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[Kate]

My flatmate has an old convertible Golf and she is worried about it being stolen. According to our residents association there have been a few cars stolen lately. She asked me what was the best way to help prevent this happening but I'm not sure to be honest.

My dad used to use a switch hooked up to the coil I think but I'm not sure how this would work?

I'm not sure about steering locks either.

Any ideas?

[kevinp58]

The coil switch works by cutting the low side of the coil prefferably the + you the route the wires through the bulkhead into the car somewhere out of sight under the dash in the floorwell you then join the 2 wires together via a toggle switch or a key switch and hey presto an immobilised car. When you cut the wire make sure to do it where it can't be seen  that way nobody knows about it. 

Get a good quality steering lock from any spares shop. 

[Entwood]

Friend of mine has an oldish soft top on which there is virtually no security "built in", and the ignition can be turned with a 1p piece ... so to deter the "borrowers" he uses a large caravan type wheel clamp, he can fit and remove it very easily and it is very robust and obvious ..

This sort of thing, many others available ..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAVY-DUTY-FULL-FACE-SECURITY-WHEEL-CLAMP-13-15-CAR-VAN-CARAVAN-TRAILER-/110999816138?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Safety_Security&hash=item19d81ac7ca

[Kate]

The coil switch works by cutting the low side of the coil prefferably the + you the route the wires through the bulkhead into the car somewhere out of sight under the dash in the floorwell you then join the 2 wires together via a toggle switch or a key switch and hey presto an immobilised car. When you cut the wire make sure to do it where it can't be seen  that way nobody knows about it. 

Get a good quality steering lock from any spares shop. 

Thanks. I'll ask her if she wants me to do that.

[VXL V6]

My Dad told me that when he did his National Service that all vehicles had to be disabled when you left them and the usual method was to remove the rotor cap on the distributor.

Dad was shouted at by the Seargent 'Corpral White, explain why you haven't disabled your vehicle' to which his reply was 'I have sir' and proceeded to remove the gearstick from up his sleeve which he had discovered would simply unscrew from the gearbox!

[Andy B]

.... and proceeded to remove the gearstick from up his sleeve which he had discovered would simply unscrew from the gearbox!

SWMBO did that to my Cortina's gear stick over 30 yrs ago when she was learning to drive .............. she's retained her heavy handedness to this day! 

[Seth]

Both of our vehicles are protected by one of these:

http://www.festive-lights.com/disklok/?gclid=CKqwu4fKhLYCFUnMtAodIk4Ahw

 

[Kate]

Both of our vehicles are protected by one of these:

http://www.festive-lights.com/disklok/?gclid=CKqwu4fKhLYCFUnMtAodIk4Ahw

 

That looks excellent.

 Anyone else use one of these?

[Kate]

My Dad told me that when he did his National Service that all vehicles had to be disabled when you left them and the usual method was to remove the rotor cap on the distributor.

Dad was shouted at by the Seargent 'Corpral White, explain why you haven't disabled your vehicle' to which his reply was 'I have sir' and proceeded to remove the gearstick from up his sleeve which he had discovered would simply unscrew from the gearbox!

I don't think she would want to do that. She would never get the car started again!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Forget the steering wheel locks.

I know a pretty effecient car thief and there are none that take him more than 5-10 seconds to remove....plus he uses the bars on them to break the steering lock first so waste of time.

Electronic immobilisation of some form is a much better solution

[dbug]

Yep the external steering wheel lock - 10 secs max to break/remove.

On older cars no electronics - we used to wire low tension side of coil or distributor through a hidden switch to earth.

Remember "isolating" an old Astra by removing dis cap along with leads - still got nicked - when we got it back we had a spare dis cap and leads!!  Some b*gger was watching - which helped us "sort" the culprit out.  When he was upended got £60 out of his pockets to pay for locks etc, and no doubt his bruises healed in time

[Kate]

Forget the steering wheel locks.

I know a pretty effecient car thief and there are none that take him more than 5-10 seconds to remove....plus he uses the bars on them to break the steering lock first so waste of time.

Electronic immobilisation of some form is a much better solution

Is the disklok that easy to remove?

[Nick W]

.... and proceeded to remove the gearstick from up his sleeve which he had discovered would simply unscrew from the gearbox!

SWMBO did that to my Cortina's gear stick over 30 yrs ago when she was learning to drive .............. she's retained her heavy handedness to this day! 

I doubt that anyone who has driven a Cortina/Capri/Escort with the 4 speed box hasn't pulled the gear lever out of the box when changing gear enthusiastically. The nylon screw-in collar is the culprit. Aftermarket metal ones are much better!

[Kate]

Her alarm keeps going off too she said so she leaves it unlocked and unarmed.

She said it's an Autowatch model.

Any ideas why?

[Andy B]

.... The nylon screw-in collar is the culprit.

That was the culprit

metal ones are much better!

I'll bear that in mind if I ever buy another Cortina