Best way to disable an FD?
 

I was curious if there was any easy (and of course easily reversible) way of preventing an FD from starting. The reason why I ask is sometimes I leave my car in a shady area (exposed to many people) and worry about it being stolen. Perhaps I am a little bit paranoid, but if there was some wire or something I could pull or modify from the engine bay that would prevent anyone from starting it, it would give me a little more peace of mind. Of course, I don't want to go through the trouble of putting a hidden ignition swtich in the car either.

just yank your ecu out :)

you could let me drive it around when you have to leave it :)

LOL. Yeah the ECU idea would work, but then it would have to re-learn after plugging in back in.

Pull the ignition fuse.

It's in the FUSE box right above the battery. I don't remember which one it is off the top of my head.

Your car will NOT start without the fuse in place. If someone attempts to start it, it will simply just keep turning over.

OK that sounds like a good idea. What if someone really wanted the car and was smart enough to check that. They could simply swap in a fuse from a non-necessary component in its place. Is there any non-universal component (an ECU for example) to pull?

If you have a PFC I suppose you can set your rev limiter to something like 700 rpm

I see your what you are saying.

I'm not looking at my car right now, so I'm not sure if the fuses are interchangeable.

You could also pull your fuel pump fuse along with the ignition fuse.

My friend installed a special kill swtich that's hidden in my car.

I think it just cuts the ignition kinda like juse pulling the fuse.

But doing it this way has the switch inside the car (one obstacle to overcome) and is hidden (another obstacle) in an obscure place where you have to reach it from outside the car, not sitting in it (one more obstacle).

Well you could do this which I have done.

1.Find the wiring of the Fuel pump splice into the hot wire of the pump {be sure you umplug the bat}

2.and connect two longer wires and run them somewhere only you know on the car Attach an on/off switch then connect it to the fuel pump.

3. make sure you have insulated the splice so it wont cause any sparks and blow you up =]

4. reconnect the battry

5.When you are finished driving the car get out turn off the switch get back in turn the car over let it run for about 2 seconds shut it back off and leave.

6. 5 is unnessary allthough it prevents them from having a few seconds of driving the car a few feet and risking them hitting something.

7. REMBER NOT TO SHOW OR TELL ANY ONE ABOUT THE SWITCH

you do realize that the stock alarm has an Ignition & Starter cut built in don't you? And the steering wheel locks (as does the Shifter on the Auto) when the key is removed

You can also do some other disables via those hidden switches.

Lets see here you can do a starter cut by splicing the slyanoid [SP?]

Theres also splicing into the actual ignitors or even into the fuelinjectors.

So many possibliies.

I personaly have the fuelpump switch and the clutch engagement switch wired. [this makes the car think that the clutch is peddle is never pressed even though it is, and prevents the car from engaging the starter]

the best way... get full coverage insurance!! and keep ALL reciets

The stock alarm is fairly effective. If you start dwelling on the permutations and possibilities of who would know to replace a fuse or whatever, then you may as well give up, especially given your predisposition against any sort of remote switch. And really, if someone wants your car bad enough, it is history. Ask any professional repo man, there is simply NO way to keep a car from being taken, if the person wants it bad enough.
Hell, you could just take a wheel off or something for that matter!

Get the club....who cares if it looks ghetto.

What if someone REALLY wanted the car, and was smart enough to check these forums? :rolleyes:

Aristo, I think I remember someone with your name posting a thread like this on the MR2 forums... coincidence? Yeah, probably :p

Flybye has a good point about us not publically posting all our lil tricks on keeping our car safe. There's a lot of lurkers on the forums and i wouldnt be too surprised if a few of them were thieves.

If you really want to disable your car, pull out your plug wires, get a detachable steering wheel, get the autolock, autotaser, kill switch, and a pitbull.

A good investment is to have a small backup battery hidden somewhere in case a potential thief disables your primary battery to get to your alarm.

You read my mind!;) Black R1, it must have been someone else because I have never visited the MR2 forums.

A friend of mine in high school had a coil-to-ground switch that, unless disabled, gave would-be thiefs quite a shock! Ever felt the charge from one of those coils? Not plesant.

shhhhh egi fuse

HAHAHHA! I can see it now! Thief attempts to steal RX-7, suffers heart attack from electric shock delivered from car anti-theft system. Thief sues car owner. Thief now driving Bugatti:D

(As stupid as this sounds, a guy in NYC had his business broken into multiple times through a skylight. He electrified a security grate in the skylight with 220V and fried the SOBs but good. They are now living VERY large on Long Island.... what a country!)

Get some good insurance and Fugghedaboudit. Life is too short. If they really want it they'll bring a flatbed towtruck and it's history, vapor and toast.

Hire yourself a very small midget to live in your glove compartment and give him a little gun. I think it's the obvious solution.

You know there is one thing you could do to make it fool proof...
 

Um...one thing that hasn't been mentioned that I'm gonna do to my car when I get it can potentially stop theifs cold. What you could do is install one of those finger print sensors which scans your thumb print before enabling the ignition switch. I saw one at the dental convention and the guy told me that you could use the circuit in alot of different applications, I was thinking that this might be an ideal place to use one of those because no one could start the car except for you.

those can always be circumvented...it's just wires

LMAO @ GuidoCat

HAHA guido:shot2:

I think Mike said it, but a detatchable steering wheel is a good idea. Someone makes a kit for it (obviously it can't be used with an airbag) or you can also be illegal and sport a detatchable racing hub.

But a lot of people have already said the truth -- if they want it badly enough then it's gone. If they've been scoping out your car and come prepared then it's gone. But often times thieves just want the easiest target.

There are some smart tips that you should follow, though I know a lot of FD owners don't really like some of these ideas for one reason or another ... Park with everyone else. Try to park in areas where it's dense, where when someone leaves someone else will quickly take the vacant spot. There are a couple reasons for this. If the car is surrounded on 3 of 4 sides, it's a lot harder for a thief to get to it or a tow truck to get to it. It's even harder if you park backwards because they'll have to drag the drive wheels up a tow truck if they don't have the casters. A tow truck going at a car that is parked in the back way away from everyone else won't attract much attention because people will think that the car has just been left there and is being towed by the lot owner, ya dig? There also will be more people around and more attention drawn to suspicious individuals and an alarm will get much more attention if it's right there with people. The truth is that a lot of FD owners (and owners of other "nice" or "flashy" cars) don't park with everyone else for reasons ranging from showing off to avoiding door dings.