Remote starter

Let me know if the install is as easy it looks, I was looking at the same one on eBay for my 2018.

 

Will do!

 

Out for delivery this morning. Planning to install after work today.

 

Nice. Let me know how hard it is to get the panels off. I’m worried the cold plus pulling on panels could equal disastrous

 

Okay all installed and working great. Took about 45 minutes including walking away from time to time to take a few sips of coffee. I linked the video I watched to get an idea of how the truck comes apart below. The video link is for the 12voltsolutions kit, but installation in almost exactly the same, except for the TPMS connector. In the video it shows a white plug that plugs into the remote start box, the Fortin is the red connector. This is the only cut into factory wiring required and is necassary if you want to use the remote to unlock the truck once it is started.

Also in the video with the 12voltsolutions kit it shows the truck unlocking before starting and then relocking once started. This is not the case with the Fortin, 3 clicks of the lock button, the truck starts and turns lights on. It never unlocks and relocks. The obvious big difference is the $100 cheaper price tag of course.

The hardest panel to unsnap was the outer plastic for the knee bolster, just take your time. It was 45° when I did this, if that helps.



https://youtu.be/0VcbQdS0oX8

 

Awesome, I hope to do this soon but worried about panel clips breaking since it’s cold outside

 

If it's real cold in your area it may be best to wait until it's warm. Pulling the piece I mentioned earlier was painstaking and nerve racking. There are quite a few clips holding it, strong clips too. Everything else was fine, get 1 undone and the rest just come out in line.

 

It is the same product

 

I have the Fortin Evo One and with factory alarm and mine will unlock the doors, start the truck then lock the doors again. I am also just holding the lock button for 3 seconds rather than lock X3. I have a 2017

-Mike

 

I e never thought about just trying to hold the button. I have the factory alarm as well, but using the 3 key press method it does not unlock/ relock. I was curious about this as more stress is being caused to the lock actuators just by the nature of how the remote start activates, and then more stress would be caused by the unlock/ lock once activated. I'll try just holding the button today to see if it does it using that method.

*Edited to add* I tried just holding the lock button down. It doesn't do anything. Maybe just a feature on "G" keyed vehicles that "H" keys don't .

 

Maybe have to reprogram the Evo One. Did it come programmed or did you program it?

 

It was programmed before shipment by the seller.

 

It could be that Toyota leaves remote-start as a low effort, high profit margin "spiff" for their salespeople to upsell for a commission. Kinda like when the jiffy lube dude comes in to the waiting room with your "dirty" air filter, it's easy cash and zero effort and most people probably just say go ahead with it, and somebody pockets a quick $5.

Though honestly, the first salesperson I worked with didn't seem to care one way or the other about remote start, and didn't even know how much it would cost to add on, and after about three days of waiting for a callback (!!) told me "probably at least $500 but I'm not really sure" ... and that's when I decided to switch to a different dealership. But that's a story for another day.

 

I also picked the one from 12 Volt Solutions ... about $350.00 plus shipping and I also paid another $50.00 for the forever warranty ... easy install, even for this old man ... I really did not want to cut any wires ... !

My local dealer would have sold me one for about $50.00 more and another $150.00 to install it ...

Pleased so far ...

Bob S

 

Something to note on the Fortin Evo One......There is another wire that needs to be connected if you have a factory alarm. It can be connected to the T harness though so the only factory wire that has to be disturbed is the TPMS wire.

I noticed after my initial tests and posts that everytime I remote started the truck the alarm would go off shortly after it started. I contacted the seller and tracked it down to the disarm wire that either failed to connect or they failed to connect before shipment. It is the orange wire in the bundle. Apparently the Toyota alarm doesnt arm until a minute after locking and closing doors, this is why it went unnoticed initially. 10 minutes to pull the knee bolster panel down again and solder this wire in. All works as intended. To correct an earlier post of mine, my truck now unlocks prior to starting and re-locks a few seconds after starting.

Im not nervous about about having to cut the TPMS wire nor soldering the disarm wire into the T harness. I'm not new to wiring and make the needed connections correctly with solder and heat shrink, so I don't expect any trouble down the road and for north of $100 cheaper than the 12voltsolutions kit (almost exactly the same thing) it was a no brainer to me. The only thing that concerns me is premature failure of the door lock actuators due to the nature of how the remote start operates, time will tell on that and I have 116,000 miles of warranty left to figure that out. Even still, they can be had cheaper than the dealer will sell them to you on ebay or Amazon and can be changed out in the driveway.

 

That's a good point about wear and tear. I had a similar concern about wear and tear on the starter, apparently using the factory remote start requires you kill the engine and re-start it with the actual key in order to drive away. That would be 2x the stress on the starter for basically the entire late fall, winter, and spring, when I'm using remote start. The 12 Volt Solutions one has a "key take-over" where you just turn to ON position and drive away without having to do a second start.

I read that someone simply held the "lock" button down for a period of time, instead of pressing it 3 distinct times, to remote start their truck. I forget which remote start system they had. I haven't tried this yet with the 12 Volt Solutions starter, but if it works, it would be a cool way to avoid wear and tear on the door lock actuators.

 

@Scud replied in this thread that he has the Fortin Evo One and is able to start by just holding the lock button. Apparently it's a setting and my unit was set up by the seller (Anderson Electronics), I tried and it doesn't work for me. Would like if it did but not enough to buy the Fortin programmer to change it.

It's tough to find the rhyme or reason on which trucks Toyota puts the remote starts on. I've read that starting a factory remote truck is similar to the 12volt and Fortin ones in pressing the lock button 3x. On my previous F150 it required pressing the lock button 2x then the start button, but I haven't seen a Toyota key with a start button.

 

It works just hold for three seconds and the truck starts

 

@BigdaddyII Maybe you could find someone in your area that has a programmer to borrow or split the cost of one. I purchased one knowing I was going to help a few friends program and install the Evo One

 

I may go that route. I will stop by a few of the stereo shops in my area to see if they maybe have one and could program for that.

 

Hmm my 12 Volt Solutions remote start is giving me some trouble. Most of the time, I have to do "unlock", "lock", then do "lock lock lock", before it will remote start. But not all of the time -- some times lock-lock-lock works fine. Eesh. Once I get this sorted out and have the thing working reliably, I'll try the 3-second hold. That would be nice.

 

Thanks for all the posts above. I ordered the 12volt today with the lifetime warrant for my 2018. They (12volt) verified to me on the phone there is no more wire cutting since the have built a wire harness to eliminate the splice. Fully plug and play now. They also stated the video our there is a bit outdated since it doesn't include the new harness, everything else is still good. I called a few dealers around my area and they don't offer an OEM for my year (2018) but they do install the 12volt and have great results with it. I ended up going with 12volt because of their customer service on the phone and they also give a military discount. I also have an inherent distrust for electronics and assume they will all fail so I got the lifetime warranty as well. Again, that for all the good discussion above...it was informative and helped inform my decision.

 

Ask them if you can increase the run time. 15 minutes is not long enough to fully warm my truck in 12 degrees. I emailed 12 volt and haven’t heard from them. I know that the diesel model could be changed but unsure of the gasoline model.

 

What about factory warranty?