suspendedHatch
Legalize Illegal Aliens
Yes.
Security Main Relay Kill Switch
- Thread starter suspendedHatch
- Start date
suspendedHatch
Legalize Illegal Aliens
Someone PM'd me a question about using a ghost switch; in this case, the cruise control button. It takes some work on my part looking up the wiring diagrams, typing it up, etc so I'm going to answer it here for everyone to see.
First of all, the main Cruise Control activation switch is a good choice. Let's just be clear that I'm talking about the round cruise control button to the left of the steering wheel, NOT the steering wheel controls. The reason this is a better choice than something like the AC or radio is because it uses true ignition power while the other switches use accessory power and will have to be rewired to ignition power. Accessory power drops out while cranking. Ignition power tuns one when the key is all the way on and stays on during cranking.
The bad thing about using a ghost switch is that it requires a relay which is a bit more complicated.
Instructions
The cruise control button harness has 5 wires. We will only be using the light green wire. This wire has 12 volts when the switch is on and the key is on, and has no power otherwise. You can and should verify this with a voltmeter.
Connect an 18 gauge stranded wire to this wire. This connection needs to be extremely reliable. Do not be lazy. Laziness is for gauge cluster lights and janky euro turn signals and fog lights from ebay. It's not appropriate here. I will give you two options for connecting wires that I consider acceptable.
Butt Connect
Requires Channel Lock 909 crimpers which you can get at Home Depot. Similar looking crimpers are not acceptable. These are not expensive, somewhere around $20. These are unique in that they have leverage, no play, and a specialized shape they crimp with. Other crimpers don't consistently produce reliable and perfect crimps.
Wire strippers. I'm not picky here. You can get some cheap Sears strippers, as long as it can do 18 gauge you're fine. I often use my crimpers or cutters to strip.
18 gauge butt connector. Try to find a brand that has flexible insulation. If the insulation cracks when you crimp, then there isn't any point to having insulation at all. You can even find non-insulated butt connectors and use heat shrink or electric tape.
Cut the light green wire, strip each end. Strip your connecting wire. Butt connect one side of the green wire, twist your wire and the other end of the green wire together and butt connect them together in the remaining end of the connector. Then follow the instructions on wiring the relay.
Solder
Requires a 100-200 watt soldering "gun". Any cheap gun will work. Sears has a cheap Craftsman which is rebadged from some other company. I've been using it for many years for long hours and it has never failed me. About $20. DO NOT USE the pencil style, lower wattage, and definitely not the "cold solder" pieces of battery-powered crap. "Cold Solder" by definition says it all.
Don't use solder that's too thick. On the other hand, if it's too thin it will just seem to burn off of a hot iron. .010 or close to that works good.
Wire strippers. I'm not picky here. You can get some cheap Sears strippers, as long as it can do 18 gauge you're fine. I often use my crimpers or cutters to strip.
More detailed instructions on connecting wires can be found here: http://www.civic-eg.com/causeforalarm/basics/index.php#How_to_Crimp
Wire the Relay
Requires relay, 18 gauge female quick disconnect aka speaker connectors.
Get a automotive SPST relay. They're in the range of 20A. SPDT works also, you'll just ignore the 87a.
87 goes to the black wire or wires (sometimes there's two on the same pin) from the main relay.
30 goes to chassis ground.
86 also goes to chassis ground and can be connected to the wire on 30.
85 goes to the light green on the cruise control main switch.
Test operation. Mount and hide the relay. Test operation again.
First of all, the main Cruise Control activation switch is a good choice. Let's just be clear that I'm talking about the round cruise control button to the left of the steering wheel, NOT the steering wheel controls. The reason this is a better choice than something like the AC or radio is because it uses true ignition power while the other switches use accessory power and will have to be rewired to ignition power. Accessory power drops out while cranking. Ignition power tuns one when the key is all the way on and stays on during cranking.
The bad thing about using a ghost switch is that it requires a relay which is a bit more complicated.
Instructions
The cruise control button harness has 5 wires. We will only be using the light green wire. This wire has 12 volts when the switch is on and the key is on, and has no power otherwise. You can and should verify this with a voltmeter.
Connect an 18 gauge stranded wire to this wire. This connection needs to be extremely reliable. Do not be lazy. Laziness is for gauge cluster lights and janky euro turn signals and fog lights from ebay. It's not appropriate here. I will give you two options for connecting wires that I consider acceptable.
