Automobile Demobilizer

You shouldn't have stolen the car..it's very naughty.

Personally, I think he should use JB Weld to epoxy a barrel bomb to the bottom of his gas tank. Dial the right number, and BLAM!!! No fuel, no go.

Of course, there may be some collateral damage, as well. But, hey, if you're going to make an omlete...

Its a good idea, but not an easy thing to do - the easier it is for you to fit it, the easier it is for a car thief to find it and overcome it.

It may beat the joyrider but it will not be much of problem to the professional car thief, it they have time to work on it.

Fitting a master cut off relay is probably the easiest, but he secret is hiding it and the wiring so that it cannot be traced.

Intercepting the ignition supply is the better option but more difficult to do and conceal.

The chipped key or card is the most desirable option for insurance companies

The simplest way would be to insert the clean output contact of the device into the wire that maintains either the decompression solenoid, in the case of a compression-ignition engine, or the low-voltage supply to the ignition circuit, in the case of a spark ignition engine. The "Haynes_Manual" for the vehicle in question will contain a wiring diagram.

The risk to the vehicle of its being disabled while in motion needs to be assessed in connection with its drivability and survivability through being disabled, and the insurance company needs to be advised of the modification to the vehicle.

Important Question: does causing the inadvertent death of an occupant through the vehicle being disabled remotely while in motion count as manslaughter? Hmmm.....

A further thought. Cars are registered property, so they cannot be 'stolen' as such: whoever is in charge of them at any time does not alter either the ownership, which may be a company for example, or the Registered Keeper, which must be an individual. They can only be "taken without consent" [TWOC], from which the words "twoc-ing" and "twoc-ed" have entered Police officers' vocabulary.

Not so worried about the occupant..It's the bus queue of schoolchildren, grannies, young mums (mmmm), bloke in wheelchair, blind man with guide dog...etc that I'm worried about!

Quite.

At an early time of life I had a 59 Chevy that I could not do without. I wired a hidden switch in the high voltage coil circuit. I hid the switch in plain sight so it would never be used.

A few times the rough-crowd would break into the car and try to hot-wire it. They ran the battery down without ever getting it started.

Sometimes the simple approach works.

Have you ever seen the movie "Tank Girl?" You get in the car and have 30 seconds to enter a code on a touch pad... No code, the interior is flooded with cyanide gas. Oh, I forgot to mention, first trigger all the door locks.

Even if you don't really use cyanide, but have a recorded voice that implies so, I guarantee it'll be the last time the perp will try car theft.

Are you generally this vindictive or is it a matter of not being able to afford car insurance?

Cure for vindiciveness.

Tape the bomb to the mobile...

no more problems at all...ever.

"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!!"

With apologies to Michael Caine.

Get hold of a copy of The Poor Man's James Bond. You'll probably find it there.

OK, plan #2... We JB Weld a barrel bomb to the side of the battery, and... I think you know the rest.

How about planting the bomb IN the driver's seat? In this way, you get the thief while minimizing harm to passers-by or damage to the car.

Vermin, u so wacky! JB weld indeed, duct tape will do.

So would strapping the bomb to the fuel lines.

Fuel Pump circuit, Fuel Injector circuit, Distributor Coil/Coil Pack circuit, ECU Power Circuit... There are a bunch of places to do this... 2 or more is preferable, getting all of them at once is best. If you want to take out multiple systems at once without putting wires all over the vehicle, get a 4PST relay and splice it into the power lines running behind the fuse box and hide the unit under the dash. There is a surprising amount of empty space behind (not under) most dashboards. Disrupting any of the aforementioned circuits will shut the car down immediately and will not allow it to start up again without disabling the cutoff device.

The best thing to do, though, is to put the device in an inconspicuous place (under the battery tray if you can) and run discreet signal wires to relays close to the circuits you want to disrupt... less of a chance that the unit will be disabled. All of these, of course, require time and appropriate wire-routing skills. As suggested by someone else, I assume you own the vehicle so you should go down to your Auto Parts store or go online and buy the Haynes or Chilton repair manual.

This is all neglecting the easiest method to recover a stolen car - don't get it stolen in the first place. I assume that you've already made the GSM transponder or whatever is powering the cutoff relays, so add to the circuit a local cutoff (you can even use an RFID system to control this) that disables the target systems when you shut off your car, and require you and your RFID card to be within X feet of the driver's seat to enable the circuits.

In the UK, it is illegal to have an alarm/ immobiliser which can operate while the engine is running - But is it illegal to "run out of fuel"???

Good thinking.

Is it illegal for the fuel to run out of the car and into the road drainage system?

Technically, yes - but I've never heard of anyone prosecuted for an accident.....

You could then follow the trail with a spare can of fuel to reclaim the prized possession.

this is not as hard as you may think...remember, a relay can do many wonderful things! all you need to know is what you can energize its coil with-12v dc, 6v dc, what ever the phone ring energises.....canabalize a connector cable so you can interface with the phone.....

The problem here is how much time and money do you spend on it. The only accepted anti theft devices by the insurance companies are the factory fitted ones. This is because devices and points of isolation are hidden away during the construction of the vehicle.

The manufacturers devices have a default contact which automatically engages through the engine running relay to prevent vehicle cutting out while in motion.

Few people are gong to remove the dashboard etc of their vehicle to install the devices, which is the most effective way of avoiding them being found by the thief. Obvious additions to the harness, or under seats etc; will be easily found by a professional thief who would be looking to resell the vehicle.

Any half reasonable device will certainly help to deter the opportunity thief or joyrider.

C'mon what car is this which is so preciousss (to be read in Gollum voice...lets have a Lord of the Rings motif guys?)

Is anyone really going to nick it?

Trade it in for a 17-year old one. At least one can see where it's gone from the trail of rust particles it leaves behind.....

Get a LoJack. Got my car back, relatively unscathed in about 3 hours.

http://lojack.com/

Drive a '93 Ford Taurus, nobody will steal it.

Fuel pump, ignition, ecu power are good things to cut off.

Use latching or normally open contact. So if the device is removed, car still won't run. Hide the cutoff relay. Get as close to the fuel pump as possible so it can't be bypassed. Usually you need to remove rear seat to get to the pump.

Are you sure you want to shut the car off when its on the road? What happen if the car stop at a rail crossing? Intersection? How many accident will it cause?

Its better to use GPS to locate the vehicle and catch the thief.

Pineapple

It depends on whether the car is diesel powered or gasoline powered. If gasoline powered, disrupting the power to the ignition system would stop it right away. I would install a relay in that line and control the relay by the device.

If it uses bio-diesel, just follow the smell of french fries.

whatever system you use : be sure that it only kicks in AFTER the car has been switched off.

Either that or something which would restrict the fuel supply (invoke the default mode when as water or oil is low?) which makes the car slow,but still drivable. How many thieves will continue to potter about in a car which is supposed to be fast?

Pick up a manual for your specific auto and pick your circuit being ignition or fuel. Some libraries here in the States have Alldata.com which tends to the auto techs and it's free. If not then manuals will be available.

Sulfur stink bombs ignited into the interior. Demobilize the intruder instead of the auto. Of course your car would smell a bit after...

Why don't you use GPS?

You only need gps unit to the car, tracking device for you and ofcourse a shotgun.