That said, I am in favor of the idea because it will stop most joy-riders and kids from stealing your truck. Most aren't smart enough to know of and/or find a kill switch and loose interest fast.ġst rule. Which leaves you with a much smaller crowd, tweaters, drunks, punks, and kids being kids. And even if it is heavily modified it is very difficult to hide a vehicle (after it has been stolen) that is so unique, making it even less desirable to this "career" car thief. It is not all the desirable, (except for your catalytic convert) unless it is heavily modified. I'll take a dead battery over a missing 4Runner, any day. That way they get a block down the road and truck dies normally they abandon it.Ĭareer car thief, really? Let's face it, if someone is a "career" car thief they probably aren't going to risk there "career" over a mid sized SUV. The best I have seen, is to put the switch in-line with the fuel pump. I have seen these switches work a quite a few times. We could speculate for days but in reality, you don't know what you don't know. A kill switch is a VERY CHEAP small amount of insurance to make sure your 4Runner stays yours. It wouldn't have stopped anyone who really wanted it, but the goal was to buy enough time that they wouldn't want to risk being there long enough to figure it out. So those switches (I think it was 4x or 5x 2- & 3-way switches) had to be in a specific pattern for the button to do any good. I figured since it only took a screwdriver to start it after buying the new ignition switch I had to do something. piss break out in the Sierra National Forest on a fall afternoon a few miles out from home and the ignition switch broke) the steering lock had me stuck though, so I justed wrapped a big stick through the wheel and busted it. What I had done on the 80 was wire up a few toggle switches on the dashboard that were actually just wired in series if you followed the rat's nest back and forth from the firewall (Ya, I only did it on this one since I had to hot wire it the third time out. I never got around to doing it with my '86 and wish I would have after I walked out for my lunch break to see the empty parking spot. This is exactly what I did with my first two Toyota pickups and one VW. Using your wiring diagram, find the wire responsible for activating the starter solenoid and install a switch as far from the ignition as possible in that circuit (you don't want the potential crook to easily find it).The best type of switch for this is a push button The trickiest option is an ignition kill switch. The downside of this approach is that disconnecting the battery will reset the radio settings every timeno power means no memory features. This could be located under the hood, or the cable could be extended to put the switch under or beside the driver's seat (be sure to use 0-gauge cable and a heavy-duty rotary switch). More involved but supereffective is fitting a racing-style battery-disconnect switch on the positive battery cable. These small switches can be hidden and secured pretty much anywhereunder the seat, in the trunk, under the dashboard, in the gloveboxyou're limited only by how much work you want to do running new wire. The easiest method is to connect a simple on/off toggle to the positive circuit of the fuel pump. Any of these will quickly frustrate the bad guys into moving on to an easier target, but two or three will render a car virtually theft-proof.īefore making any modification, be sure to have a complete wiring diagram in hand, just so you're aware of which wires are which. These switches disrupt the flow of electricity at the battery or ignition switch or disable the fuel pump. Since parking in safe-looking spots is about as effective as wishing on a star, installing a well-hidden kill switch is a smart way to deter potential thieves. Anecdotal evidence indicates that mid-1980s to late-'90s Japanese cars are highly prized owing to their lucrative parts market and easy hot-wiring, but we have a good, cheap solution for any car, new or old. In 2011, thefts dropped to a reported 715,373 incidents, but even though fewer cars are being lifted, nobody wants to walk out to his parking spot and find it empty. Manufacturers responded to this problem with factory alarm systems and sophisticated electronic validation between the car and the ignition key. In 1991, the peak of auto theft according to FBI crime statistics, a staggering 1.66 million vehicles were stolen in the U.S. Have any ideas to make it theft-proof?Ĭar theft is a perennial problem that everybody worries about. I have a pickup I absolutely love, and would like to prevent it from being stolen.
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