Butt Connect
Requires Channel Lock 909 crimpers which you can get at Home Depot. Similar looking crimpers are not acceptable. These are not expensive, somewhere around $20. These are unique in that they have leverage, no play, and a specialized shape they crimp with. Other crimpers don't consistently produce reliable and perfect crimps.
Wire strippers. I'm not picky here. You can get some cheap Sears strippers, as long as it can do 18 gauge you're fine. I often use my crimpers or cutters to strip.
18 gauge butt connector. Try to find a brand that has flexible insulation. If the insulation cracks when you crimp, then there isn't any point to having insulation at all. You can even find non-insulated butt connectors and use heat shrink or electric tape.
Cut the light green wire, strip each end. Strip your connecting wire. Butt connect one side of the green wire, twist your wire and the other end of the green wire together and butt connect them together in the remaining end of the connector. Then follow the instructions on wiring the relay.
Solder
Requires a 100-200 watt soldering "gun". Any cheap gun will work. Sears has a cheap Craftsman which is rebadged from some other company. I've been using it for many years for long hours and it has never failed me. About $20. DO NOT USE the pencil style, lower wattage, and definitely not the "cold solder" pieces of battery-powered crap. "Cold Solder" by definition says it all.
Don't use solder that's too thick. On the other hand, if it's too thin it will just seem to burn off of a hot iron. .010 or close to that works good.
Wire strippers. I'm not picky here. You can get some cheap Sears strippers, as long as it can do 18 gauge you're fine. I often use my crimpers or cutters to strip.
More detailed instructions on connecting wires can be found here: http://www.civic-eg.com/causeforalarm/basics/index.php#How_to_Crimp
Wire the Relay
Requires relay, 18 gauge female quick disconnect aka speaker connectors.
Get a automotive SPST relay. They're in the range of 20A. SPDT works also, you'll just ignore the 87a.
87 goes to the black wire or wires (sometimes there's two on the same pin) from the main relay.
30 goes to chassis ground.
86 also goes to chassis ground and can be connected to the wire on 30.
85 goes to the light green on the cruise control main switch.
Test operation. Mount and hide the relay. Test operation again.
Last edited:
Samurai_Blue
Yolo Whippin'
thanks man!
onegrasmere
New Member
Spoon E.C.U.
Introduction
The problem with a fuel pump kill switch is that it's very easy to bypass and run battery power directly to the fuel pump. It's easy to determine when the fuel pump isn't powered up because with the engine off you can actually hear it. Fuel pump kills are very common and widely known in part because of my write-ups several years ago but also because too many people rely solely on a cheap switch as their only security. As a result, fuel pump kills are no longer a reliable way to prevent your car from being stolen.
The idea of killing the PGM-FI relay isn't new. FCM has been describing just how to do this across many online forums for many years. However, FCM doesn't do pictorial write-ups so this has never really caught on.
The PGM-FI Main Relay controls the Fuel Injectors, the Fuel Pump, the O2 sensor, the Alternator, and the Vehicle Speed Sensor. From a thief's perspective, it's much harder to diagnose and bypass the fuel injector portion of the kill. They're going to waste too much time bypassing the fuel pump to no avail.
Tools and Parts
10mm Socket or Wrench
Flat Blade Screwdriver
Crimpers
Wire Strippers
Razor Knife
Drill
Angle Driver
Switch 1A or greater
18 gauge stranded wire
Ring Terminal
Butt Connector
Metal Tapping Screws
How To Kill the PGM-FI Main Relay
The Main Relay has a black, low current ground wire. If you put your switch on this one wire, you can kill the entire relay. Some of the Civic's have two wires and you will need to cut both.
This is optional but to keep the wiring stock and make this process easily reversible, I went to the junkyard and cut a main relay harness. I then de-pinned the black wire to use for my kill switch so I could tuck my original black wire away.
This is your main relay and is exactly the same for all 94-01 Integras and 92-95 Civics and Del Sols. You can remove the 10mm bolt and unplug the harness using a flat blade screwdriver.
Push the clips in on each side.
Pry the white clip up but don't completely remove it. You just need to free the black wire.
There's a little tab inside that you'll need to flatten down with a straight pick. Press on it while pulling on the wire.
Wire the Switch
Once you remove the stock wire you can tuck it into the factory loom. Pin your junkyard wire and extend it to your switch. If you're not using a junkyard wire then cut your factory wire and extend the relay side to your switch. Once you've decided where to mount your switch, you ground the switch's other pin using a ring terminal and a metal tapping screw or a factory bolt.
If you need a wiring diagram for a two pin switch then you have no business performing this mod. In fact, I don't know how you even feed yourself.
