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1991 XJ keyless entry

Biggie Z

NAXJA Forum User
I have have a 1991 XJ with factory keyless entry wiring and IR dome but no remote for it. I was searching for a replacement but all the ones listed for sale are advertised for 1993-1996 (Mopar part #56009031). These jeeps seem to have the same IR keyless entry dome on the roof console as my 91. Does anyone know anything about these?

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Ive got that in my 95 country. The circuit board looks the same. Problem is remotes are getting rare and people want a premium for them right now.

I dropped the money for one because its one of those small things i wanted to work on my old Jeep.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
Jeep hasn't offered replacements in ages, and the only guy I know of who was able to make aftermarket remotes for that system seems to have retired out of the business something like 4 years ago (Piland electronics). Those things use a weird cypher chip with tri-state inputs (low, high, float), and Piland was the only fellow that figured out how to translate the code number in the receiver into the right combination of hookups to "program" a remote (read: wire up the circuit board right).

Considering that the IR remotes only work when you have the sender right up against the glass, I'm not sure it's worth trying to find a new remote for it.

I'd say your two best options are as follows:

1. Acquire paired remote/receiver module from a 95 Chrysler LH sedan, splice it in in place of your IR system. I went this route when I put in a 97+ headliner and decomissioned my IR board and Piland remote. Have them stored, but not sure if they still work as I've not used them in the better part of 10 years.

2. Buy aftermarket RF keyless remote and splice in.
 
Mine has good enough range. Im going to be at the Jeep when i need to unlock it anyway.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
My '88 came with keyless entry but no remotes. The Piland ones were expensive (when they were available). I went aftermarket with a cheap Audiovox I got on eBay for $20 that came with 2 remotes. I didn't need all the bells so I only connected the locks and the lights. Put the control unit under the console.
 
Thanks for all the replies, I came across a factory IR fob on ebay for much cheaper than most currently listed so I thought I would give it a shot. It also came with another receiver unit which has a different wiring harness. Anyway the programming instructions I found online aren't working so I'm thinking either the 91 has different instructions or the fob itself only works with the newer IR control boards. Any ideas?

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IR remotes are not programmable by the vehicle owner - they programmed in the factory; you had to pull the little dome off the headliner and give the dealer the 5-digit number found on a little sticker on the circuit board and give it to the dealer when ordering a remote so it could be custom-assembled to match the receiver in your vehicle. The remote had a little sticker inside it too with the same code number.

Only remotes and receivers that were built to the same code number will talk to each other, and nothing short of an oscilloscope, a 12V supply, and good surface-mount soldering skills will change that.

I bought my '92 at the end of 1997, and it came with one factory remote that never actually worked. By 1998 or so the remotes were no longer available from the dealers, (and even if they were, they were absurdly expensive). The internet searching I did after finding that out led me to Piland Electronics, the only other source of Jeep IR Keyless remotes I ever found out there as I noted in my earlier post above. I spoke to Mr. Piland when I was ordering my first remote from him back in 1999-2000, and he claimed at the time to be the only non-Chrysler source who could decode those little numbers and properly "program" remotes. Very nice and knowledgeable fellow, and gave first-rate service too, he was quite pleased to sell me just a fresh shell when they key ring loop broke off my remote after several years in my pocket. When I retired my IR setup, I'd gotten 10 years of flawless service from the remote he sold me.

I offered up the link to his website many times over the years when someone here posted looking for an IR remote, but the site looks to have gone offline at the end of 2015 - the final snapshot the "Wayback Machine" took was in December of that year, and there's no trace I can find of him opening up shop on another website. Here's the link to that snapshot so you can poke around in it, there's nice info there about how to obtain the code number I mentioned earlier in this post: https://web.archive.org/web/20151226072625/www.thejeep.com/piland.html. I wonder whatever happened to the "box" he told me he built to decode those code numbers...

If you did buy that remote/receiver pair, have a good look at the reciever board and inside the remote to confirm that the little stickers both have the same code number (and are therefore a properly matched set). If you can't find the two code numbers, the only way to know for sure whether the two will interact is to plug it in and try it.

