Hi all, I've been lurking here for quite some time, and need a bit of advice.

My truck has been stolen twice in the last 3 years, and someone tried last night. However my neighbor was walking his dogs at the time and scared the guy off.

Anyways, I want to install a kill switch. In my Ranger, I tapped in at the inertia switch, as it went directly to the fuel pump. However in this truck im having a real hard time finding where to splice in, because the wires are so tightly bundled.


Anyone have any input for me? All I want to do is put an on off switch and interrupt the circuit.

any help would be appreciated.

The truck is an 01 1500 318 by the way. Base model, no cruise control.

 

I would get a brake/steering wheel lock. A switch can be found or bypassed. Just my two cents

 

Anything can be broken or bypassed. If someone wants your truck badly enough, they will get it. I think what the original poster is looking for is just a little extra deterrent against opportunists.

That being said, I've been on-and-off half researching this idea for a while with no head way. I'd also be interested in seeing what others have to say about this.

Welcome to DF, BigRedOne.

 

How did they steal it before? I had a '86 cutlass and I used a Armored Collar Around The Steering Column and it was never stolen. I know around my area I see a lot of cars with the Ravelco.

 

Why not just pull the fuel pump relay when you park it at night?

 

Because that's a giant pain in the butt. I'm going to use a headlight dimmer switch placed under the carpet behind the parking brake. No way you could find that without pulling the carpet up.
Anyone have any idea what wire I'm looking for?

It was stolen before with a Jiggler key.

 

the only thing i can think of off the top of my head is interupting the starter signal..there's a wire following the positive battery cable down to the starter if i remember correctly it comes from the pdc it disconnect's close to the pdc via a connector..if you were like me and didnt like tapping into to the factory harness you could go to a bone yard get them to cut you off the connection from a similiar year truck as your's then wire it to a switch..

 

Does that truck have a coil pack or a single coil?? I have run a kill switch to the coils - no power to the coils and it won't start..

I have also used the mercury switch that turns on the underhood light - connected to a relay that sets off the horns when the hood is opened...

I have also wired a relay connected to the dome light and a trip switch - that will set off the horns if the door is opened..

You can also wire a switch into the fuel pump relay circuit to prevent the fuel pump from working... Just would need a couple of jumper wires with male and female spade connectors, an easily hidden micro-switch and the stock relay...

All very cheap anti theft devices - or you could purchase an alarm system...

 

I had a toggle for the power wire to the coil on my old mustang and that did the trick Honestly though, the best suggestion so far is to hit that starter wire. The truck acts as normal, all lights light up, but it just doesn't crank. From the dealer I had a black box under my dash that they installed for lot security and had a plug mounted by the obd II port so I assume when they wanted to kill the truck they would plug in to it and tell the box to kill the connection, and if they wanted to have the truck operational they plugged it in and told it make the connection, and would keep it until they told it not too. Haha, basically an expensive toggle switch. Anyway a year or two ago my truck started acting up. One time it would start... the next it wouldn't even crank. Replaced the starter and it still did it! so I broke out the multimeter and the fsm and traced it back to this box. Aparently something fried in in the box after sitting under the dash for how many years. When the box went, the truck gave the illusion of everything was still functional, lights lit up and everything.. just no crank. Gives the illusion of a low battery. I ripped that box out but they already tapped into the starter wire for me so im good to go if I ever decide to install it. As far as doing it to the coil wire.. I think you might set a cel by doing that if you kill the power and try to crank but who knows.

 

Truck needs a few things to start. Starter motor, fuel pump, and ignition. Killing any one of the three will make sure the truck doesn't start.

Don't want to wire a switch? Ok, put in an inline fuse instead. Mount it somewhere that YOU can find it, but, isn't obvious to your would-be thief. Yank the fuse when you leave the truck, put it back in when you want to drive away.