Remote start in 620

[laniadude]

just wondering if anyone has put a remote start system in a datsun.  my buddy has a car (EFI) that he warms up in the morning without going outside which would be cool.  I know carbs need to have the choke set prior to starting but ive heard of people doing it.  I  just never seen how.   any help or suggestions would be cool...  Oh and I searched the forum for it using the search box and it only came up with the start/stop switch mod.  but no remote start.    thanks

   

[datzenmike]

You could remote crank it over but it won't start. Hell even if you go out and do it yourself they don't always start.  :w00t:  This is something for an EFI motor.

[Laecaon]

Depends on how you car is setup.

 

During the summer, my car would start up within a second without choke or pedal pressing.

[laniadude]

yeah mine starts up with one press  of the pedal.  even in the cold weather right now.  I have always set the choke even while its warm out.  habbit i guess.  Its mainly for convenience.  would love to do it still. 

[Laecaon]

I said without. As in when you use remote start, and the remote start does not press your gas pedal...

[laniadude]

so your saying it'll only work if i dont have to push the gas pedal to start it?  What i meant in my last post was that I have never thought of trying to start my truck without setting the choke first as it is just my habbit to step on the gas pedal.  so i understood what you said.  lol  the first part of it was refering to datzenmikes post.  just to clear up the confusion. 

[Laecaon]

Well think what the remote start is gonna do...

 

Turn on ignition power, and turn on the starter until it senses the motor is running. It will not pump your gas pedal. It will not set your choke (but electric choke would probably work...)

 

 

So if you can start your car reliably with just turning the key in the morning, it will probably work.

 

Or set your choke cable at night, and have it already on in the morning :)

[INDY510]

I wouldn't trust a 40yr old Datsun E-brake to hold the truck . I ALWAYS leave my 5spd in gear .... either way, eventually your truck will be rolling down a hill someday, and you'll wish you had/hadn't left it in gear .. :rofl:

[DanielC]

A remote start works on a modern EFI engine because the engines computer has learned exactly what your engine needs to start.  When you first start a EFI engine, it runs in "open loop" mode, and the computer does not get feedback from the O2 sensor.

But the computer does check the atmospheric air pressure, the air temperature, the engine coolant temperature, and probably several other parameters, and it does this in the time it takes to turn the key through "run" and to start.  The engine computer remembers how the engine ran the last time it was started, and based on all the parameters it is getting this time, it makes a pretty good guess on exactly how long it needs to leave the fuel injectors open to provide a rich enough fuel-air mixture to start the engine.  The computer also has a Idle Air Valve it controls to set or change the idle speed.

 

In most of our Datsuns you have to do something before you can crank it, to start it.  Set a manual choke, or set an electric choke. 

A manual choke you might be able to set when shutting the car or truck off the night before.

An electric choke needs a cold engine to reset, you cannot reset it when warm.

I am guessing most of us either by habit, or consciously pump the gas pedal once, or a few, or several times before trying to start the engine, when it is cold.   A remote start would not have the ability to do this.  A remote start on a Datsun would not have a way to control, or change the idle speed.

 

Having said all that, a remote start would probably work on a warm engine.

 

But I would make sure the remote start does shut off the ignition if the engine did not start, and also had a way of giving you feedback to know if the engine was running, if you were not right by the car.

 

 

When I was daily driving my 521, when it was very cold, I would put a small electric heater in the cab, blowing warm air on the windshield, to defrost the windshield before I started the truck.  The heater also warmed the cab up.  I still had to warm the engine up a little before driving it.  In the very cold, I also used a piece of cardboard to block most of the radiator so the engine would warm up faster.

[datsunaholic]

So, if you want to see if it will work, go out to the truck after a nice, cold night.  Open the door.  Don't sit in the seat- just put the key in, and crank it over.  If it starts, hey, a remote starter will work, at least sometimes.

 

But more likely, it won't, because the idle is too low due to the carb still in the same position when it was left.   The idle will still be in "Normal" idle mode, with the choke wide open.  The throttle will be fully closed, which with BOTH the stock Hitachi and a Weber (with automatic choke) cannot cannot close when the throttle is up against the idle stop.  That's why you have to "pump" the throttle- that releases the stop bind on the choke linkage, allowing the choke to close.  The choke closing also engages the fast idle cam, so the throttle doesn't close all the way (putting it in high idle).

 

Simply pumping the pedal after shutting off the truck won't work either- since the choke heater coil is still hot, it takes 5-30 minutes for it to cool off.  THEN you can go pump the pedal... which defeats the purpose of a remote start, since you'd still have to go outside to do it.

 

Thirdly, you'd have to wire in a neutral safety switch, or one day you are going to forget to leave it in neutral and hit the remote, and find the truck embedded in your neighbor's fence.  That's if it's a manual.  There's a fair likelyhood your transmission does NOT have a neutrals switch, which means you'd have to find a way to add one, not a particularly easy task.

 

d) How good are your door locks?  Nice, warming up truck, no steering lock, idling happily... straight to some tweaker's backyard in Graham.  You really want to make it EASIER to steal?

[Laecaon]

How strong are your guys starters? Mine is not strong enough to get the car rolling in 1st gear, and if I park in gear I park in 3rd. But usually I do use my 40 yr old ebrake just fine.

 

Maybe if I get my choke cables working, my car will start up without gas pedal action...

[datsunaholic]

I've HAD to start mine in 1st.  Had the clutch slave take a dump 40 miles from home.  Many stoplights.  Also had a clutch delaminate, also 40 miles from home.  Same difference.  Both drove home, including freeway.

[ssnapz]

good remote starts you can add a soleniod for pumping the gas and program it to pump once or 5 times. so it is very possible, just dont ever leave it in gear, my boy crashed his avenger once starting it

[Dawa]

unless i am misinterpreting some of you, you WOULD NOT leave the car in gear if you wanted to remote start it.

 

a lot of shops wont even install remote starters on manual cars because of the liability involved, and some installs

require bypassing interlocks.

 

laecaon, im on my.... 3rd or 4th o'reilly (warrantied) starter.

only reason it keeps going bad is because my rear main seal is leaking and it keeps gunking up the starter's internals.

[datsunaholic]

Not misinterpreting- it's just that some one WILL forget.  That's why it was brought up.  Most folks leave their cars in gear, in fact the manual and most Driver's Ed classes said to do so.  Only time I remember being strictly told NEVER to leave a vehicle in gear was the Army trucks I drove in the Navy.  They're diesel, and you don't need a working electrical system to start them (and the M35A2 Deuce doesn't have an electrical shut-off solenoid).   Everything's mechanical.  If someone accidentally nudges a truck that's in gear, it could start the engine.  It happened, fortunately not to my unit.  Truck got nudged, was in 1st gear, and it took off running across the motor pool lot and through a building.

[BoostinBen]

Personally I don't trust remote starts in manual cars, not unless you have some kind of sensor indicating that it's in neutral before the system would allow cranking. Even then it's risky.. There is a reason shops won't do it.. Sooner or later you'll have that oh s**t moment when you push that button and think.. Did I leave it gear? Next thing you know your Datsun is parked in the living room.

 

I love the concept .. Hate going outside in the freezing cold to warm up my car.. But too risky for me I'd rather take my chances with the cold..

[laniadude]

well that was some good information.. my original plan was to get an alarm mainly for the keyless entry and wanted to see opinions on the remote start feature.  I'll just stick to the basic alarm and keyless entry idea.   cheaper anyways.  thanks guys.  besides, i need to save my money for the sr20det swap soon to come which i will be posting a thread on.  :thumbup: