Total immobilization

Feb 24, 2006 16 Replies

You are going on vacation for two weeks, leaving your cherished car on the drive. You don't want to get home and discover that the local scumbags have helped themselves and your car is gone.



In past times past you could easily remove the rotor arm from the distributor, which generally stopped opportunist thieves. What would folks do on a modern car that is guaranteed to beat a car thief.


If you have a late model car it probably cannot be started without the right key. Many keys have a chip in them. That is why thieves resort to carjacking and towing. Put it in a garage.

Remove the Microprocessor? ;)

mike hunt

Finally, something sensible from you. One shouldn't have a good vehicle if they can't afford to PROPERLY garage it, most of the time.

Yes, an immobilizer key. A clever device. You might ask how does it work, how does it get power as the key does not have a battery.

In order from simple to difficult, you can try

EFI main fuse battery Access the fuel pump and unplug it steering wheel (follow airbag precautions!) ECU starter driveshaft (s) transmission engine

Be aware that NOTHING is GUARANTEED to beat a car thief. Disabling the car will discourage thieves but will not absolutely make it theft proof. Even if you removed everything I listed above, all a determined thief has to do is use a tow truck to get the car.

When you insert the key in the ignition, it is very close to the transponder...

But how does it get it's power to operate?

Here is a clue:

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It cannot be compromised. The crook needs to take apart the dash and then know which wires to connect. Forget it crooks.

A For Sale sign and a large oil puddle.

I'm with Art & Sharx35 on this one. It's more effective to garage the vehicle. Besides, it's more salubrious to the vehicle.

Bump the fuel cut-off switch to trigger it so the fuel pump will shut off. They won't be able to start it.

...and let the air out of a couple of tires...

Put a Bush-Chaney bumper-sticker on it.

Then put a dab of superglue in the mouth of each valve.

Jam an old rusty dented gastank sideways under the back bumper...

Open the fuse block under the hood (or possibly under the kick panel) and remove several of the really important and high-amperage ones. I suggest the fuel pump for sure, but take enough of the big value fuses that the thief can't simply pull one from another non-essential circuit and plug it in.

Heck, if your owner's manual tells the values or you are patient enough to record them, just pull all the fuses and take them with you. The only wan the thief can get it then is by towing or bringing a ton of fuses with them.

Or they could jam a bunch of paper clips in the slots, so maybe you should hide all of those as well. (heh)

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