Anyone care to give their opinion of what is the mest (cost) effective way to prevent your car from being stolen? I was looing at an electrical kill switch or a fuel (pump) kill swithc? What do you guy think?

I kill ignition and fuel pump with seperate switches, and rewired the ignition switch under the dashboard so that the wires are all the same colour (until you do some REAL digging!)

Also, I have a panel of EIGHT toggle switches that have to be hit in a certain order for the kill relays to go out.  When I get out of my truck, I automatically wipe the switches all up or all down, and I can hit them all without looking when I get back in.  Note that these are all three-position switches, and some have to be centred as well for the matrix to work.  There have been a couple times coming out of somewhere (I have had clients in some downright nasty areas!) where I find someone trying to get my rig working with no luck.  Said individual usually gets a severe case of road rash on his face - unless something better (like a chain link fence!) presents itself...

FFZ

Don't get me wrong here; that's some pretty cool stuff!  But what the heck to do you drive?  And what do you do for a living?

Starter interlock, the key and a button pushed needed to start car.
An aftermarket horn button or push/hold button used to allow starter to work. Mount this under carpet or in the headliner.

Simple toggle switch to complete/brake electric circuit to fuel pump, this connection should be done as close to the fuel tank as possible. Best place for the switch is in the trunk, just hope you never need to leave somewhere fast.

If you have a car with the fuse block in the drivers door jam, remove the fuse for the fuel pump or computer.

SSD

Who should I have do the install? Tint and alarm place, sterio store (Best Buy)? -any suggestions there?

I have always cut a switch into the "neutral safety switch".

This way the nothing happens even if they have the key.

Good luck,

Tom

Kill switches are excellent theft-preventers — one of the very best preventative measures you can take.

Personally, I'm more of a fan of the ignition- or fuel pump kill switches than the starter-kill. If the bad guy turns the key and the starter doesn't spin, he immediately suspects that there's a kill switch installed. If he turns the key and the engine spins but fails to start, it might be due to any one of a number of causes — keeps him guessing.

OTOH, some vehicles with a manual transmission may be capable of being moved short distances by bumping the starter, even if the engine won't start.

Sometime self-employed low-cost handyman, and I've had some field service jobs that had me in seedy areas.  I've also had to serve papers in Hunter's Point and the Acorn (no, you don't want to know) and I like to know where my truck will be when I get back.  Truck?  Jeep Cherokee, early version (1987 and 1988.)  I am looking for more...

FFZ

Any advice on who should do the install?

A very simple trick.  Run the wire that is attached to your gas pedal (the starter interlock wire...don't press the pedal, car won't start) and run it to your cigarette lighter.  When the lighter is pushed in, the car will run, pull it out-no go.  Simple and the skanks just don't think of it.

OK this is going to be a joke so take it as it is


For a person to design and implement something like this tells me the person has alot of time on their hands.

So he's probably jobless and drives a beat up honda and someone likes to steal his car for his airbags or some engine components like a throttle body or distributor.

FFZ: Hunters Point? You mean that fine upscale housing area by the Bay? Heh, he, I wouldn't go there again with LESS than a banned-in-Kalifornistan assault weapon. Jeez, man, I went there to do an estimate on some work on the Meteor and Comet transport ships, and I was damn glad I had a company vehicle. I used to work over in Brisbane.

Doh! Didn't even think about push-starting the damn thing! I may end up going with 2 different switches now. The shop that the dealer uses for some work doesn't do electric work, but referred me to another garage that does. Any idea what a fair price would be for either 1 or 2 switches?

MurderSHO45 -
 Joke or not - my truck is ALWAYS where I leave it!  Oddly enough, everything seems to be in it as well...

When you work on this stuff enough, it don't take too long.  22 years working on vehicles doesn't hurt, either.  Since the XJ uses the GM column, it was a simple metter for me to wire up a new subharness for the ignition switch and tap it in in place of the old one.  Time to install - about two hours.

Switch panel - another two hours.  Designed and built by me, and no-one else can figure the thing out...  Yes, I used security fasteners as well (I have to drill the thing open if I'm going to service it - one-way screws can be a pain...)

I do have sources for all this stuff, having had a few years behind me in industrial maintenance.    

Engine components?  Mostly useless expect to someone else who owns an XJ or MJ made between 1987 and 1990.  Airbag?  No got, don't want.  Being over six feet tall and over two hundred pounds, I have better odds of grievous injury from the airbag than I do from an accident...

If you are going the switch route, learn enough electronics to do the thing yourself.  You don't want anyone else to know how the thing works unless YOU tell them, and I frankly don't trust most of the mopes I tend to see in autosound shops these days...  Remember, the ideal number of people required to keep a critical secret is ONE!  Also, try to drive something that isn't a hot item.  The big risk with the compact Cherokee (XJ) is that people like to steal them for joyriding - if it don't start, it stays where it is!

FFZ

The newer cars have more sophisticated electronics and computers. I've seen a lot of warnings about DIY set-ups.

Fuel Pump Relay bypass = Good Idea on Paper, Bad Idea in reality. Most EFI cars HATE having their fuel systems depressurized.

A good starter interlock is not a bad idea. Most quality car alarms offer this sort of protection, and a professionally installed car alarm can be a tough sonofabitch to get around if the installer is good. If you wire the relay to be Normally Open, and the thief finds the brain of the alarm and disconnects it, the car still won't start (Always put an extra lead to bypass the relay with a fuseholder - if the relay ever goes bad, simply placing a fuse in the circuit will get you rolling again).

I've seen a few starter kills wired to the seatbelt. No seatbelt, no start. Thieves don't think about that one.

A long time ago, I used to moonlight a little at a car stereo shop. The owner/lead installer did a neat trick with his alarm installs. He would setup the door locks to unlock just the driver's door, and whenever the system was locked, all doors would be engaged to lock. No extra charge for the ladies, and it was a sure sell, too.