If you are going to add the Factory Remote Start to a 2018 Ram 2500

[CincyCuda68]

Update: I'd bought the kit shortly after buying the truck, finally got around to installing it a few weeks ago. Man, what a pain. I think there's a special hell for mechanical engineers who design these trucks and the locations for things like the BCM/C1 plug. And hey, MOPAR, can you do something about taking the razor-sharp edges off all that metal under the dash? I cut myself more on my Ram than I ever have on my HMMWV - and that's a LOT.

So, I had special instructions on hand from this forum as well as the OEM instructions with the kit, had my truck in the dealer's shop 3 days ago to get a bad battery replaced and some recall/update for passenger seat sensor. Had all that done in about twenty minutes. Dead battery's a dead battery, bad cell, easy exchange, had one on hand, no charge (factory warranty 3/36 or something).

While there, I asked if they could code the fobs to the truck and enable the remote start.

Sure, no problem, $125. Dammit.

I had spoken with a tech friend about doing this at his house, but it was an hour and a half round trip, I was there, so okay.

No dice. Even showed them hard copy of this forum thread. Pointed out the pertinent parts of the OPs comments:

" Lo-and-behold....the instructions didn’t tell you that if it is a 2018, you have to trick it into thinking you replaced that receiver module as well and once you do that, THEN it will take the XBM sales code. Took 10 minutes (of course they charged me a full hour). Remote start worked fine."

TWO hours later, THREE techs looking at the problem, one who'd installed a unit last week and thought I was the same guy having a problem with his, HE couldn't get it working. Fobs worked to open truck, tip start worked, just no remote start.

Yeah, I paid the $125. Ouch. But you still pay your vet even though your dog died from the procedure, right? Like I was going to argue at that point and they'd put three different techs on the thing, said if I could come back next week...

Um, no thanks. My dodge died on the table [see what I did there?]


SO, last night I went to my MOPAR tech friend's house where he had a secure line, the codes for my truck VIN, and he went through the exact same instructions (OEM) the dealer did and...

NOTHING. No remote.


I'd pointed out the hard copy from the OP and mentioned it when I arrived - I confessed I'd had the dealer try this and the failed. He was surprised they charged me anyway but admitted they DID program the FOBs and even his dealer charges $40 each for this service.

At this point, I mentioned the OP post AGAIN.


[an aside: if you do something as routine, do it pretty much the same way, have trained on the system, just KNOW how to do things, anything that is even mildly different, even overtly different, you're likely to miss over and over again. Henry Ford discovered very early on that assembly line workers doing quality assurance would let bad parts through again and again. Best anyone could figure out is, if you're looking for normal, and see a thousand normals, your brain's pattern-recognition sometimes fails to see irregularities. This is called "normalcy bias" in psychology/politics. I've seen it in medicine for decades with radiologists missing OBVIOUS details like a metal cross stuck at the gastroesophageal junction and issuing a report of "No acute cardiopulmonary process or foreign body identified" when it was right there]

My tech friend read and re-read the paragraph, said, "huh... well, lets give it a try."

He did, it worked. Over and over again no problem.

I paid him the $40 he'd asked for, we chatted, and I headed home.


Went outside this AM and truck remote didn't work. Read this on the display: "Remote start disabled. Restart engine to reset."

WTF?

I tipped the fob, let the preheat cycle run up, started the truck, ran it for a minute, shut it down, locked it up and hit remote twice.

Vroom!


For anyone considering this option, know that the dealer will ONLY do what the dealer has knowledge and experience doing. Thinking outside the proverbial box is frowned on in corporate America (tell me one valid reason MOPAR prevents end-users from changing the tire pressure settings when they KNOW those high pressures will prematurely wear out the centers of the tires and make for a harsh ride - techs no longer have access to this option, we tried last night, it's not even in the software they use). TAKE THE OP's instructions with you, BEG them to read the second paragraph again and again until they get it.

Good luck.

And thank you @NormB for your input as well

 

[CincyCuda68]

If you have alphaobd you can do all the programming for the remote start and program the keys. The install took me about 30-45 because the bcm location is not fun to get too. Another ~5 minutes to program the truck and keys. Although I did some trouble shooting because the initial process worked just no start, but ended up just needing a couple key cycles and a drive to let the truck adjust to the programming. If you haven't heard about alphaobd I'd definitely recommend reading the thread on it. It allows you to do pretty much everything the dealer can and sometimes more. With 2018 truck's you will need a security bypass cable that @M2Mods sells. Also with I believe 2017/18 trucks the original fobs have the same board as the key fobs that come with the kit. So all you have to do is buy replacement skin's with the remote start option and you'll have 2 extra remote start fobs


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How did you wire this kit up? The instructions show a prewired harness but the kit I have the wires are not in the connector. There seems to be one 18 ga wire (blue) and one 20 ga (white) but not sure which one goes in which slot on the connector and which goes to ground and which goes to bcm. Also all 4 ends have the latching connectors, shouldn’t one have a ring for ground or do both of the wires go the the bcm on 2018 2500?

 

[1500ram12]

How did you wire this kit up? The instructions show a prewired harness but the kit I have the wires are not in the connector. There seems to be one 18 ga wire (blue) and one 20 ga (white) but not sure which one goes in which slot on the connector and which goes to ground and which goes to bcm. Also all 4 ends have the latching connectors, shouldn’t one have a ring for ground or do both of the wires go the the bcm on 2018 2500?

Can you post a pic of the kit you bought and the end of the wiring harness


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[CincyCuda68]

Can you post a pic of the kit you bought and the end of the wiring harness


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I found the other post on this topic and it explained it exactly with pics.

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/how-to-add-remote-start-to-2017-ram.99849/

 

[CincyCuda68]

Can you post a pic of the kit you bought and the end of the wiring harness


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Thank you for your help, used your step by step in Alpha worked perfectly!

 

[1500ram12]

Thank you for your help, used your step by step in Alpha worked perfectly!

Awesome, glad I could help


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[1zero3forlife]

Quick question and also thank you for the install tips, took about 2 hours with warm up breaks since it is 37 degrees out.

Question is, my 2018 had no keyless entry, do I have to also turn on any keyless codes with AlphaOBD or is these procedures correct? I looked at the RF module and it seems I have the correct one already but want to know if everything will work correctly once the steps in the how to are followed.

Thank you
Steve

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[Jimmy07]

Quick question and also thank you for the install tips, took about 2 hours with warm up breaks since it is 37 degrees out.

Question is, my 2018 had no keyless entry, do I have to also turn on any keyless codes with AlphaOBD or is these procedures correct? I looked at the RF module and it seems I have the correct one already but want to know if everything will work correctly once the steps in the how to are followed.

Thank you
Steve

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If you have power door locks, then all you should need to do is enable RKE system present under VehConfig 3. You’ll probably have to reset the rf hub after you do that for it to take.

 

[1zero3forlife]

If you have power door locks, then all you should need to do is enable RKE system present under VehConfig 3. You’ll probably have to reset the rf hub after you do that for it to take.

Thank you, that's what I needed to know. Much appreciated [emoji106][emoji106]

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