Remote Start

[cyterio]

I'm looking to add remote start to my 2016 CX-5 GT. I'm not sold on the My Mobile Start setup due to the unreliability many people seem to have with it. I'm also not liking that the other factory option makes you use a second key fob.
Has anyone had any experience with the Fortin Evo product? It claims to be plug and play utilizing a harness and your existing fob for remote start. I'll post the link below.

http://fortin.ca/en/products/evo-rs/evo-mazt1/





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[topdog11ttc]

getting remote start installed right now actually, i called my local shop asking about the evo-one as well and he did not carry that model and turned me to the avital 4003 with DBALL2 module, because i like you didnt want a second fob

 

[tibimakai]

That Avital unit works with an alarm system, but we don't have one.

 

[cyterio]

I'm really curious to hear your review once you have it installed. I looked up local Avital dealers and there are a few local. Did they have to splice any wiring or is it all plug and play with harnesses?
I'm happy with the factory alarm on the cx-5 so I would be content with just the remote start module.


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[Ride92]

getting remote start installed right now actually, i called my local shop asking about the evo-one as well and he did not carry that model and turned me to the avital 4003 with DBALL2 module, because i like you didnt want a second fob

What exactly does that DBALL2 module do? Does it allow the factory keyfob to do 3-click remote start and does the lock unlock feature still work? or at least if you walk up to the car after remote started can you enter the car by pressing the unlock button on the door? Once the door is opened does it turn the car off or will it stay running?

 

[topdog11ttc]

What exactly does that DBALL2 module do? Does it allow the factory keyfob to do 3-click remote start and does the lock unlock feature still work? or at least if you walk up to the car after remote started can you enter the car by pressing the unlock button on the door? Once the door is opened does it turn the car off or will it stay running?

Dball2 module is the bypass module for the immobilizer security built into the car. Avital 4003 is the remote start that can utilize the oem fob. I believe all vehicles with a push to start button turn off the car a soon as the door opens.

 

[cyterio]

I'm assuming that since you only have the OEM remote, you can use it to unlock the doors while the car is running from remote start? Or does it just leave the doors unlocked the entire time?


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[topdog11ttc]

Picking up my car today I will let you know, but I believe if it's a 3x lock to start car doors will remain locked until you unlock it with the fob

 

[Ride92]

Picking up my car today I will let you know, but I believe if it's a 3x lock to start car doors will remain locked until you unlock it with the fob

Let us know how the unlock works. The one place I stopped at thought that the only way to get the door open was with actual key, the cut one inside the fob. I hope that's not the case still

 

[topdog11ttc]

Let us know how the unlock works. The one place I stopped at thought that the only way to get the door open was with actual key, the cut one inside the fob. I hope that's not the case still

so just picked up my car, you are correct ride92 the oem remote is disabled once the car is started remotely, so if you chose your start program as (3x lock) once the car started the fob would be disabled and the only way to get in the car would be the key inside the fob. I chose (3x unlock) as my option to remote start the car, downfall to that is the car is unlocked and running but I wont have to pull out my hide a key every time to get in. Car does stay running when the door is opened but once you hit the brake it kills the car, so as long as you have the fob in your possesion and a single press of the push to start button you can drive away as normal. If you don't have the fob, anything you do in the car it will turn off.

 

[Ride92]

Strange, My with has a remote start in her audi that activates with any three button push, unlock or lock. Even when pressing the unlock button as soon as the car starts the doors lock and the key needs to be used in the door to unlock. Not so bad since it's a switch blade style key. I just don't like the idea of having to pull apart the key fob to get into the car. I wish there was a way to use oem fob with 3x start and still have the "smart key" feature where the car unlocks with the push button on the door.

 

[d3ntyne]

Hi All,

Long time reader, first time posting.

I've been looking for a remote starter for the past while and came across the Fortin unit. I think it was about a year ago and looking at the setup at the time, which was splicing into a bunch of wire, I said i would give it some time. Fast forward to last week and I took the jump and purchased the unit with the T-Harness for my 2014 Mazda CX-5 GT with tech.

