Removing the Fuel Relay

[Utah Dually]

Lots of guys are getting their race car rigs stolen. There seems to be a rash of them going on. I have to park my rig at motels when traveling and was wondering if pulling the fuel relay would be a good thief deterrent? 

 

Would it screw up anything doing it several times a year? Or does anyone have any other good easy anti thief ideas?

[Mopar1973Man]

Yes. You can but what go is it? Pull the horn relay and plug it in and will start again. What I suggest is placing a kill switch in the cab that can be reach from the drivers sitting position without alerting anyone that there is a kill switch in the vehicle. You don't want to be bending way down or un-naturally digging under the dash. I would suggest placing it like under the break release handle where its natural to release your brakes but flick a switch at the same time. Edge of the driver seat etc.

 

As for wiring the kill switch...

 

Notice on the fuel pump relay in the upper right corner there is a ground lead (Black pin 85) which comes from the fuel pump relay. Now you can CUT this wire and then run the wire into the cab to a SPST toggle switch that is wired to ground. When the switch is ON the truck will start and run. When the switch is off then the truck is disabled and the P1689 code will be set if anyone tries. Being its a single ground wire you can tuck it back into the loom for the most part and hide it for most of the run back into the truck and no one will know.

 

Another wild trigger I heard about is the cigarette lighter. Unplug the wires to the cigarette light socket and wire your ground and fuel pump ground lead to it. As long as the cigarette light is pushed in the truck will run. Take the cigarette light with you and she is dead as a mackerel.

[Utah Dually]

Very nice.... Thank you so much for the suggestions. I think I will do the ground wire to the fuel relay idea. You are the man...

[joecool911]

What about an alarm system?

[MnTom]

An easy way to keep someone from starting your truck is to put a switch in (like Moparman said) and wire it to the clutch safety switch. You could even do this with an auto since the wires are in the same place even though there is no clutch pedal. Shut the switch off and the starter won't do anything.

[Mopar1973Man]

An easy way to keep someone from starting your truck is to put a switch in (like Moparman said) and wire it to the clutch safety switch. You could even do this with an auto since the wires are in the same place even though there is no clutch pedal. Shut the switch off and the starter won't do anything.

 

MnTom is right... Another awesome suggestion.

 

[Utah Dually]

Thanks again guys. I do like the clutch safety switch idea. I do have an alarm, but there has been a rash of race car/tow rig thefts around the country lately even when the rigs and trailers had alarms and GPS locators. Some how the SOB's know how to get around alarms. Not to mention that car alarms have become the urban crickets. No one pays any attention to them anymore. If an alarm is going off in a motel parking lot, nobody cares. 

 

If they want the rig, they are going to get it. I am just trying to make it as hard as I can. I am just trying to make it hard for the amateur and perhaps slow down the professional long enough for me and Mr. Wesson to show up. 

[joecool911]

On the opposite side of the equation, how hard would it be to put a timer on the lift pump to run for a while post engine shutdown? To cool the VP?

On vehicles that have aftermarket pumps there is a relay added to the wiring to the frame mounted pump. Should be able to tap a line anywhere along the run to do a disconnect switch.

[mopartechnician]

Put the t-case in neutral, that always fools me even when i do it and totally forget i put it there i like the clutch pedal switch

[Mopar1973Man]

On the opposite side of the equation, how hard would it be to put a timer on the lift pump to run for a while post engine shutdown? To cool the VP?

On vehicles that have aftermarket pumps there is a relay added to the wiring to the frame mounted pump. Should be able to tap a line anywhere along the run to do a disconnect switch.

 

Remember these trucks will start and run without a lift pump. Even with zero fuel pressure the vane pump in the VP44 is just enough to keep the engine going. Might not run fast but it will still drive on city streets. So this method doesn't work very well. Best to make the truck not start at all by disabling the starter solenoid or the VP44 power supply.