Anyone thinking of getting the Ford Remote start I would recommend pass it up and get a better aftermarket for your truck. I opted for the factory unit unfortunately.

I have had more than a few times when I couldn't see my truck, used the remote start only to get to the truck and find out it never started. If you can always see your truck you could tell but that is not always the case.

I had an aftermarket on my previous truck but had to carry two FOBs but it was heads better than the factory remote system I have now on my 2011. And the aftermarket started every time and from further away.

I want my truck to warm up a bit before going out in the freezing cold and what a disappointment to get out there and see nothing happened. Now if it only had a screen on the FOB to show a successful start, that would be nice to know. Don't know what my aftermarket range was but I could start that thing from another country, meaning quite a distance and thru buildings no less. I miss that part of it.

 

distance sucks. you're right. i have a clifford on my other car with 2way, awesome.

 

If you ran it longer than 15 minutes it would have shut down before you got to it. There's a setting for idle time when you use the remote start. 5, 10, or 15 minutes are your options.

 

Ya, I like my compustar 2 way, pages me back when the truck has started. Starts every time too.

 

I have it set for 10 minutes but that isn't the problem. There are times when it just didn't remote start when I assumed it had. And if it was over the 5-10-15 minute duration when a person comes out you could still tell it had been running by the temperature of the engine. Easy to see. For me it should still be running by the time I get outside but nope.....nada....nothing happened.

When you have used a superior remote start in another vehicle. you really see the disadvantage of the Ford system. My other remote start system had cold start and other options as well. You could time the remote start to keep your engine temp from falling too cold in extreme temperatures if you didn't have access to the block heater. And the distance was amazing. I could be far away in an arena playing hockey, push the aftermarket start thinking it is a long shot, going through the building and the distance and you know what, the truck was going when I got out there. Simply amazing.

 

I can start my truck from in my house out to the shop at the back of my property 160' away through 2 walls. I can also start my truck from the 3rd floor of my office building when my truck is in the concrete parking garage 4 floors down.

Mine works better than I could have ever wished.

 

I've got the Ford Extended remote start which is a plug-n-play install. It is a two-way remote which gives feedback whether the truck started or not. It works from 200 - 800 ft away depending on where you are at: In my building at work with metal lined windows, distance is limited, but from my deer stand it works 600 ft away. I like it jsut fine.

 

I too opted to have the Ford 200 series extended bi-directional remote installed on my 2013 F350, but it is only an option to be installed at the dealer and not at the factory. I was under the impression that and aftermarketwouldn’t talk to the Truck’s electronics and that the auto heating and cooling function(seats, defrost, etc) that is on my wife’s 2013 Ford Edge would be disabled onthe truck. Although the remote start auto climate functions are working on my 5week old truck, I’m unable to see or change any settings on the dash screen andthe dealer has been waiting of Ford to provide a Fix. I ordered a spare FOB and it is on back order till April at no cost to me because the dealer didn’t know that the premium Ford system doesn’t come with 2 FOBs.

On my 2008 F350, I had an aftermarket system that had more functions but I was cheap and even if Ford straightens this out, I’m probably going to install an aftermarket system. I’m not use to my new system so onlytime will tell.

The way I see it to start, the bare Ford factory remote was $500to be installed at the factory and the dealer installed the Ford premium remotes start for $450. I don’t understand it but if I could make a wish list, a Ford premium remote shouldn’t have a second FOB, the key buttons on the original FOB/Keys should be able to be programmed to work with any OEM upgraded remote. The cost of a spare Ford Edge key is $170 and for my truck it is $130 for the key and $150 for theremote start FOB, that is $280 dollars and almost cheaper to have a whole newremote installed then the cost to replace a lost key and FOB? These costs are crazy, for something that should be standard on a high price vehicle and shouldn’t be in the Beta testing stage and waiting for Ford to send my dealer a program so that the remote will be seen by my 2013 F350 Truck.

Sorry about the Rant and Length

 

I have the factory one and my range is not that great either.

One thing, if you set it to 15 min and start it then remote start it again before the 15 min is up (while it is still running) you gan get to to run for 1/2 hour, depending how close you time it

 

Slight sidebar...

On the OEM key fob, if you want to cancel a remote start, you can just press the start button twice to shut off your truck.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

 

how do you get the remote start to work? My truck has it and it doesn't seem to work?

 

Press the door lock then the start x2 on the key fob?

 

Yup did that....nothin. Does it need to be activated

 

98Woody, not sure if you ever got this working but the remote start can be either enabled/disabled from your instrument cluster. Perhaps it's disabled.

 

Installed this in my 2012 F-250. I purchased it on line from a Ford dealer in Louisiana. My truck has the stock remote start so I didn't need the hood switch or antenna as those were already on my vehicle. Installation was fast and simple, just plug and play. The dealer I purchased it from was able to activate it for me over phone. I also activated the security feature on it so if someone breaks into my truck it sounds the horn and flashes the lights and also sends a text to my phone alerting me of the break in. It works great, it's very nice to have the added range for the remote start which I'll need for the up-coming Montana winter. http://accessories.ford.com/aerial-asy-10667.html Here's a link to the installation instructions, these cover a number of different vehicles, you just have to page through them to get to the trucks. http://www.fordservicecontent.com/fo...k3-15-2013.pdf It's my understanding that if your vehicle didn't come with remote start, you'll have it after installing this. The web site says "Vehicle Notes: Requires Vehicle Security Kit 19A361 at an additional cost." this isn't true because I don't have this on mine and it works fine. There is however a $49 a year subscription you have to pay.