I ordered the unit from Fortin itself with the Flash updater. This will been needed when programming the keys. The total cost with shipping came to around $230CAD. Got the recommended kit from here:

http://fortin.ca/en/vehicles/mazda/cx-5/2014-push-to-start_(automatic)/

The installation manual I followed the one labeled Standalone Installation with T-Harness with the header Connection 1. Looking at the diagram, it is pretty straight forward.

I did the following(please note I am not responsible for any issues that may happen when installing this unit. These are the steps I took):

- Connected the unit to my computer and confirmed it was setup for my car. You will also need to change the one of the settings (I think it was the C1 option) then updated the unit.
- Remove the steering wheel cover (two screws underneath the wheel)

- There are two harnesses located near the bottom.

- Remove both harnesses. This took some time for me because I could not figure out how to remove them. After looking at another harness I found out the clip to release the harness is at the bottom. I used a flat head screw driver and popped them off

- Connect the T-Harness to the smaller harness slot. This should be the one located on the right if you are looking at the wheel.

- Plug the factory harness into the T-Harness

- On the other harness, locate the black and white wire. This should be located on the side where the clip is to hold the harness in place. You will need to remove some of the electrical tape and tubing so you have better access to the wire. This is the only wire I had to splice into. I know the instructions show to connect to the lights, but I said I would pass on that and connect them if needed later on if I had any issues. I had used a wire tap but not sure if it was to big or just didn't do it correctly, but it didn't work. The end result was me shaving the insulation off of the black and white wire, connecting the blue wire from the Evo kit and taping it up with some electrical tape. A word of caution. Make sure there is a good connection between the two wires. If not, it will cause issues when trying to program the key.

- Programming the unit. This is all outlined in the instructions so I won't go into detail. As mentioned before about the connection between the wire, I didn't have a good connection with the wire and couldn't get through the first part of programming the unit. Once I re-did the wire, it worked the first try. There are a bunch of programming steps to follow as outlined in the instructions. Make sure you follow them and note the colour of the LED light and their status.

- Once done, closed the door and was able to start the car with my remote.

A few notes:

- There is a few seconds delay from when you push the lock button three time and when the car starts. I would say around 5 or so seconds.
- I am able to still unlock my car with the OEM remote using either the button on the door or on the remote. No need to use the cut key to unlock the door.
- The instructions say to connect some wires to the lights but I didn't. In a nut shell, the only wire installation I had to do was connect the T-Harness and then connection the wire. That is it.
- You will need the flash updater during this process.
- Ran into issues programming the unit but found it it was because of the connection between the black/white wire and the blue one from the Evo harness. If it wasn't for this, I say the whole installation would have take around 60 - 90 minutes to complete. Maybe even less.
- Ordered my unit from the Fotin site. Super quick with shipping. I am located in Toronto and get it the next day.

The installation guide is very well done. They have pictures of the exact wires you will need to connect. You also get a one vehicle pass to Wirecolor.com if you need more wiring diagrams.

If anyone has any questions about the installation, let me know and I will try my best to answer them.

 

[kevreh]

Great write up, thanks for the detailed installed steps. I'm looking at the Fortin unit for my cx-9 ('16). Hands down, Fortin has the best web site with support docs and tools. It even has a step by step troubleshooting tool! And the wireguide is awesome. And on top of it, I called their tech support with a couple questions. Phone rang 2x before pickup then a very helpful and friendly man answered. No attitude or anything (most remote starter companies say their products are for pro's only, and while Fortin's instructions say the same, they provide everything you need to do the install).

But I digress. Few questions;

• I didn't see anything in the instructions about disconnecting the hot from battery, as you usually do when doing stereo work. Necessary?
• What is a "standalone installation"? Is that when you don't need the started to interface with any 3rd party solutions (eg. cell phone app)?
• You said you skipped the lights. Is the purpose of connecting those wires so they flash when starting the car?
• Where does the EVO box stay? Under the dash somewhere?

