Automobile Remote Starter for Manual Transmission

I know they make them. They bypass the neutral safety switch & monitor the physical position of the transmission (if I'm not mistaken - or "something like that?")...so in neutral, one can remotely start the vehicle.

Hopefully, the safety of this method prevents one from starting their vehicle while in any gear.

Does anyone have any experience with these, thoughts, recommendations, suggestions on these? I'd love to put one on my wife's ride - but do not want to jeopardize safety!

On manual trans it would be 2 normally open microswitchs that close only when the shifting arms are in the neutral position On an automatic it is basically the same but in the park position. Out of curiosity do you have a block heater or a dipstick heater? I ask due to my being stationed on the upper peninsula of michigan and if you didn't have a 110v heater of some sort on your vehicle you may not get it started till May or June. Alaska has to be a bear any place in its winter season.

smokinbasser said:

...Out of curiosity do you have a block heater or a dipstick heater?

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, a necessity for sure (though the minus temps aren't as bad in Anchorage as they are in Fairbanks or other interior areas! Indeed the cold can be a killer for man & machine!

So where were you stationed in the UP (not a lot of places to select that answer from, eh?)? I was at K.I. Sawyer for a little over a year - closed out the F106/T33 TAC unit there in the 1984/85 timeframe.

Ahhh, I miss pasties, cheese curds, Mackinaw, deer hunting, great fishing - oh wait, we've got that here & hunting too!!! Got the wife to make some pasties not long ago...tasted like the "real thing"! :thumbsup:

my brother had a autostart installed in his 350Z 6 speed down in Anchorage at a auto shop, ill have to get a hold of him and ask who did it.

they put on a few safty feature to where it wouldnt start if it was left in gear.

ask on www.alaskamotorsports.com some one on there might have an idea too

i picked up a car not too long ago from down in anchortown and it wasnt winterized now i have to go and install a block,battery,oil pan heaters on it soon. that snow we got last month sucked :thumbsdow

AFAIK nobody makes them but people use the ones intended for automatics. My friend used to install magnetic home alarm switches on the shift linkage, tied to the hood pin switch (the one you are supposed to install to keep from accidentally starting the car with the remote in your pocket while you are leaning over the fender under the hood working on the engine). He also used a relay to temporarily bypass the clutch switch. I thought it was all too Rube Goldbergian to trust for liability reasons.

Incidentally the imported remote starters are superior to those American made ones that require a "programming sequence" each time the battery is disconnected (to make sure you actually connected the brake and hood pin switches). This type of "feature" is included purely due to fear of litigation, and you can be sure most customers will simply end up with a non-functional remote starter the next time they disconnect their battery.

Getting the engine to start without pressing the clutch is a small matter... usually you simply unplug (or short) the connector on the clutch pedal's safety interlock switch. The switch has always been located up near the clutch pedal pivot on every car I've done this to (which has been over 100 cars).

Actually, the reason why I did it was to prevent wear to the engine's thrust bearing. When the clutch is depressed, the axial force of the diaphragm spring (in the thousands of pounds) is forcing the engine crankshaft against the thrust bearing. Not good when the engine is being cold-started and there's no oil pressure.

Most new cars don't have any switches on the gear lever; the PCM can tell which gear you're in by comparing engine RPM to vehicle speed. So if you want an additional safety so the car can't be started in gear, you'll probably have to add it. A simple paddle switch can be used; wire it in place of the clutch interlock. The interlock can be normally open, normally closed, or it can have two switches (one in clutch-up position, one in clutch-down position), so you'll have to do some work with the VOM to get it right. Or you can simply trust that gray squishy safety device between your ears, which is my preference.

Ive wondered about them too as Ive seen a lot of kits around lately.

I have a diesel and currently "park" my car by leaving it in gear as its a manual tranny with no parking brakes.

I am sure all the safety stuff can be wired out, I would just need to get it to switch on the glow plug circuit for 15 seconds, then engage the starter for a second or two.

Since I have a benz, I need vacuum to keep it running and would need to physically turn the key switch or use a solonoild vacuum thingie in the cut off circuit.

For Manuals, you can either rig up swithes as mentioned above, I'm in that process on my car, but need to get my E-brake sorted first. Also check out Compustar. They make Manual specific auto starts. Basically when you turn the car off it stays running and waits for the last car door to shut before turning the engine off. With the logic that if the car was idling unattended with the doors shut when parked, it'll still be safe to idle before the doors open. I have a couple friends with these that have had great luck with them.

As to Diesel's many autostarts have a prestart circuit for glowplugs. I know on my system I can set it up for a long or short cycle for glow plugs, or turn it off in my case.

http://www.compustar.com/

I've got a Compustar remote starter on my Dodge Ram and really like it!! Additionally they have provided excellent support the couple times I had problems with it.

Perhaps I'll go down and have a talk with the guys...