I have a problem and nobody around her can seem to help me. I got a remote starter for my 2005 Cobalt LS last year. It was a Python purchsed and installed at Circuit City last November. About 8 months later my car starts having random meltdowns. I lose power steering, the engine stalls and the gauges go all crazy. I had no idea what was causing this so I brought my car to the dealer because it was still under warranty. They blame everything on the remote starter and tell me I must have it taken out immediately because it is not compatible. Even then they said I might need to have things "reprogrammed". So I went back to Circuit City and they looked it all over and said it was a perfect install and I shouldn't be having any problems. Just in case they replaced what I believe was the bypass piece. It had another meltdown 2 days later. So....I had them take the stupid thing out. When I mentioned not being happy about having my $400 remote starter in a bag in my back seat the manager told me not to give up hope yet. He would call the company and see if they had any known issues and check around some other places. He said he would get back to me. I'm still waiting for his call. I've had it out for 3 months now and I've had 2 more meltdowns without the remote starter installed. My question is....Have you heard of Cobalts rejecting aftermarket starters? Does it cause lasting problems? Do you think they installed it wrong? Or is my dealer just blaming a bigger problem on the remote starter? Everyone is blaming everyone else and I'm not sure what to do. I'm not sure if they are being honest of just telling me crap because they think I'm a stupid girl. I'd appreciate your advice because my dealer wants to charge me to put my car back the way it was. Thank you for your time!

 

I hope that remote starters are compatible with the 05' balt LS im getting a viper system for christmas.....i dont want anything to **** up my car...

 

I have a Viper Alarm system, i've had it for 5 months no and no problems. Of course, i don't have remote start, but it has a ignition cut-out.

 

You more or less just answered your own question. You said that the remote start has been out of your car now for a little while and you had 2 more meltdowns since it's been out. If it was the remote start causing it before, they would have stopped once it was removed from the car. So I might be clined to think that the dealer is blaming the aftermarket piece like they always seem to do.

 

flawed logic there....

if the remote start caused an issue in the electricals...theres no garuntee that removing it will remove the problem...it may have caused problems that would continue without its further input.

I called my local dealer just 2 days ago about this, and he told me that most of the install guys at visions/bestbuy/circuitcity etc....do a pretty slapshod job (not my words....no offence to any installers reading....i know hes biased)
and if you get it installed by a non-gm tech and it causes a problem....your kinda SOL

He quoted me $590CA (installed) for a system that was better than the one i was looking at, that also fully integrates into a new remote so you dont have 2 remotes on your keys....and you get the piece of mind knowing that it saves any future warranty hassle.

In comparison the cheapest installed system for the STANDARD cobalt ss/sc was over $400 installed....

cheaper.....but maybe not in the long run....

 

I worked for best buy for five years, installed a lot fo remote stats in very difficult cars. I can say this, yes dealers blame remote starts for a lot of problems with cars and yes som installers take short cuts to get the job done quicker and get on to the next one. basically cuz it makes them more money. Having said tha, i have yet to find a gm tech, that could install a remote start like a viper or anything that dei makes. dont get me wrong i am sure you guys and gals are out there, but generally all the techs do is read what the compuetr tells them and relays that info to the customer.
Now remote starts for our cars, yep some of the most advanced electonics has gone into our cars. example, for the starter to crank, the accesory wires most drop voltage, and if you have noticed, most gm cars now, you dont have to hold the starter, it cranks for you. our cars are smart. I would suggest findin a shop local to wherever you are, get to know the installer, if you don't feel like he/she is the one, go to another one. Bottom line is trust the person with your car, if they dont come off as someone that knows what they are talking about then i wouldn't let them work on your car.
Just a plug for the midwest, anyone around the iowa city area , let me know i work ina very reputable shop, and i along wth the other two installers are certified and insured. if you need something done, get ahold of us we can pretty much hit the gammit of thins that can be done to your car. good luck and happy holidays.

 

That is not flawed logic.....I used to be an installer a while ago and did see problems caused by remote starts. Everytime they were removed, the problem went away and never came back. And as far as the dealers and warranties go, it may be different in Canada than it is here in the states. Not sure how it is up there.

 

The worst car to do an install on that I did was an Oldsmobile Trofeo. I don't know if you even know what one of those are?? I had to do an alarm and remote start on it. Talk about a pain in the ass. Everything on that car was computerized, so that means that everything had to be energized in order to make something work. As an installer yourself, you probably know what I mean.

