Valentin Darie

I bought a 2011 Malibu three months ago. At that time the dealership installed an aftermarket remote starter on the car, which we plan on taking advantage of during the winter. Fast forward to yesterday, when the car would not start. Had it towed to the dealership. They say the starter relay got fried and that is because we kept using the original GM keyfobs to lock/unlock the doors instead of the ones that came with the remote starter.
Can this be true ? I have a hard time believing it, not only because I am an electrical engineer.
Anyone else had this happen to them ?

EinST

Welcome to the forum. After looking over a typical aftermarket remote starter system, I shudder at how these things are grafted on, with wire splices galore. Needless, I wouldn't take one of those if they paid me. Which starter relay "got fried," did they say? It may make sense if the relay is part of the aftermarket addition.

in2pro

I'm not seeing the connection either... are they saying that when the vehicle was locked and un-locked with the factory fobs the starter relay was being engaged?!?! cough cough bullsh** cough....

EinST

It is indeed tough to swallow but I wouldn't put it past them to misdirect. Afterall, they installed the crap while knowing that when it craps out, and it will, a lot of owners will be forced to take a loss and dump the vehicle. It's a nightmare trying to diagnose electrical problems even without all that aftermarket crap in the way.

Valentin Darie

They didn't say which relay died.
What really ticked me off was that without even taking a look at the car they asked me to bring them the fobs for the remote starter, which were never used on the car except for the day the remote starter was installed, three months ago. That made raise my voice (which in hindsight I regret), but half an hour later the car was fixed and ready to be picked up. Go figure.

Chevrolet Customer Service

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> Valentin Darie,
Welcome to the forum! I apologize for your frustrations. I am glad that the dealer took care of this issue for you, though.
Breanne
Chevrolet Customer Service

EinST

I'd equate the starter relay going bad on a new vehicle to winning the Powerball lottery. Let's hope that they corrected whatever it was that precipitated the fault. Now, if I sound like I have low opinion on dumbasses who push aftermarket remote starter systems, that's because I do. I sincerely hope that's the last of your problems.

Valentin Darie

Thanks everyone for your input. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I went today back to the dealership with a case of beer and apologized to the person I spoke to yesterday for getting a bit carried away.