Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications General Mods Clutch switch disable w/ remote start

This is my first post here, please bare with me.. I'll soon get the hang of it.

My question is; I was wondering about a remote starter install. Friend of mine who works at a car performance and audio shop will install it for me. However he was saying that the clutch needs to be disabled(obviously) so that the car can be started remotely. However this will disable the cruise control function as well, seeming as the car will think it's out of gear.(as i have been told) Would it be possible to do it any other way, keeping all factory cruise functions while disableing the clutch switch? I read in the How-To/Mods part of the page about disabling the clutch switch, but it didn't state any side effects about the cruise control.

If anyone has any knowledge, or different approaches, please let me know, would be much appreciated!

Aside from the clutch switch disable, you will also need to override the PATS (Passive Anti-Theft System) with a bypass.

You may or may not want to rethink doing this as wants you have the PATS bypass installed it will then allow the car to be hot-wired and stolen.

With the PATS in place it's a LOT harder to steal the car, almost impossible unless the thief is a pro and knows how to quickly connect a PATS bypass once he gets into the car. Most of the time, I would think that most thieves are quite that smart.

It's your car, but personally I would suck it up and just go outside and start the car myself when I need to rather than leave it more vulnerable to thieves!

http://www.contour.org/mods/mods.php?s=howto&displayid=8

OR - even easier then that. Undo the clip on the switch and then inster a staple, bent into a U shape into the two female ends to close the circuit - vio la, jumped!

Another question...

I talked to my buddy who claimed that the system does not disable PATS, it only disables it momentarily when the signal from the remote is recieved. Therefor, he claims it cannot be easily hotwired with this method.

Any idea on how valid this is?

That's a proper bypass. The "hidden key" method is asking for trouble!

I'm pretty sure IIRC there are teo switches on the clutch, but I could be wrong. Even so, when I had the clutch switch hjumped my cruise still work.

You want to jump the switch that is triggered first by pedal movement - look underneath the dash and watch the switch that is un-depressed (is that a word?) as you press on the clutch pedal - that's the one you unclip and jump with a staple.

I'm going to check it out now, I'll be back and let you know how it goes!

(By the way, thanks alot for your knowledge!)