I wont give you an example of where to mount the switch because in the past I have found that many people are sheep and will imitate it exactly.
Relocate Main Relay
To bypass your kill switch someone only needs to ground the main relay. So you'll need to hide it. You can extend all the wires and move it somewhere but for this write-up I'm just moving it up as high in the dash as it will reach.
You need to cut the tape to separate the main relay harness from the rest of the wires in the loom.
Then I bent this tab so that the bracket would be flat.
I removed the knee bolster so I can access this spot where I re-mounted the main relay. A thief can still get to it here but if you have an alarm they shouldn't be spending enough time under the dash to find it.
This is what it looks like relocated. After you put the knee bolster and dash panel back on it's invisible when looking up from below.
Make it Work with Remote Start
If you have remote start then you'll want to wire your negative status output wire (22 gauge blue/white on DEI alarms) to the black wire before the switch.
Feedback
If you find this How-To useful please post a quick reply so I can see if there's enough interest to do future write-ups.
onegrasmere
New Member
Hi
I have a U.K. Spec Integra type R DC2. I recently fitted a Spoon E.C.U. and the car would turn over but would not start.
I returned the unit to the supplier who could not find anything wrong with the unit. Our cars have a chipped key and I was wondering if that may have been the problem I also have a Clifford Concept 500 alarm fitted would you think that the chipped key or the Alarm may have been the problem. If it is the key do you think I could use your procedure to make the E.C.U work?
John (U.K.)
I have a U.K. Spec Integra type R DC2. I recently fitted a Spoon E.C.U. and the car would turn over but would not start.
I returned the unit to the supplier who could not find anything wrong with the unit. Our cars have a chipped key and I was wondering if that may have been the problem I also have a Clifford Concept 500 alarm fitted would you think that the chipped key or the Alarm may have been the problem. If it is the key do you think I could use your procedure to make the E.C.U work?
John (U.K.)
nimf235
New Member
hey i think mine is done this way, i mean it seems like it, but i bought it from a friend and it already had the killswitch, lift motion sensor, alarm on it... i think he bought it that way too.... anyway, i can tell theres something going on under my dash because if you move the wires a little the alarm cuts on or off, which activates the switch and whatnot, so for now i wanted to return it to stock just to make sure that wasnt the problem (my car turns on but stalls out shortly thereafter) so i get down there and theres a black ground wire disconnected, theres a blue groundwire attatched to the actual switch, theres 2 skinny wires (the kind that go in the main relay) loose just kinda dangling there. so my question is... exactly what would i do to reverse the alarm/ killswitch? i need help, its been 2 days n i miss my car already
g_steelo99
New Member
wanting to do this but can't see the pics no more. was wondering if you can upload some again? thanks
suspendedHatch
Legalize Illegal Aliens
:thumbs up
isnotfamous
New Member
I came across this about 4 months ago after my 95 ls got broken into. They took my Radio, Speakers, BWR Shift Knob, my backpack that had my SLR Camera, and my Macbook. Pissed off about this I looked around for "added" sercurity and found this. I tried it and it worked so i kept it then 2 nights ago at about 3 30 in the morning theres a knock on my back door, along with flash blue and red lights in my back lane and 3 cops at my door asking about my car. They caught someone who broke into it and told the officer that he wanted to steal the car, But didnt know why it wouldn't start. I explained what i did and showed one of the officers where the switch was and what i have to do to start it. he said he has seen fuel pump kills before, but was impressed with a main relay kill. I was debating on taking it out but after that night im never taking it out i depend on my integra for my 150km of daily driving and cant afford to lose it. Your kill switch saved my car from being stolen and would recomend it to anyone looking at going that extra mile for car security.
Thank You
Thank You
enoch723
New Member
This is a crazy coincidence, I ended up doing something similar to this just recently. I relocated my main relay behind my glove box by extending the wires and then swapped the fuel pumps power wire to run down the center and hooked up the fuel pumps power wire to my cruise control button.
The first thing a thief will do is try to find the kill switch. Most common spots are the glove box, ash trey, and fuse box area. I chose to hide my kill switch with all the stock wiring right in front of the thief. Since in my car the cruise control is an on/off button rather then a switch. It still looks stock. Lol
The first thing a thief will do is try to find the kill switch. Most common spots are the glove box, ash trey, and fuse box area. I chose to hide my kill switch with all the stock wiring right in front of the thief. Since in my car the cruise control is an on/off button rather then a switch. It still looks stock. Lol