Apparently many car keys are now being taken from houses using the snap lock method. I wasn't aware of this but many houses now have a Eurolock system especially if UPVC doors. These can be broken into, quietly, within 20-30 seconds as they have an inherent fault.
By chance I replaced my lock a year ago and on checking my receipt, I see I replaced it with the recommended securer version.
Keyless entry cars, of course, are still being stolen by the laptop and scanner methods which you can buy from Ebay for not a lot of money. And the same place sells, for not a lot, a transmitter that you plug into cigarette lighter which blocks GPS and SIMs.
We seem to have gone full circle on security from the Fords and Vauxhalls of the 80s that were easier to open with a screwdriver than the key.
I wonder how long before we start to see cars with Krooklocks, disklocks and HT leads being removed!
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>Apparently many car keys are now being taken from houses using the snap lock method.
The problem with Eurolocks has been known for quite a few years. It's a cheap and simple job to replace them.
>I wonder how long before we start to see cars with Krooklocks, disklocks and HT leads being removed!
Are there any modern cars with HT leads? All my cars for the last 20yrs or so have been coil on plug. I do have a Chevy Z28 with conventional HT leads but the ignition system has been modified so even if you've stolen the coded keys you need to know which other (standard) switch in the cabin needs to be operated before the starter circuit is active.
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Only quite old or very cheap £3 euro locks can be snapped or bumped.
When we had a faulty UPVC door locking mechanism and couldn't lock it I drilled the keyway in about 10 seconds and the lock internals just collapsed and it could be opened. It didn't even make much noise and was almost as easy as fumbling with a bunch of keys.
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When I was burgled a few years back the ins co replaced the front door lock with a really cheap one. First thing I did was replace the replacement with one meeting the standards.
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I remember doing something similar with a 1983 VW Polo.
Any observant thief would have realised there were two rear heated windscreen switches on the dashboard!
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Yes in 1986 I bought a Fiat Uno with square push button switches on the dash either side of the dials for the heated rear window and such like. One was blank, so I bought a front fog light switch, and had my mechnic wire it in as an ignition isolator. It was impossible to start the car without the switch pushed in.
Don't you if could do that today as my knowledge of the more advanced electronics is minimal.
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>> Any observant thief would have realised there were two rear heated windscreen switches on the
>> dashboard!
Didn't need to be a standard switch on dash.
Mrs B's Mum had an ignition cut out in her Mk3 Escort. IIRC it was a well concealed toggle switch under the dash but might have been a fuse style removable link.
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Mine isn't an additional switch. It's one of the standard switches that has to be in a certain position when the ignition key is turned. Absolutely nothing different visually from when it came out of the factory.
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>> I wonder how long before we start to see cars with Krooklocks, disklocks and HT leads being removed!
On some of my earlier cars that didn't have an immobiliser, I just removed the fuel pump fuse from the fuse box and moved it across to the next fuse position that was a blank. Could do it blindfold after the first few attempts. Vauxhall fuse boxes used to be just below the dashboard on the drivers side of the car, so could do it before leaving the car.
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One car I had, the oil pressure warning light disabled the electric fuel pump in the tank (unless the starter motor circuit was live). Presumably to turn off the pump in an accident, to prevent petrol being pumped into the engine bay.
Simple to hide a switch that earthed the oil pressure switch.
Embarrassingly, I forgot to switch it back over once and the petrol in the float chamber got me as far as the car park barrier, then the engine cut out just as I started moving forward. Cue me trying to hold up the barrier, whilst trying to push the car far enough forward to prevent the barrier clobbering the roof of the car!
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Yes,a legal requirement(80's onwards) with electric pumps-many were wired into distributor circuit,no rotation=no pump.
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In the 70's a friend had an old fire engine as a Scout mini bus. There was some irrepairable fault in the ignition which meant you could start in with pretty much any key. He got round it by wiring in an old-style DIN connector and connecting it across two random terminals and making a matching "key" with the other part of the connector with its corresponding terminals.
When you plugged the "key" into the socket the circuit was complete. Mounted in the dash the connector had no obvious association with starting the bus and replacement "keys" were readily knocked up for the pool of drivers as required. Of course it wouldn't have taken a lot of skill to get around this but you'd need to cotton on to what you were faced with and work out how to bypass it. No opportunist would bother.
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Security - Kevin
