Alternative anti theft ideas

[BenWat]

Morning all,

Have just bought myself a 2007 RS4 Avant, black, 20k miles and has been breathed on by MRC, but I need to park on the streets of London.

My question is whether anyone has fitted some sort of additional anti theft device, ideally via a hidden switch in the cabin? In my old lotus I had a hard cut out switch, but that disabled the alarm and immobiliser.

Has anyone come up with any bright ideas? Something that cuts the fuel / ignition maybe?

I'm assuming anyone that wants to steal the car will take the keys, and unless you go for a serious tracker a professional thief can get around them.....

Cheers

Ben

[dadamsv8]

I think the factory anti-theft device is pretty robust and makes these cars very difficult to steal without the keys, forthe 'with key' scenario I have a tracker installed

I'm sure others will come on line with their views but end of the day all we can do is deter, if they really want the car they will get it. the only real deterent will be a big angry dog left in the car

[BenWat]

... when I spoke to my usual garage they helpfully suggested a leaving a live cougar on the back seat, sadly cougars are on back order : )

[dadamsv8]

LOL

[Boggle73]

LOL.

My local remapper was able to provide a flash port.

You just plug into serial port and press kill. Cuts fuel pump, even if the their has keys. Problem is that you don't really need a remap, so your going to pay about £450 just for this privilege. Does make it impossible to start the car though.

I had it done on a 57 plate S3, the difference was outstanding. Still don't make up for the V8 rumble though.

[Pie]

Have never thought too much about the RS4 - as already been said the standard alarm and immobiliser are both pretty robust.

My old Escort Cossie I had the Snap-off steering wheel hub and a Momo wheel but probably not a realsitic option on the Audi.
If I ever went to visit friends in Glasgow or Edinburgh and felt the alarm / immobiliser wasn't sufficient I'd either:

Disconnect and remove the ECU which was behind an easy access panel in the passenger footwell (Car does not start period)
Disconnect the HT lead either at Coil side or distributor side and hide the tail (Car turns over continuously but does not start)
Disconnect water sensor or air sensor plug and hide (Either disconnected would allow the car to turn over but not start)
Disconnect the throttle position sensor - car would start but as soon as the throttle pedal is pressed, car stalls.

Have never tinkered with any of the multiplugs to find the critical ones on the Audi yet but I suspect this may throw up all sorts of error messages.

[adsgreen]

The standard immobiliser will pretty much do everything that you want and is generally difficult to get around.
It's not impossible granted but for the average scrote its good enough.
However like most things it's good to assume the thief has access to the keys (either by pick pocket or breaking into house).
In this case the standard gear isn't worth anything.

Now what you need to ask yourself is do you
a) want a deterrent that stops the car being nicked in the first place
b) you get the car back pretty quickly should it get nicked.

For options A, To me, however crappy they look you can't really beat the old fashioned steering/gearshift locks but they seem to have fallen out of fashion lately.
I do know of one person who has their own wheel clamp in the boot and sometimes sticks that on - added bonus is that he says he's never had a parking ticket with it
My Lotus has a removeable steering wheel which definately is a good option but with airbags, controls and such it's not a practical option on the RS4.

Heh - they'd be a good market if you could make the gearstick have a quick release mechanism. Park car, leave in gear and remove stick... try nicking that!

However if you are even remotely leccy savvy then a very good alternative is a hidden switch tapped into the clutch pedal sensor. You need to have the clutch depressed to start the car so if you have a bypass/cutout on this circuit then there's no way the car will start. I don't know if you can bump start the car with the sensor locked out but it's not something I'd imagine most people would try. It also has the advantage of being very unlikely to fail and if it did it could be easily bypassed - it relies on it not being easy to find.
Edit: Just checked the wiring diagram and looks very easy. One Grey/White wire from the controller block to the switch and then a brown wire to the vehicle earth. Switch is open when clutch up and closes as you press the pedal. Thus installed a seperate switch in series anywhere in this circuit would have the desired effect. Could run it pretty much anyehere, but a good place would be under the front cigarette ash tray in the centre console for example.

For B a tracker is a good option but just be aware they have zero deterrent factor.

[BenWat]

Thanks all, appreciate the ideas.

Aim is to stop the car being nicked if the keys are stolen, by way of a simple, mechanical cut out switch (attached to what I don't know). It's going to be parked on a London Street, outside or at least nearish the house I live in (especially as have a baby due soon) so wouldn't take a thief long to work out where I live sadly. My old lotus had the removable steering wheel and hard battery cut out which was great but not practical / possible on the RS4

Ads, I'm liking the clutch idea, will get Hoffmans to look into it, they can be pretty ingenious, trust a SELOCer to come up with the answer : )

[andre3k]

Keys stolen from where? If from your house, the safest option I'd say is a tracker; at least the thieves have upped and gone and there's no chance of them coming back in when the car refuses to start.

[BenWat]

I'm working on the assumption they won't come back into the house and ask why the cars not started and just b#gger off, if they did I'd tell them how to start or hit them with something heavy given the opportunity.

To be honest if the car is stolen and driven off not sure I'd want it back so a tracker not high on my list - all IMHO.

There are obviously very different types of thief - professionals / opportunists / joy riders, all of them utter scum, and I hope it's never an issue. I just like the idea of a unique and simple stealth 'switch'.

[MB2]

Maybe something like this would be a cheap compromise ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/American-Muscle-C ... 95fdb348b6

[Steve_C]

I like the devices which allow the car to be started and driven away but will cut the fuel/electrics half a mile down the road. Can't remember what they were called but there was a discussion on here a couple of months ago (anti hi-jack device).

The thinking is that the thieves will not bother to come back to your house (as you'll have called 999 by then) and you can walk down the road and pick your car up 10 mins later.

[dominic1]

thats the sort of thing i have , car starts runs for 30 secs you get a bleep of the horn only very light, you would not hear it if you were nicking the car, after another 30 secs the same then after 30 secs more car cuts out with the alarm going of and then tracker ring me to go and get the car, hope is that if you have my keys you are far enough away not to come back to ask me !!!!!!!!!!! "how do i stop your f**kng alrm going off and why wont it start"


would much rather just have the cougar on the back seat but seeing as they are out of stock will have to do with what i have

[PetrolDave]

The standard immobiliser will pretty much do everything that you want and is generally difficult to get around.

So difficult in fact that tea leaves find it easier to break into the owners house and nick the keys than work round the immobiliser.

[adsgreen]

I always assume theives have acces to keys and things when evaluating security.
I doubt very much that any theif would return back to a house to enquire as to why the car isn't starting - the whole plan revolves around surprise and the time it takes to get to the car, get in and try to start followed by a confused few seconds is more than enough time for the owner to tool up and get on the phone to the police and they know it.

I wouldn't touch the battery as it'd mean losing setting and such like but also would void your insurance for theft as they would require the alarm to be operational.

But aside from the clutch switch you could also wire into the starter button too