Unfortunately, much as it pains me to say it, the IR remotes used on 88-92 trucks are now up around 30 years old now, and I have serious doubts about the circuit boards in the remotes still working, given that my OEM remote's circuit board was literally crumbling into powder by the time it was 5 or 6 years old. I shudder to think what may or may not be left after a couple of decades...

I still have my Piland remote and IR receiver dome stashed at home and they did work when I pulled them out to do the headliner/Chrysler Concorde keyless conversion, but after 10 years in a ziploc bag in the garage it's anyone's guess whether it's still functional. If it is, mine and devildog0's could well be among the last working IR setups in existence.

I stand by what I said originally - splicing in an aftermarket keyless kit or something like the setup from the 95 LH sedan are your best hope for getting a usable keyless function on this thing.

All that said, since you already have those parts on the way, give them a try - you might get lucky and they'll work (at least for a little while)...
 
IR remotes are not programmable by the vehicle owner - they programmed in the factory; you had to pull the little dome off the headliner and give the dealer the 5-digit number found on a little sticker on the circuit board and give it to the dealer when ordering a remote so it could be custom-assembled to match the receiver in your vehicle. The remote had a little sticker inside it too with the same code number.

Only remotes and receivers that were built to the same code number will talk to each other, and nothing short of an oscilloscope, a 12V supply, and good surface-mount soldering skills will change that.

I bought my '92 at the end of 1997, and it came with one factory remote that never actually worked. By 1998 or so the remotes were no longer available from the dealers, (and even if they were, they were absurdly expensive). The internet searching I did after finding that out led me to Piland Electronics, the only other source of Jeep IR Keyless remotes I ever found out there as I noted in my earlier post above. I spoke to Mr. Piland when I was ordering my first remote from him back in 1999-2000, and he claimed at the time to be the only non-Chrysler source who could decode those little numbers and properly "program" remotes. Very nice and knowledgeable fellow, and gave first-rate service too, he was quite pleased to sell me just a fresh shell when they key ring loop broke off my remote after several years in my pocket. When I retired my IR setup, I'd gotten 10 years of flawless service from the remote he sold me.

I offered up the link to his website many times over the years when someone here posted looking for an IR remote, but the site looks to have gone offline at the end of 2015 - the final snapshot the "Wayback Machine" took was in December of that year, and there's no trace I can find of him opening up shop on another website. Here's the link to that snapshot so you can poke around in it, there's nice info there about how to obtain the code number I mentioned earlier in this post: https://web.archive.org/web/20151226072625/www.thejeep.com/piland.html. I wonder whatever happened to the "box" he told me he built to decode those code numbers...

If you did buy that remote/receiver pair, have a good look at the reciever board and inside the remote to confirm that the little stickers both have the same code number (and are therefore a properly matched set). If you can't find the two code numbers, the only way to know for sure whether the two will interact is to plug it in and try it.

Unfortunately, much as it pains me to say it, the IR remotes used on 88-92 trucks are now up around 30 years old now, and I have serious doubts about the circuit boards in the remotes still working, given that my OEM remote's circuit board was literally crumbling into powder by the time it was 5 or 6 years old. I shudder to think what may or may not be left after a couple of decades...

I still have my Piland remote and IR receiver dome stashed at home and they did work when I pulled them out to do the headliner/Chrysler Concorde keyless conversion, but after 10 years in a ziploc bag in the garage it's anyone's guess whether it's still functional. If it is, mine and devildog0's could well be among the last working IR setups in existence.

I stand by what I said originally - splicing in an aftermarket keyless kit or something like the setup from the 95 LH sedan are your best hope for getting a usable keyless function on this thing.

All that said, since you already have those parts on the way, give them a try - you might get lucky and they'll work (at least for a little while)...

