Well my truck got stolen tonight while I went to the movies with my GF (Charlies Angels II, definitly not worth losing a truck over).
Anyway when we came out my truck was gone. :mad:
No broken glass, nothing. The doors were locked as well. It was '92 GMC Sonoma. I called around and it wasn’t towed either.
Is it like the movies, can you just jam a screw driver in the ignition, twist and Bob’s your uncle? Or do you have to cut a couple of wires and short somehing out?
I don’t want any details on how it could be done, just how long it would take.
Well, without getting illegally specific, it’s easy to make a lock puller to get in the car in about 5 seconds. Then remove the steering wheel cowling, place a safety pin between the proper two wires (to make an electrical connection without having to hassle with stripping wires), break the steering wheel lock and you are gone in less than 60 seconds. Some cars have the wires well shielded in which case it is easier to pop the hood to pin the wires.
depends if its part of the engine management system (EMS) and an integral part of the car or an aftermarket add on.
one that is part of an EMS you cant bypass but could rechip or reprogram it to another immobilser key, but it takes to long to do it, and is a higher skilled task. Specialist theves have the know how and the gear to do it.
aftermarket add ons are just circut breakers pop the bonnet (hood) find the box and if you know the make of the immobiliser, and wether its normally open or closed its quite easy (10 sec. after finding it)
Here’s another thing. Somecars put little resistors (or a resistance knowen to that car) in the key, without the key in the ignition that car won’t start. UNLESS…If the person has an aftermarket remote starter, they actually have to take a spare key, mount it in a special box and connect it to the remote starter under the dash. So if you saw someone using a remote starter on a car that you knew user this system, you could easily break in, yank out that key, and be on your way. (Or on other remote started cars, you could let the person start the car, go in, pull the wire off thre break peddle and go. OR… You could just knock them on the head and take the keys)
Speaking as someone who has ‘friends’ who have done this - it is very easy to steal a car. I won’t get into specifics but * dauerbach * had it pretty much right.
With regard to immobilisers, the majority of cheap aftermarket immobilisers can be easily by-passed using one wire under the bonnet (hood for our american cousins). And no I’m not telling you which one
As for the protection offered by the resistor, there is a very limited pool of known resistances to have to by-pass. A simple twist knob with the appropriate range of resistances makes short work of that.
Ultimately security is only there to keep the good guys honest. Over in the UK (no cite ) there was a competition to get an Escort Cosworth off the forecourt. Whoever did it got to keep the car. It was the first car fitted with a Vectra (sp?!?) multi-point immobiliser and the competition was there to prove how un-stealable (if there is such a word - and I doubt it) cars fitted with these were. The only team to do it were from British Aerospace and even then they got it only a few yards down the road before the wiring burnt out.
Solution of choice for the criminals at the time? Tow them into the back of a refridgerated truck (so you couldn’t hear the alarm)!!
Like I said - security will only deter the amateurs. If they want it - they’ll take it :rolleyes:
Used to be much, much easier. In the days before cars typically had steering locks and ignition systems were very simple, you could do it under the hood pretty easy without having to mess with the ignition switch at all. Carry a little wire with a couple alligator clips on it to connect the hot side of the battery direct to the coil. Lay a screwdriver across the solenoid terminals to crank the starter[sup]1[/sup]. When I was in school I used to know a guy who had an old beater that he started using this procedure, whether just to cause comment, because he had lost the key, or because the ignition switch no longer worked I don’t know. The car lived in his back yard, and didn’t run that much - mostly as a party novelty, given the starting procedure.
These days, we have solid state ignition, various interlocks in the ignition system, physical things like steering locks, etc. And, as observed, people still manage to defeat them.
[sup]1[/sup] - something to be done only with a screwdriver with a well insulated handle, and attention paid to what you are leaning over to reach the solenoid. In other words, if you try this, and get knocked on your ass, or have an unfortunate interaction with a fan belt, it ain’t my fault.
I’ll try and do this post without going into a step by step on how to steal a car
Getting into the car is fairly easy.
A few seconds work with a slim-Jim (long flexible piece of spring steel) The SJ is used to manipulate the lock rods inside the door. On some cars this can be done in less than 10 seconds, other cars may take as long as 10 minutes. (Guess which cars wind up on the 10 most stolen lists every year)
OK now you are inside no what?
You need to defeat the ignition lock so tha the steering wheel will turn. Numerous legal automotive tools can do this within about 30 sconds to a minute.
Once the lock is out of the way if there is no immobilizer system, turn the electrical portion of the lock and drive away.
What if there is an immobilizer?
Well there are two types. Fixed and random
A fixed system uses one of several (12 possibles is what I have heard on one car) size resistors, hit the right resistor and the car starts.
The other type is more complex. There is an small electrical circuit in the key that is excited by an electrical field around the key. The circuit inside the key modifies the electrical field and this is detected by the body computer that then exchanges passwords with the engine management system. If all the passwords agree, the car starts. There are hundreds of possibles circuits combinations and the system won’t recognise a key that has not been programmed into the system via a diagnostic computer at the workshop.
I could give you a key cut to my car, and if it had not been programmed, all you would be able to do is unlock the car. Putting the key in the ignition would result in the message “Start prevented try again” in the message center.
All and all cars are harder to steal now then back in the days. For instance I could steal Johnny LA’s MGB with a nickel. That’s it just a nickel, and I’m outta here.
Promise Johnny, I have no designs on your ride, I’ve got one like it.
another mpsims.
A friend of mine moved to New Orleans, with his beloved 69 ? Chevelle.
Came home from go find skid marks and the tire tracks of a truck/trailer. They just pulled up into his yard, hooked up a winch, and off it went.
Talk about brazen.
The question was how long would it take. I think this has been answered. Some of the responses are giving out how-to information, and we don’t allow that.
:mad: 
