has anyone here installed a keyless entry?

[SAWYER]

Is it worth the hassle? Or would it be cheaper to go to a car audio place that does it? I figured my car at one time had factory keyless entry, I just don't have the remotes.

 

[zoiks]

Go to a car audio place and have it done. The prices usually are reasonable for installation including the unit.
I installed my alarm in an older car and it wasn't worth it since you have to open panels look for the wires/switches/relays. You also need to have your cars service manual to look up the location of each wire.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
Is it worth the hassle? Or would it be cheaper to go to a car audio place that does it? I figured my car at one time had factory keyless entry, I just don't have the remotes.

Of course it won't be cheaper but if you're not up to it or don't want to then maybe you'll want to spend the $$$ and have someone else do it.

 

[herrjimbo]

i just finished my 98 mazda 626. would i do it again? sure.
first, you say your car might already have factory keyless entry. find out. call a dealer and provide them with your vin number. they will be able to tell you if it indeed had it installed.

if so, find a remote fob (off ebay maybe) and just program it to your existing unit. if not, do your research. i went to many mazda forums and got all the necessary info. wiring diagrams for my car, where to find the wiring, how to get to the wiring, etc.

then choose which system you want. i personally went with VALIANT KEYLESS ENTRY 2RTA that i ordered from JCWhitney because i have electric trunk release and the extra module that is needed for that is already built in.

good luck.

 

[sjwaste]

I've kicked the idea around more times than I can count for my 91 supra. There was a rare, dealer-installed option for keyless entry on these cars, and any excess stock was gone by the time I bought the car in 99. I've thought about going aftermarket since it doesn't seem to be all that hard. It's basically a relay to interrupt the factory alarm and then some actuators in the doors, plus a receiver somewhere.

My biggest concern, really, is reliability. My buddy had an aftermarket keyless entry system installed, and it started to go bad and do all sorts of strange things. Random battery drains, windows rolled up/down at random times (it had window control in the system), etc. If nothing else, I don't want that going on in my car. I might give it a shot this summer, though. Seems like it'd be a fun install. Might try remote start too.

 

[steppinthrax]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
Is it worth the hassle? Or would it be cheaper to go to a car audio place that does it? I figured my car at one time had factory keyless entry, I just don't have the remotes.

I DID IT........

It's not that bad. I bought this device right here.

http://www.designtech-intl.com/autoCommandOEM.asp

I bought the "best" model.

I even took it one step further and put in an option that was not even availilable on my car model a "truck pop". I wired the trunk pop solenoid to my keyless entry/remote start module. It was very good. Still popping the trunk after a year.

http://s22.photobucket.com/alb...b307/hzaidi1/trunkpop/

I can tell you if you are timid on opening up your knee bolster and messing with "tapping" into wiring I wouldn't do it. The model of keyless entry I bought was made in USA. If you buy a cheap chinese made one it may not come with that much documentation and you may be lost on installing it. The one I bought told you the color of each wire to tap into. You didn't have to worry about testing with a multitester (although it's good to have). Also the keyless entry modules usually contain a lot more then you need. For example my module not only keyless entry but remotly starts the car, starts when the car gets below a certian temp and turns on my defrost/headlights and has extra AUX options I can do just by wiring and programming the remote.