Is it hard to install an alarm?

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

I sit back a lot on here and let the shop bashing go on without saying anything most times but I gotta be a dick on this one.
So a shop with experienced installers who do these jobs on a daily basis and have the training to deal with any problems that come up knows less about doing this and will do a poor job conpared to you who has no idea what to do, where to start, let alone trouble shoot anything. We are in business for a reason and work on vehicles daily with no damages. Why not trust a shop? If you don't trust the installers at your local shop you need to find a better quality shop. Remote starts and alarms are not something to be taken lightly. There is a lot that can go wrong while installing one if you don't know what your are doing. How are you planning on testing your wires? DMM or a test light? Or are you just planning to trust that the tech info you get is correct? One wrong wire or grounding the wrong wire and kiss your bcm, ecu, or airbag circuits good bye. That will cost you a lot more than the $100 to have it installed. Let alone a shop will charge you just as much if not more once you get halfway through it and relize you are in over your head.

Sorry for the rant, but I have had enough with the shop bashing. Yes we are a business, that means we exist to make money. We do that through selling products at the prices the manufactures tell us to. We charge what we do for installs because we have rent to pay, lights to keep on, and the installers have families to feed. Keep that in mind.

my hero right here a-fucking-men

 

[SentraStyle 10+ year member]

Not to mention that when there is supposed to be a red/white wire in the kick panel and you look and see seven of them...how are you going to be sure you have the right wire? Remote starts for an installer of average speed (I'm not fast by any means, but quality is better than quantity in my eyes) will take 2-3 hours to do. If you've never done one, and have all the equipment to test wires and such...you're probably looking at the 7-8 hour mark (if not a whole day). I recommend to read through the install manual. If it makes sense to you, go ahead and do it. But if you have even the slightest bit of hesitation...leave it to someone with a clue.

 

[blkbeater 10+ year member]

PAY FOR IT. i deal with ppl all the time commin in sayin i tried to install it and have no clue what theyre doin so we have to remove/fix what they did and re-install it

 

[blkbeater 10+ year member]

Not to mention that when there is supposed to be a red/white wire in the kick panel and you look and see seven of them...how are you going to be sure you have the right wire? Remote starts for an installer of average speed (I'm not fast by any means, but quality is better than quantity in my eyes) will take 2-3 hours to do. If you've never done one, and have all the equipment to test wires and such...you're probably looking at the 7-8 hour mark (if not a whole day). I recommend to read through the install manual. If it makes sense to you, go ahead and do it. But if you have even the slightest bit of hesitation...leave it to someone with a clue.

exactly my store installed 6,000 starters over x-mas time and depending on the car it takes newhere from 1.5 hrs (with an installer who knows the car like the back of their hand) to 4 hrs. have you seen how many wires are in the box

 

[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

i've had bad experiences. I was at DEI training. I was the lucky one and got the new S class. my test light touched the wrong wire and BANG, passenger side airbag blows out. needless to say it was a test vehicle. I got back to the shop and we get an S class, this time I hit the jackpot and blew both passenger and driver side airbags. $5k worth of airbags and i've never touched an alarm since.

 

[SentraStyle 10+ year member]

i've had bad experiences. I was at DEI training. I was the lucky one and got the new S class. my test light touched the wrong wire and BANG, passenger side airbag blows out. needless to say it was a test vehicle. I got back to the shop and we get an S class, this time I hit the jackpot and blew both passenger and driver side airbags. $5k worth of airbags and i've never touched an alarm since.

And that my friend is why I will never use a test light on a new car...unlike a DMM, testlights can actually put voltage on a wire (which could result in damage or air bag deployment).

 

[blkbeater 10+ year member]

we go through the snake pit training (dei) and u learn alot

 

[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

And that my friend is why I will never use a test light on a new car...unlike a DMM, testlights can actually put voltage on a wire (which could result in damage or air bag deployment).

they did tell me to get a DMM b/c testlights do run the risk of damaging things or blowing an airbag or 2. iirc the guys name was Brian that shook his head before I got in that S Class, and he did call it. he said "I bet that kid is gonna blow an airbag".

 

[AVX Mike 10+ year member]

they did tell me to get a DMM b/c testlights do run the risk of damaging things or blowing an airbag or 2. iirc the guys name was Brian that shook his head before I got in that S Class, and he did call it. he said "I bet that kid is gonna blow an airbag".

So your instructor who you are paying to teach you how to do things the right way tells you not to and you ignore him. Then you blow an airbag doing what he told you not to do. After blowing an airbag doing things the wrong way you proceed to do the same thing again having not learned a f-ing thing. And people wonder why shops don't want to hire install school graduates? You are the type of installer that gives us good installer a bad rep.

 

[blackdragonaudi 10+ year member]

As long as you take your time have a repair manual and know how to read a diagram and have a long weekend or in my case a long week. To install it you should be fine of coarse I probably know a little more than the normal person and know enough of what to do.

 

[JarvisB 10+ year member]

i plan to get viper xv791 soon and I am going to have a shop do it..

I am an anal when it comes to installing things, I like everything to be perfect so I dont trust myself that I would do a perfect install so I prefer to have a shop do it and if they mess up, they will have to take care of it (of course I hope that will not happen at all)

You get what you pay for I guess?

 

[hornedfrog1985 5,000+ posts]

they did tell me to get a DMM b/c testlights do run the risk of damaging things or blowing an airbag or 2. iirc the guys name was Brian that shook his head before I got in that S Class, and he did call it. he said "I bet that kid is gonna blow an airbag".

lofl. You don't sound brite. Stove hot, don't touch stove.