Kill Switches for security.

[white90crxhf]

I do not care if my car is broken into as there is nothing in it, no stereo, no speakers, no speaker holders, only thing are books for college and an air pump. I just do not want them to take my car i don't want to buy another one and finding a stock crx around here is hard if not impossible.

Can i make a kill switch for the starter or is the starter too strong? excuse my ignorance i know nothing about the electrical systems.

I've read about the fuel pump kill switch, which i can easily do.
The distributor ignition kill switch?? i assume i'll be splicing into wires inside the cabin? Any other switches i could make? i'd like to make some for the headlights so they don't come on, right now i just take out the fuses .

[skewbe]

Solenoid,injectors,computer,pump,crank signal,coil, lots of things can be disabled and can slow down/stop a potential thief.

You can hide/camoflage "kill" switches, or combinations of kill switches all day. As long as the switch and associated wiring blend in (and the thief doesn't have prior knowledge) it will likely go un diagnosed. Of course there's always the lucky guess so no guarantees.

[northboundtrain]

The starter operates on a relay. most relays are on the starter itself, though some are remote. If you get a wiring schematic, it will show/tell you where the relay is. Power goes from the ignition to the relay which then completes the circuit directly from the battery to the starter. So you should put a switch between the ignition and the relay, not on the heavy cable going from the battery to the starter. A determined thief could bypass the switch, but it will take him time to trouble shoot so it would be an excellent deterent as long as the switch is well hidden.

[thisisntjared]

there is a starter relay that operates off the clutch in civics and it is usually under the driverside dash, if you follow the clutch switch wire back you should eventually run into the relay that will have 2 larger wires (probably white with a black stripe) if you were to put a switch on the clutch switch wire then it would be the same as trying to start the car without the clutch pedal pressed.

one of my current 3 anti theft measures is removing the starter relay and taking it with me every time i park the car.

[white90crxhf]

Originally Posted by northboundtrain

The starter operates on a relay. most relays are on the starter itself, though some are remote. If you get a wiring schematic, it will show/tell you where the relay is. Power goes from the ignition to the relay which then completes the circuit directly from the battery to the starter. So you should put a switch between the ignition and the relay, not on the heavy cable going from the battery to the starter. A determined thief could bypass the switch, but it will take him time to trouble shoot so it would be an excellent deterent as long as the switch is well hidden.

i do have an electrical schematic, i bought the factory service manual, i guess i'll have to study it. When i had a stereo the line from the battery to the amps had a fuse and the amp it self had a fuse, should i add fuses to the kill switch lines or are they not needed for switches?

[red91sit]

I would go with a fuel pump cut relay, you can easily bump start a car (as we all know) but you can't get too far with out gas.

[thisisntjared]

i agree that having the starter cut is not enough, but there is no single most thing that will stop your car from getting stolen. multiple switches is best.

no fuses are needed on the lines for kill switches. there is nothing there that you need to worry about protecting. keep studying the manual. follow all the wires for the fuel pump. its best to install a few switches all the way from the ecu to the fuel pump.

[Compaq888]

I got an alarm, battery backup, hidden siren, hidden kill switch, autolock. I wouldn't mind getting a lo jack and gps tracking too. It's a civic. Nothing I can do.

[thisisntjared]

did you re-run the hood latch cable? if you did not then all of that is useless.

[Gary Palmer]

Their are several places you could install kill switch's which would make it pretty much a difficult, at best task, to rip off your car.

First, when you hold the clutch down their is a switch that detects that you have the clutch pedal all the way down, before the starter will engage. This swithc has two wires, one from the ignition, one to the starter solenoid, which is located on the top of the starter. You can put a switch, in series with either side, to add a switch to enable or disable the starter. You could put two switchs, one on each wire, as well.

Second, you can wire a switch to the wire which enables the infamous fuel relay. This switch would disable the fuel pump and the injectors from getting any power, because the relay that provides power to the fuel pump is not enabled. This would allow somebody to jump the starter all day long and the car is not going to start or stay running, even if they used ether or something in the intake, to provide temporary fuel.

You could also wire a couple of different switch's in different locations, in series, so that more than one switch needs to be toggled, the right way.

Their are two downsides to doing these. First of all, every time the car won't start or something, then you end up wondering if you switched something wrong, or if a wire came loose, or what??? Second, if you have multiple switchs you have to remember or write down somewhere, what the settings are, so that if you go for some period of time, without using the car, you can come back, restart it and not play flip that switch, trying to find the right combination.

You do not need to run a fuse to either of these switch's. It would not hurt anything, to put a capacitor across the two switch wires, which will keep the switch contacts from burning out, if the switchs are toggled, while power is on. However, it's not completely essential, because both of these locations are generally either on or off, when your starting or running the car.

I have a manual for an 89 Wagovan, which is very similar to your car, but I don't know if the wiring is identical, or not. I probably won't be able to do anything on it until next week, but I can look and probably give you the wiring if you want to go ahead.

One suggestion I would make is to only put in one switch at a time, then you can test your work and have some idea of what you might have done to yourself, if something doesn't work.