.5 “crank time”

5

^then what about warm starts?

also, not to be that guy, but start with the obvious: how old is the trucks battery?

Oh, and PM bdr5oh

6

had any engine work done under the hood?
any idea if the installer used tach or voltage??? you probably will not know this.

7

he should be see it if tach
they may have ran a wire to the cap area … take a look to see if a random wire is on there

8

First off, I found the install manual online at the12volt.com. Looks like the 1WAM-S doesn’t use a crank time setting because it senses either the tach or the alternator current.

To answer several questions:

The battery is pretty old, but the truck cranks over just fine using the key.

I’m 99% sure it’s using a tach sensor because there is a tap on a small wire near the coil pack. It’s a yellow/black wire which according to the install guide is the tach/alternator sensor. I’m going to start by checking out that tap and make sure it isn’t starting to go bad.

The only work done under the hood in the last year was when I changed out the sensor for the exterior temp display. That was in front of the radiator so I wasn’t anywhere near any of the remote start stuff.

According to the manual there is a small black button on the brain for “tachometer learning”. You start the vehicle up, press the button, and it learns what a running vehicle signal looks like. I’ll probably retry that when the truck is cold if the wire checks out.

That fails and I’ll be taking it to BDR.

9

yes make it relearn … and it will not hurt to make a new tap on the tach

10

I’ll probably cut the tap out and solder everything back together tonight.

11

Email I just got from the original installer (funky)

Greetings,

Please excuse my memory as it’s a bit foggy at this point. There are 2 methods of a Compustar telling whether or not the car is running, tach or alternator sensing. The compustar can read a basic tachometer signal (if one is available, some vehicles are moving away from these), or it can read voltage from a certain alternator wire (12V when the car is off, 14V when the alternator is charging). I always try to find a tach wire as it is usually the most concrete of the 2, but for some reason I think I had some trouble finding this under your hood.

If we were using a tach wire which most likely we are it probably just needs to be reprogrammed. To do this, start the engine (with the key) at its coldest point so it needs the highest amount of RPM possible to start up. Be ready at the compustar brain when you do this, there is 1 button along one of the long sides (only 1 button no the entire brain, no worries about hitting the wrong button), do this once the engine idles out after a few seconds hit the button which will learn the tach signal. The lights should flash once giving the OK for the tach signal learn…

  1. Be ready at the Compustar brain, find the tach learn button.
  2. Start the engine at its coldest point with the key.
  3. Let the engine idle out for a few seconds, hit the tach learn button.
  4. Lights should flash once accepting the new signal.

The problem is Buffalo, NY… 80 degrees in the summer, and -40 in the winter. The amount of RPM during engine start up totally depends on the temperature. The compustar is somewhat smart and will shorten the crank when needed I think it averages over the last 5 starts, when it shortens it during the summer it’s then too short for the winter…

Hope this makes sense, I’m living in San Francisco at this point so troubleshooting in person might be tough…

Thanks!

:tup: to him. Sounds like I was on the right track anyway.