Crow27

A friend gave me an old generic car starter (Auto Command by Design Tech) that he'd never used and thought I might be able to. It is from 1999 and I have a 2006 XLT 5.4L. Would this still work for my truck? I'm clueless to the whole car-starter thing, but being from NW Pennsylvania and having 100+ inches of snow each yea, I'm sure it'd come in handy.

homer

I don't know much about Auto Command (I've got lots of experience with Compustar, Ultrastart, Viper, etc).


Depending on that unit, if it has Automatic or Manual transmission (selectable) then it shouldn't be a problem. If it's for a manual and you have an automatic, it could be annoying. If it's for an automatic and you have a manual, don't do it... you're asking for trouble.


If that's fine, then yes as long as you can get the wiring diagram for the Auto Command unit (some have the wiring on the back) then it's not a problem. You will need a chip key bypass if your friend didn't give you that as well. I believe they are the same chipped key style but on the 04-08 you need 2 keys to program the third (the bypass acts as a key).


If you're thinking of paying a shop to install it, you may be cheaper to find a deal with a remote start + install. Overall, they're not hard to install, just time consuming and annoying on the back haha.

seraphim

Every few weeks Best Buy has a remote starter WITH install for sale. Usually in the range of $200 total.

Sign up for their deal of the day notifications.

I've had 3 vehicles done by them. They take about 4 hours to install and it's pretty much well worth it.

homer

I've seen those deal's seraphim mentions too. The other thing to think too, if you are capable and interested in installing it yourself, for the time it takes to install it, it may worth to go out and get an even more decent system (rather than use the Auto Command system - again I have little to no knowledge on this brand). It'll take me 3+ hours easy to do an install (no, I don't do them for a living, but I've done enough). When I did my truck I went and purchased a high-end 2-way as I figured I was saving the install money anyways. It's a lot of work if the unit is O.K. but not great... If it's your first one, it may not hurt to try because if you damage the unit it's not as big of a deal (although, don't burn out something on your truck haha).