Not sure if they changed something along the way between 91 and 95 but I was able to program an IR remote to my vehicle. Or maybe it was the other way around programmed the vehicle to the remote? The programming is outlined in my glovebox manual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxmo3yOGXA
 
Not sure if they changed something along the way between 91 and 95 but I was able to program an IR remote to my vehicle. Or maybe it was the other way around programmed the vehicle to the remote? The programming is outlined in my glovebox manual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxmo3yOGXA

This is why I thought it would work, Rob, do you know if the 91 IR remote is different than the 96? I was under the impression they all used the IR remote Mopar part #56009031. Does anyone know the wire colors for the 91 IR receiver module wiring harness?
 
My '93 FSM details the procedure to program the remotes and is the same shown in the YT vid. (don't have a '91) My '88 is completely different (big window no globe) and has the sticker with the code.

I checked my parts guides as well. Turns out the 91-92 have a different module and remote part number from the 93 up. '93 up have options for overhead console and no overhead so those pn's differ.

The '91 PN for the module is: 5600 4146
The PN for the transmitter is: 5600 5918

Good luck and post back!
 
My '93 FSM details the procedure to program the remotes and is the same shown in the YT vid. (don't have a '91) My '88 is completely different (big window no globe) and has the sticker with the code.

I checked my parts guides as well. Turns out the 91-92 have a different module and remote part number from the 93 up. '93 up have options for overhead console and no overhead so those pn's differ.

The '91 PN for the module is: 5600 4146
The PN for the transmitter is: 5600 5918

Good luck and post back!

Thank you, this was very helpful, in that case I will attempt to wire in the IR receiver that came with the key fob, but the connectors are different. I already figured out which wires on the harness are for + (pink), - (black), lock (orange/purple), and unlock (pink/purple) using the Hayes repair manual and tested by jumping the pink wire to the orange/purple wire to lock and pink to pink/purple to unlock. There are 2 more wires on the harness that I can't figure out what they do, the blue/orange wire and the pink/orange wire. If anyone has any info on these 2 wire please let me know, jumping them to the pink wire does nothing. I also need to know the pinout of the newer IR control board which has a 12 pin plug so I can wire it in.
 
The Wayback Machine link I provided to the defunct Piland site shows that the 88 to mid-92 and mid-92 to 96 units are indeed different, and the latter are programmable.

A 91 is not programmable - the only way Biggie's going to get the ones he bought to work is what he's working on - splicing the reciever board he has into his truck's harness. The Chrysler part numbers for the remotes for that year are useless, as that does not account for the little sticker stuck to the cypher chip inside the remote. if that doesn't match the sticker on the reciever board's chip, the two will not work together. The remotes used from 88 through mid-92 are "programmed" by how the chip is wired to the circuit board: 10 or 12 of the pins are inputs; which pins are connected to +Voltage, Ground, or left unconnected (floating) determines the pulse sequence emitted when the remote is triggered. Only the factory that made these things for Chrysler and Mr. Piland ever knew how to properly translate the 5-digit number on those little stickers into the right wiring scheme to allow a new transmitter to be made to match an existing reciever.

Of course, Biggie could splice in a keyless setup from JCWhitney or a 92 Chrysler Concorde just as easily as what he's doing now, and have something that works from more than 3 inches off the Driver's Door window, but if he got lucky and got a remote/receiver pair that not only match but still work, good for him.
 
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If someone has a 93-95 XJ with overhead keyless entry, can you please take a look at the wiring that goes into your receiver. All I need to know is what pin the pink, black, pink/purple, and orange/purple wires go into. Also a picture of the harness from both sides will work. Thank you.
 
I figured it out by using a picture in this thread: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/overhead-console-wiring-question-197068/

Pin 1 - +12V
Pin 3 - Lock
Pin 4 - Unlock
Pin 10 - Ground

I don't know what any of the other pins do, I'm assuming lights, horns, alarms, etc. The only reason I wanted to do this is because my door locks are starting to wear out.

Here is how I have it rigged up: I cut the female harness off the old IR receiver and soldered the wires onto the new one, this way I didn't have to cut any wires on the Jeep itself. Then I just plugged it into the male harness in the overhead, It screwed right into where the old one was without any modification. I'm happy with the results.

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Glad to hear you got it working!
 
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