Kill switch for my 2008 VW

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I should see how well my car steers without the power steering. I've only tried it while stationary. It's not too heavy.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I've seen others mention disabling the power steering. Am I wrong, or is your steering box and/or rack & pinion not properly lubricated if you remove the power steering belt?

-Jay

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Disabling the power steering all the time is an interesting thought (assuming it wasn't too difficult). Wonder if it would save much fuel?

Be a good workout, perhaps.

[Jay2TheRescue]

On vehicles like Rusty and The Big White Hooptie all that's required is to remove the belt for the power steering. I imagine on some cars you may be able to buy a slightly shorter serpentine belt and skip the PS pulley I wouldn't try it in a large vehicle though.

-Jay

[aalb1]

Do you have any experience with de-pinning wiring harnesses? On Hondas you can de-pin almost any wire using the smallest micro-flathead screwdriver. I think you should be able to buy one of those pins from the parts counter at a VW dealership.

Unbolt the fuse box and take a 360 degree view of how the wires run in and out of there.

[theholycow]

That's a good idea. I've reversibly de-pinned some things before. I haven't tried it on anything made by VW but it might be easy.

I actually figured out how I'm going to do it and I keep forgetting to post...though I might modify it with de-pinning.

1. Spade connectors to plug into the fuse block.
2. Inline fuse holder.
3. Regular automotive cube relay, which I'm pretty sure has a normally-closed side.
4. Wire to momentary switch inside the car.
5. (This is the cool part) Momentary switch mounted to the stick shift, under the knob, INSIDE the boot! It will be hidden, totally invisible, and I'll just press through the boot to operate it.

I have all the parts already. I think it will work, and I think I'll be able to use it to kill the VW's annoying rev hang too (just bump the button for a moment during my shift, that should cancel rev hang). Can the common 1" cube relay often used for remote starters handle 20 amps?

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Originally Posted by theholycow

5. (This is the cool part) Momentary switch mounted to the stick shift, under the knob, INSIDE the boot! It will be hidden, totally invisible, and I'll just press through the boot to operate it.

Very NICE. (sound of applause)

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Can the common 1" cube relay often used for remote starters handle 20 amps?

Well, Radio Shack has one that can handle 30A. That's promising. Only SPST, but it's just a point of comparison.

[aalb1]

Originally Posted by theholycow

5. (This is the cool part) Momentary switch mounted to the stick shift, under the knob, INSIDE the boot! It will be hidden, totally invisible, and I'll just press through the boot to operate it.

Nice! This reminds me of my Hot Rod Honda Days when I was paranoid with Honda theft. I had a Radio shack momentary switch and relay hooked up to the gas pump. The switch was attached to a bracket on the floor very close to the bottom of the shifter. It was completely hidden by the shift boot. The only way you could hit the switch was to put the car in fourth gear as this created enough slack in the shift boot where you can push the switch through boot. If the shifter was in any other gear, the boot would not have enough slack in the right area to push the switch.

I'm so glad I grew out of that phase now and no longer have to be paranoid about theft. There's really nothing going on with my car worth stealing. When I go to Philly I leave my doors unlocked b/c if someone wants to jack something from my car I'd rather have them open up the door and take it than break the window.

[theholycow]

Does leaving the doors unlocked affect how your insurance company will treat you if something gets stolen?

I thought of another way to use a kill switch: Forced DFCO. If you've ever actually hooked a meter to your fuel injectors, you know that under a lot of circumstance DFCO does NOT happen when it could work well. I could put one on my automatic and force DFCO there, I bet I'll save a bunch of gas since trying to DFCO in that thing is almost worthless (it takes 8 seconds before DFCO will kick in).