My 2000 CE does not have factory keyless entry but it does have power locks. Does anyone know what is required to put aftermarket keyless entry on it?
My 2000 CE does not have factory keyless entry but it does have power locks. Does anyone know what is required to put aftermarket keyless entry on it?
My 2000 CE does not have factory keyless entry but it does have power locks. Does anyone know what is required to put aftermarket keyless entry on it?
You take it to Circuit City, Best Buy or a local car audio/alarm place and ask them to install one. They either do it in a couple of hours on the spot or make an appointment for you to bring the car back in later. You find something to do for the couple of hours it takes to install and when they are done they give you the car back and you give them anywhere from $100 to $300 depending on what you get.
My advice to you is to get a DEI product (Viper, Clifford, Rattler, Python, Avital, Hornet, Valet) installed. If all you want is keyless entry and don't want an alarm or remote start, then you need to make it clear to whoever you buy it from that all you want is a BASIC keyless entry. If you want the lights to flash and the horn to honk when you lock or unlock the car and your dome light to come on when you unlock the doors, you must tell them that you want those features. They will cost extra, and your install may take some relays, etc. This is normal, so don't think you're getting hosed if you see those things on the invoice.
Please be aware that most aftermarket keyless entry systems involve a certain feature that locks the car automatically every time you start it after the car has been running for 10 seconds. This can be a good thing, but it can be bad also. Say you get in the car in the morning to defrost it. You start it, get out and close the door. The car locks itself with you outside while it is running. If you don't have access to another key, you aren't going to have a good day. If you don't want this feature, ask them to disable it, doing so will save you from future problems.
Hope this helps.
Wow, that's great info. I may try to do it myself. I only want the most basic option.
I had a DEI Viper basic keyless entry installed on my 2000 CE when I bought it new in nov 1999. I insisted that it be installed as part of the deal at the agreed on price. Boy was that painful, darn salesman just didn't want to spend another 75 bucks to make the sale. It still works fine.
One question you may want to ask. How does the system you are thinking about perform at a distance compared to a factory installed keyless? My cheapie does not have near the distance or consistency of your typical factory model. Most OE keyless remotes work well at way over 50 feet and from inside your house. My aftermarket does not. Sometimes I have to be less 30 feet away to get a response and then click it several times. I thought the battery was dying in the remote, but putting a new battery in did not improve things. Maybe a new remote would.
Mine does lock the doors automatically as mentioned, but I've never been locked out. I will start the car (manually), wait for the doors to lock, then unlock and leave the car. It was disconcerting enough for me at first to roll the window down enough to get my arm in just in case though. ;-)
Jim
One question you may want to ask. How does the system you are thinking about perform at a distance compared to a factory installed keyless?
You must have a problem with your Viper system Jim. I had the cheapest Rattler keyless entry available installed on my Contour and it worked from almost 100 feet away. In contrast, the OE keyless on my Mystique (Mercury version of the Contour) didn't work unless you were standing 10 feet from the car.
I really think range on DEI products is superior to OE systems, providing that they are installed a certain way. If they install the unit in an area of your car that is well shielded from RF signals, it won't work very well. Most installers don't consider this and just install it where it is easiest for them, not necessarily where it will work the best.
99contour:
Thanks, I hadn't thought about RFI shielding. No idea where they installed it, and since I'm now used to its behavior, I doubt I'll worry about mine.
Don't have any experience with FoMoCo products, but other OE keyless systems I've used (or ridden with friends in) all seemed better than mine.
Jim
Don't have any experience with FoMoCo products
I have quite a bit of experience with FoMoCo products, in fact my family owned almost 20 FoMoCo products from 1991 to 2004. By far and a way the keyless entry system on the CDW27 (Contour / Mystique) was the worst of the entire Ford fleet. My Dad had a 1998 Mystique LS V6 and a 1998.5 Contour SVT (think of SVT for Ford as M for BMW) and I had a 1999 Contour SE Sport V6. The SVT and Mystique had factory keyless entry that didn't work from more than 10 feet.
The reason you ask? It wasn't because it used cheap receivers or remotes since all other Ford and Mercury cars used the same remotes at the time and many other cars would unlock the door from 50 feet or more. It was because they mounted the reciever with its antenna pointing up right towards the thickest part of the firewall, which was on the passenger's side of the car. The firewall was a really effective RF shield, especially when trying to operate the keyless entry while approaching the driver's side or front of the car. If you walked up to the passenger's side or rear, it worked from much further away.
This thoughtless design baffled me and so when I had keyless entry installed on my Contour, I made sure they installed the receiver somewhere other than the OE location. That took care of the problem because my keyless worked like a charm and probably still does.
Wow, that's great info. I may try to do it myself. I only want the most basic option.
I have technical skills and installation experience from the many car electronics installations I have completed and I would not touch a keyless entry install with a 50 foot pole.
Honestly, I don't think you realize how complex and involved installing even a basic keyless entry system is. It isn't a stereo and speakers, nor is it a sub woofer or amplifier. With those things you are really adding to your car, not that hard. What you are doing here is different. You are trying to tap into your car's wiring and make something that is a universal device mingle with the systems in your vehicle.
Even if you have a wiring diagram and you can read it, using a DMM to test everything and wiring up the necessary relays, adding the necessary extra circuits to the fuse block and quite frankly just getting the vehicle apart and back together requires a considerable amount of skill.
If you make a mistake you can seriously damage on your car and then you are on your own. If you let someone else do it, they will have the skills and will guarantee their work if anything was to go wrong. CC and BB will install an alarm for $50-$100 depending on what relays your car takes.
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