Also, one word of advice. Never use wire taps, very unreliable. If I was you I would go buy a little handheld soldering torch, some solder and flux. Take that electrical tape off and soldier that wire in place. Will take 30 seconds. Electric tape works its way free if its cheap and not done right, then your wiring will come loose. Who knows what will happen if the wire works it way free.

Thanks again for the write up.

 

[d3ntyne]

Great write up, thanks for the detailed installed steps. I'm looking at the Fortin unit for my cx-9 ('16). Hands down, Fortin has the best web site with support docs and tools. It even has a step by step troubleshooting tool! And the wireguide is awesome. And on top of it, I called their tech support with a couple questions. Phone rang 2x before pickup then a very helpful and friendly man answered. No attitude or anything (most remote starter companies say their products are for pro's only, and while Fortin's instructions say the same, they provide everything you need to do the install).

But I digress. Few questions;

• I didn't see anything in the instructions about disconnecting the hot from battery, as you usually do when doing stereo work. Necessary?
• What is a "standalone installation"? Is that when you don't need the started to interface with any 3rd party solutions (eg. cell phone app)?
• You said you skipped the lights. Is the purpose of connecting those wires so they flash when starting the car?
• Where does the EVO box stay? Under the dash somewhere?

Also, one word of advice. Never use wire taps, very unreliable. If I was you I would go buy a little handheld soldering torch, some solder and flux. Take that electrical tape off and soldier that wire in place. Will take 30 seconds. Electric tape works its way free if its cheap and not done right, then your wiring will come loose. Who knows what will happen if the wire works it way free.

Thanks again for the write up.

Thanks for the tip.

I didn't disconnect the battery since I was using the wire harness. Figured that since I am not splicing into any power wires, nothing would short out. But in any case, I should have disconnected the battery.

If you look at the all the installations manuals that are available, the standalone system is just the EVO box and nothing else. No other units are needed. I looked at the comparison chart on the website and it says that if you are using the unit just for remote start and nothing else, you will use the standalone guide. Still not clear why you install a third party remote starter and with this unit.

I skipped the light mainly because I didn't want to cut one of the light wires if it wasn't required. If I really needed to I would, but at the moment, when I start the car with the remote, the lights flash as it would when you lock it and then stays on when when it starts. I think the only time it may be useful is when starting the car during the day. I was showing how the starter works to some family and noticed that when the car was outside in daylight, the lights weren't on when it was started. For now, I am good with just seeing if if smoke is coming out of the exhaust as my way of knowing the car is running.

At the moment, the box is sitting on the ledge behind the leg plate. I am getting some wire ties and going to strap it to a metal mount located in the same place. will let you know if the exact place when I mount it.

I was thinking about soldering the one wire, but i really haven't done it before and don't want to try it out on my car. I recently bought a soldering iron and have a few pieces of old wires that I am going to use for testing. One I get it down, i will fix the wire. It's not to hard to get back to the wire.

 

[tibimakai]

This EVO MAZT1, has a build in alarm as well?
Here in the US, we don't have an alarm system.

 

[d3ntyne]

This EVO MAZT1, has a build in alarm as well?
Here in the US, we don't have an alarm system.

It looks like on the list for the MAZT1, the alarm is a new feature. The installation guide shows you will need to turn on the G1 option to enable the alarm and either use Connection 2 or 3 for the installation.

Not sure how well it works.

 

[tibimakai]

Your car, come with an alarm from factory, right?

 

[d3ntyne]

Yes.

 

[kevreh]

With the EVO MAZT1 whats the valet switch for? Fortin directions say its mandatory.

 

[Arensing]

I got a remote start installed at the dealer and what they gave me is kinda crap. It's an Automate Model 7145A. This thing is so obscure you can't even find documentation for it online... Seriously, do a Google search and you will come up with nothing for this model.

It does indeed remotely start my car, which is the most important thing in the long run. However, it disables my OEM remote, it shuts off as soon as any doors are opened, and the receiver has a bright blue LED that blinks at totally random times. Sometimes I'm already driving the car and it just starts blinking in my face. At night, this is very distracting.

So, while I can't recommend a good one, I can recommend that you stay away from Automate.