In the "good old days" of motoring, should one wanted to disable a car, you removed the rotor arm from the distributor - simple; and chances were, the bonnet had an external release. But, with today's high-tech systems, could one "easily" prevent a car being started ... in a good cause, of course?
Just out of curiousity, I have no evil intent.
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Removing a few fuses should do it to a fashion.
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safest way is to inhibit the fuel pump power supply depending on the vehicle
of course everything but early mazda 121's from 1994 have an immobilisor built into the car to stop theft so best advice really is hide the car keys when the munchkins kick your front door down
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>> early mazda 121's from 1994
diesel MkI mondeos didn't have a chip in the key, the petrols did but the diesels didnt get it until the MkII in 1996
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nor did corsas even if there was a pickup round the ignition barrel until 96 thinking back
me thinks vauxhall told the govt there were but the keys were devoid of chips
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>>everything but early mazda 121's from 1994 have an immobilisor
Yes they did. They badged them as KIA Prides, who's gonna nick one of them?
You could borrow Bb's spud and stuff it up the exhaust.
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I pondered this dilemma a few years back when a disgruntled colleague gained possession of the spare key to my diesel Octavia. ISTR I pulled the engine management fuse out in the end.
As a longer-term solution, wiring a hidden switch into the starter or ignition feed should provide an extra layer of security.
If, however, the OP is asking how to temporarily, harmlessly and reversibly disable a friend's car without their knowledge, I'm not sure that's a good idea on a modern engine. Pulling the wrong fuse could lead to unburnt fuel finding its way to a catalyst during a failed start, or damage to injectors or any number of other components. Not cheap, nor funny.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Thu 10 Mar 11 at 17:05
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How about removing the fuel pump or injector relays; assuming such things exist on these modern jallopies.
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What about fitting a wheel clamp ~ clampers swear by them.
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I saw a guy once in a TVR convertible take the steering wheel with him when he left the car. It was an after market anti-theft device that he bought specifically to stop his car being stolen again. It clipped in and out really easily.
Probably not possible with the modern air-bagged cars.
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>> I saw a guy once in a TVR convertible take the steering wheel with him
>> when he left the car. It was an after market anti-theft device that he bought
>> specifically to stop his car being stolen again. It clipped in and out really easily.
No that was standard TVR build quality "But it just came off in my Hand!"
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 10 Mar 11 at 17:56
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I used to do that when I was on the night shift. At one stage I had a very clean Mk 2 Fiesta. The column wasn't splined, just a five sided bit to go through the wheel IIRC. Left the centre trim off and carried a socket on a sliding T bar.
Raised a few eyebrows in the office but the car was always there in the morning.
Ted
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A copper I knew used a heavy chain looped around the base of the seat and through the steering wheel.
Going back to disabling engines, Focuses have a bonnet key lock, so pulling fuses or disconnecting the battery could be quite effective.
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I won't go to details but many years ago I had to this a lot, removing the ignition fuse always did the job.
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>> A copper I knew used a heavy chain looped around the base of the seat
>> and through the steering wheel.
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Mate of mine at university (Nottingham) who came from Romford used to do this with his Mk4 Cortina. It was never nicked, unlike my Orion which had no security devices and was taken and used in an armed robbery at a pub.
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>> I saw a guy once in a TVR convertible take the steering wheel with him
>> when he left the car. It was an after market anti-theft device that he bought
>> specifically to stop his car being stolen again. It clipped in and out really easily.
>>
I'd probably lose the wheel.
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>>In the "good old days" of motoring,
A spud was used :-)
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I used to use a chain on our old Discovery. I'd slide the drivers seat right forward and use a motorcycle chain to attach the fixed headrest to the steering wheel. Idea was to make it difficult for a thief to get in the drivers seat to start working on the steering lock etc.
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Had a 1991 Astra 1.4 with no imobiliser, Simply fitted a switch between live feed to distrbutor so when "armed" it would crank over but not fire.
Fitted these switches to various cars for friends and saved one.
Today with the can bus wiring im unsure if it would work this way if no imobiliser was fitted.
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I just used to take the rotor arm off and take it with me.
Pat
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For an easy fix, one of these would do it (assuming that the person won't have access to tools or jump lead to bypass it).
I'd go a step further and put a small fuse bypass, so the car appears to work fine, right up to the moment when they try to start the engine, when it'll all go dead.
www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/battconns/photo/02100.jpg
Edit: just noticed that they sell a version with a bypass fuse:
www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/battconns/battclamps.php
Last edited by: Tigger on Fri 11 Mar 11 at 10:01
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disabling an engine - Stuu
