Hidden kill, theft prevention, etc switch ideas.

bikerjosh

bikerjosh

Well-Known Member
Any ideas for wiring in a kill switch into a manual trans L300 Delica? Ideally this would cut spark or fuel so if the car starter is engaged, it will turn over but not start. I wired one into my my 87 4wd toyota van, that cuts power to FI circuit. When starter is engaged it acts like the car is out of fuel. Just getting a little nervous with all the work I have done to my van, granted the manual trans probably keeps an increasing majority of people from being able to steal it. Thanks Josh
 
Quick release steering wheel, fuel/batter cutoff switches, nothing is perfect, and nothing will 100% prevent your van from being stolen. But theifs are always looking for easy opportunities. I pull my wheel out and take it with me or even hide it in the van. If you’re looking to make a quick getaway and there’s no wheel it’s going to cause you to move on to the next parked car.
 
deskinthewoods said:
If it’s a diesel, the fuel solenoid would be a good spot. It’s easy to get to on the back side of the injection pump. One 12v wire to tap into.
Click to expand...
From memory the wire to the fuel solenoid can be accessed behind the dashboard: my alarm has a "fuel cut" relay, and that's where it's wired in, no need to run (obvious) extra wires into the engine bay.

The nice thing about the solenoid is the van will still crank giving the appearance that all is well, it just won't start. Putting a kill switch on the starter relay gives a pretty clear indication that there's a secret kill switch.

GPS trackers are cheap too.
 
My setup is just a beefy battery disconnect switch mounted below the passenger seat (pics 1 and 2). When the engine cover is down it is hidden by the carpet. The switch is in series between the negative battery terminal and the ground by the coolant overflow tank (pic 3)

The downsides are that it kills all power (radio settings, clock, etc...) and it's fairly easy to spot if someone opens the engine cover up.

Tbh, I've just been using a club when I park in sketchy areas because I feel like it's visibility is better at protecting my windows
 

Attachments

  • File_001 (3).jpeg
    File_001 (3).jpeg
    199.7 KB · Views: 130
  • File_000 (10).jpeg
    File_000 (10).jpeg
    107.6 KB · Views: 119
  • File_002 (2).jpeg
    File_002 (2).jpeg
    176 KB · Views: 128
From my old days when I hung out with all the Honda Civic owners, battery disconnects weren't the favored method, it was always fuel pump disconnects. Reason being, if you're a thief and get in the car and there's no power anywhere, it's unlikely the battery is that dead. Fuel pump disconnects make the car seem like it wants to start and is having trouble doing so. Plus, since they only need a small 12v line instead of the big battery connection, you can hide the switches in so many more places. I've seen them inside glove boxes at the bottom, inside the shift boot, under the carpet, tons of options.
 
In addition to a club, I put an alarmed cable lock from the vendor "Nulock"

I have it wound around my steering wheel, then down under my front seat around one of the anchor points. I figure that if a thief won't try to take off the anchor bolts for the seat, so they'd either try to cut the steering wheel (totally possible but would be loud since my wheel has metal spokes), but more than likely they'd just think "cheap cable lock" and cut it, which triggers a REALLY FUCKING LOUD alarm that will turn every head and probably get people out of bed to look out the window.

I also started disconnecting the fuel pump relay as well behind the dash every time I park it over night.

Kill switch coming soon once I get some free time.
 
No thief steals a vehicle thinking to hit the horn.

A popular thing for Samurai's are to use the horn as the momentary ignition switch. You could even wire the ignition signal into the horn as well. Then it'd have to be pressed to use the key. Obviously, disable the horn or not *shrug*
 
natematos said:
Where's this located? Seems like a good starting point for a disconnect switch.
Click to expand...
Nice try, Oakland car thief...


Ok but really, if you pull out the glove compartment, it's behind the duct for the dash air system. It's kind of tucked behind the duct in mine, but there's a few other harnesses in there so it can be tricky to verify which one it is. If I can get home before it's dark one of these days I'll snap a pic, but generally speaking it's the largest wiring harness you'll see in there.
 
@Longball Wow so you pull your glovebox out every night to do this? That said, with how close it is to the glovebox would be easy to hide a switch in there.
 
natematos said:
@Longball Wow so you pull your glovebox out every night to do this? That said, with how close it is to the glovebox would be easy to hide a switch in there.
Click to expand...
Well, it's not my daily driver so when I park it it usually sits for a week or two before it moves again; but yes, each time I pull the glovebox. Worth the effort for the extra peace of mind.

Agreed it's a good starting point to run a switch - the hard part is figuring out where to hide it though. Thinking somewhere on the underside of the dash that can't be seen, or even buried within the center console.
 