 

it is flawed logic bro.....you may not have seen it happen....but the simple fact is if you have a problem in an electrical system as complex as a new vehicle....removing the initial cause will not garuntee removing the issue. Im not saying MOST times....in fact most times it WILL fix the problem...but not always.

electrical systems can be a nightmare. once you get one glitch it can spread like a disease, even if you remove the offending component.

 

If you remove the cause of the issue and replace or fix whatever damage it caused. You are then golden!! No more problems.

 

In most cases this is true, however since the adoption of the CAN bus by big names such as GM, BMW, Honda and Toyota, vehicle electronics and communications have basically been completely revamped. I'm sure you understand this but we're no longer talking about solid state electronics.

GM's version of CAN (GMLan) is only two years old so only now are we really starting to see failures of modules and figuring out what caused them. Another thing worth mentioning is that the vital communications bus for GMLan between the PCM, BCM, TCM etc is a twisted pair of wires. If someone were to accidently stuff an alarm module containing several relays near a CAN bus circuit, an induced voltage from the relays switching on and off could spike the communications circuit that's only used to seeing between 1.5 and 3.5V.

Of course its not always to blame and more often than not its someone just unplugging their installed connectors from the scotch-lock splices they used and leaving the POS scotchlocks there to intermittently run the car electronics into the ground. What a dealer would most likely charge you to do is go back, remove every scotchlock and return the circuit to stock. They're not wrong in saying this because its eliminating a very frustrating possibility on which they 99% of the time won't be able to get schematics.

As someone mentioned, you can have your dealer install the alarm. You might pay out the nose for labor.. but if something goes wrong a dealership is much more likely to help you out.

Oh, just to add: The only alarm related problems I've ever seen were either bad alarm modules causing no-crank conditions or crap installs. Not saying either of you two do crap installs or anything.

 

I got a starter from Future Shop and had it installed there. It works perfectly and they put all the features on the new remote (which has a display that shows a countdown, the engine running, etc). It is very powerful, too! I can start it from my bedroom, even though the parking lot is all the way to the other side of my apartment building!
It's called Nordic Remote Car Starter NTW2200.

 

That's one of the biggest problems with all installs of any kind....Scotch-locks!!! They are garbage and shouldn't be used. The proper way to get a permanent connection is to either use linesman knots or to solder the connections.

 

I found this site because im in the the middle of installing a remote start on an 05 cobalt and there is some truth in what everyone here is saying. If I owned one I would not advise doing so, can it be done? yes . I was a circuit city install manager for years and now install for dealerships. gm ignitions are probably the worst on the market.GM is facing huge law suits right now because they try to keep aftermarket off there vehicles, try putting a aftermarket radio in your 07 tahoe.one big problem with the cobalt, canyon, ion, ext... In order to start the car the accessory must drop out at the time of starting comboed with pass lock or in 06 passlock 3. alot of the chain type install companys do have little certification to install, but there are alot of good installers as well due to , benfits , job security, ext so ask around . by the way dealerships dont install there own remote starts they sublet to companys like the one i work for. dealerships when they cant find the problem in a are do default to aftermarket products as the problem. if you really want to know what the problem is take your car to an automotive electrician. ya i know my spelling sucks

 

i have done some alarms,remote starts on a couple of cobalts and i havnt seen them come back to my job. i has to be the wiring job. bring it by a local shop or best buy and have some installers check it out. its the wiring. the car should not stall out. it has to be something with the main harness that u have to wire into. there has been no problems with aftermarket alarms/remote starts on these cars even cuz of the GMlan stuff. go to anotehr place and have them look at it. circuity city installers are not certified from wut i know..u wud want a MECP installer doing that job...let us know wuts happens...hope for the best

 

How much and where did you get it what car do you have is it auto

 

i bought a designtech remote start and i got it working and its perfect now. no problems!

i did have an issue installing because the damn car has no start wire. but it was resolved quickly. no problems since

 

Circuit City installers are too cerified we just dont where a little patch on are arm

 

But anywas... install on these cars are not hard...very ez if you know what you are doing and compared to other cars out there. DEI products are by far the best to go with. and i agree with who ever said get to konw the installer before the install. Because some installers care and other just want to get done. You find it in all shops not just in one company. Where im at the best buy is not very good at all. there own employees come to us to have things installed. That just this area im sure its differnt in other areas.

 

really cirucuity is MECP certified. when they add that on..my friend had a cae done by them like a year ago which end up havin a big law suit with a local store and they said no1 was certified from circuit city. mabye that was the store or all of the stores MECP. thats nuts. good luck with that remote start