I have been debating getting an alarm, installing Lo-Jack, or installing a kill switch. Here is my current reasoning:

I have been reading about a lot of people having their S2000 stolen. It seems like there are two methods to stealing the car, first to use a flat bed, or two to bypass the immobilize (use replacement key or bypass it). I figured if someone has a flat bed my alarm is not going to stop them. If they are smart and determined enough to get a replacement key or know how to bypass the immoblizer they would be smart enough to know how to bypass my alarm. The Lo-Jack will help me retreive the car if it is stolen but why would I want to get a car back that has been all stripped. I am currently figuring that a kill switch is the best bang for my buck right now. It will only cost me the cost of the switch. If I hide it carefully enough and wire it into the fuel pump it will sound like the car is turning over but can't start. The thief will never find it (hopefully) and will eventually give up. The worst I will need to deal with is if they busted a window or lock to get in.

So what do you guys think?

- John

 

Kill switch to the fuel pump is the way to go, Alarms are Sh%t. Every theft recovery car I buy at the auction has had an alarm in it. The other thing I recommend is a GPS tracking system. I have one on my car and it will alert the service provider, my e-mail and my cell if my car moves more than 50 feet from when I parked it. I can also track where it has been or where it is going if it is stolen.
Drew

 

So you're saying car thieves are smart enough to get around the alarm system/immobilizer but too stupid to hot-wire the fuel pump? It 's only one wire, do you really think they'll bring their own ECM and ignition key and never figure out the fuel pump ain't running?

I also don't see much help in the "Alarms are Sh%t" comment, even though Tech2Drew tries to back that up with evidence. Unfortunately his evidence is the classic example of reverse-logic, which is a commonly used but faulty logic statement. It goes like this:

"Every dead person I've seen had, at one time or another, eaten a McDonalds Hamburger"

This does not mean eating McDonalds hamburgers and being dead are linked or have anything to do with each other. Just as saying " Every theft recovery car I buy at the auction has had an alarm in it" does not mean alarms are useless. Without comparing, by make and model, the numbers of cars with alarms stolen to the number of cars without alarms stolen, you don't have much evidence to pronounce that "Alarms are Sh%t". You could just as easily claim that "Immobilizers are Sh%t" because every S2000 ever stolen has had an immobilizer. Unless you look at the numbers that aren't stolen you can't draw any conclusions.

If alarms and immobilizers made no difference insurance companies would not be giving those cars lower rates.

My opinion is that some thieves will be thwarted by an alarm system, an immobilizer system, or even a kill switch. Some car thieves will not. The guy with a flat bed won't care about any of those, and if he pulls the battery cable or disconnects the GPS antenna he won't care about that either. So other than parking somewhere where the car is totally inaccessible you can't stop it from being towed. If you're close by and have a pager alarm, that might help.

You can help with the thieves that intend to drive away in your car. Again I think the pager alarm is useful, especially if like me you are almost always within range. I don't have much faith in alarms that just squawk, mine doesn't even have an outside sounder.

You can also install a kill switch, but if you do I would suggest you install more than one, since the common fuel pump ploy is well known. Here's a few suggestions of things that can keep the car from running:

• fuel injectors
  
• MAP sensor
  
• Throttle position sensor
  
• TDC sensor (controls ignition timing)

If you have a switch to disconnect one or more of these the car will not run. You should wire them away from the ECM so if a thief brings his own ECM he won't notice the break in the wires.

As to where to put the switch or switches, you need to figure that out on your own so it's not common knowledge.

You can also get nasty and install an "obvious" kill switch wired to blow a critical fuse, so if the thieves find the switch and throw it, the car won't start till they check all the fuses, which is probably something they won't expect to have to do.

.

 

damn modifry! The part with the dummy "obvious" kill switch is a good idea, i never even thought of that before.

One more thing, this weekend when i was driving my car, you shift module was making a beep very ramdomly. Any ideas? I have not driven the car for well over a month and a half, but that should not make a difference.

 

Modifry

What I meant was that any professional car theft can bypass an after market alarm. I did not mean that the factory immobilizer/alarm is bad, that is an excellent theft deterrent which most thieves can

 

OK, I can agree with on most of that. But the fuel pump is easy to get to. See PM.