@Longball Something I've been thinking about is hiding it in plain sight. Like if you have a switch bank for fog lights or radio or whatever, do you put it in there with a random label? Even better if you have a blank switch plate to the right of the steering wheel use one of those. No one will think they have to hit a random defrost switch to get it to work ya know? My rear HVAC system is busted and I never use it, so could tap mine in to that.
 
natematos said:
@Longball Something I've been thinking about is hiding it in plain sight. Like if you have a switch bank for fog lights or radio or whatever, do you put it in there with a random label? Even better if you have a blank switch plate to the right of the steering wheel use one of those. No one will think they have to hit a random defrost switch to get it to work ya know? My rear HVAC system is busted and I never use it, so could tap mine in to that.
Click to expand...
Haha you and I are actually on a similar wavelength - I was even thinking of throwing a dummy switch in a "hidden" spot that's easy to find, but I like the idea of putting it into another switch's location too.
 
natematos said:
@Longball Something I've been thinking about is hiding it in plain sight. Like if you have a switch bank for fog lights or radio or whatever, do you put it in there with a random label? Even better if you have a blank switch plate to the right of the steering wheel use one of those. No one will think they have to hit a random defrost switch to get it to work ya know? My rear HVAC system is busted and I never use it, so could tap mine in to that.
Click to expand...
Regarding hiding in plain sight, this guy had it installed in the overdrive button:

Kill switch help

I had someone install a kill switch to my overdrive button. Overdrive off = kills cranking power. (you can still hear the clicks, but if you turn the key to start you only hear additional clicks) Overdrive on = van can crank and start (starter is engaged) It's worked flawlessly for almost 2...
delicaforum.com delicaforum.com

Interesting idea, though not sure if that would mean overdrive can't be disabled, or if the button serves a dual (triple?) purpose. (I seldom switch out of overdrive, but I guess non-overdrive is good for hills?)
 
Last edited:
Sputnik said:
Regarding hiding in plain sight, this guy had it installed in the overdrive button:

Kill switch help

I had someone install a kill switch to my overdrive button. Overdrive off = kills cranking power. (you can still hear the clicks, but if you turn the key to start you only hear additional clicks) Overdrive on = van can crank and start (starter is engaged) It's worked flawlessly for almost 2...
delicaforum.com delicaforum.com

Interesting idea, though not sure if that would mean overdrive can't be disabled, or if the button serves a dual (triple?) purpose. (I seldom switch out of overdrive, but I guess non-overdrive is good for hills?)
Click to expand...
I like that idea. Maybe swap the Overdrive wiring with the Rear HVAC button.
 
InstrumentOfPeace said:
I like that idea. Maybe swap the Overdrive wiring with the Rear HVAC button.
Click to expand...
There are also phone based proximity systems like:

mobokey.com

MoboKey: Access, Security and Digital Car Sharing Platform

Smartphone based digital car key application allowing you to lock unlock start stop and secure your car with MoboKey app and device.
mobokey.com mobokey.com

I've never used one, and can see some flaws (like losing your phone, or the app glitching, radio frequency issues, security/hacking), but might have some advantages. I'm not sure about the complexity of installation either - simple is always better, and a system like this could introduce new mysterious things to trouble shoot on the old Delica. Also, any system like this would need to work with glowplugs.

I have a remote start system on my van (it came with one installed in Japan), so I'm weighing the benefit to me of remote start vs kill switch. A phone based system might be a way to accomplish both.
 
Last edited:
Sputnik said:
There are also phone based proximity systems like:

mobokey.com

MoboKey: Access, Security and Digital Car Sharing Platform

Smartphone based digital car key application allowing you to lock unlock start stop and secure your car with MoboKey app and device.
mobokey.com mobokey.com

I've never used one, and can see some flaws (like losing your phone, or the app glitching, radio frequency issues), but might have some advantages. I'm not sure about the complexity of installation either - simple is always better, and a system like this could introduce new mysterious things to trouble shoot on the old Delica.

I have a remote start system on my van, so I'm weighing the benefit to me of remote start vs kill switch. A phone based system might be a way to accomplish both.
Click to expand...
I’ve considered the same awhile back. As a programmer, typing my vehicle to a particular 3rd party software vendor was the turn off. Open source? Maybe.
 
I had put a kill switch on an old Bronco as follows- near the radio, I installed a 3.5mm female jack; looks like you might use it to input an iPod. I also made up a male jack "key" by soldering the two contacts together internal to the male jack. Left plugged in, the truck ran fine; pull the male jack out and the pump died. Easy to drop the male jack in the coin pocket of my jeans when out for the evening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top