How to hotwire a car.

[Extasey]

I've known how to do this for ages, but it never came in handy until the other night when my mate lost his keys, miles from no where, and he was my lift. I've ripped a guide from here because it will probably make more sense then me trying to explain it. This will probably only work on older cars as well, the newer ones have all that computer crap in the key and whatnot...

WARNING: THIS CAN REALLY freakin HURT IF YOU TOUCH THE WRONG THING WITHOUT PROPER ELECTRICAL PROTECTION

What You Need

1. Proof you own the car
   
2. A flathead screw Driver
   
3. A knife or wire stripper
   
4. Rubber gloves (if you can find any)
   

Stab it!
The first thing you will want to try is the screwdriver. Some (really) older cars don't really need to be hot wired. The first thing you will want to try is to shove your flathead (screwdriver) straight down the ignition barrel.
Like so:

DON"T JAM IT IN TO THE POINT WHERE IT GETS STUCK! Try turn the driver like a key, if the engine ticks over then your in luck! Drive away! Just try not to get pulled over with a screwdriver hanging out the barrel. It will be hard to explain.
If it didn't work, read on;

Rip it off!
So, your car didn't start when you shanked the thing. This part can get a little messy. Your going to need to take off your ignition cover. Most cars will have a pannel that can be easily removed. If not you have to decide weather you can wait for someone to arrive with your spare key, or you can pull the whole bottom of the dash out. I reccomend you wait.
Hopefully, you can easily see the ignition barrel, as well as some exposed wiring.

Don't break this crap, you want to put it back eventually, right?

Jack it!
Hopefully, you will be easily able to identify 3 sets of wires running into the barrel. Each set for a different type of ignition... ACC, ON and START (duh )


Unfortunately, there is no universal colour code. I just tried all the wires untill the engine ticked over. But try the obvious ones first (i.e. the red one)


Getting Tricky!
This is where you can really fudge yourself up! Whatever you do, don't touch the bare wires, unless you have insulated gloves. But still don't do it!
Your going to need to grab that knife or wire stripper and, you guessed it, strip the wires!! Make sure you don't cross the pairs of wires, because your could fry your electrics all together and then have no chance of getting home. I'm not sure though because I have never risked it.
When you have stripped a pair, rub them together with extreme caution because it can spark and probably will. Best to hold your fingers as far away from the bare wire as possible.
Hopefully you will be able to get the engine to tick over fairly quickly.
Once it's idling disconect the wiring and cover the wires (i.e put the dash back together). If you leave them exposed and happen to cross them with your leg whilst driving, well, you can imagine.

But wait!
Car doesn't tick over straight away, or cuts out immediatly after you disconect the battery. Try and find the ON wiring and tape it together with something. We had to do this and a shoelace kept it together until we got home.
This is highly illegal if you don't own the car. Even if its a friends. Make sure the owner of the car is with you and you have a legit reason for doing it.
Heard of steering lock? Hopefully it won't be engaged but if it is, you will only be able to drive in the direction the wheels are already pointed becuase you don't have a key.
This crap can really fudge your car, and yourself. If you don't absaloutly need to do it, don't just wait until you can get help. It's not my fault if you decide to be a dickhead and blow your electrics, along with your arm, clean off.
Most newer cars have chips in the keys whih stop the car from starting without the correct auth key. If you still have the key, but it won't start the car for whaatever reason, try taping it to the wheel. These things work on proximity most of the time (I have seen commodores that rely on physical contact).
Some cars have resistors which can lock the ignition system if the correct voltage isn't matched a certain amount of tries.
Your battery can, and will, EXPLODE. Don't cross the circut with any metal. At all. This can cause the battery to deliver as much power as welder. NOT GOOD.
Don't go any where near the circut if you are wet. You should have learnt that power and water don't go together, at the age of two.

One last step...
Read the section above this 3 times, and memorise it. Seriously, this can fudge you up.

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Alternatively you could call your local car dealer (of the same brand).

[cheeseburger]

Nice tutorial, i used to have an old Ford XE sedan, it was my first car. The keys went missing so i did the screwdriver trick,
after that i could start it with just about anything that would fit in the hole. It wasn't a good look driving around with a pair of scissors hanging out the barrel.
That car ended up getting stolen, i only paid like $500 for it.

[Extasey]

Hahah, you didn't feel the need to pull it out at all?
If you need to do this I would head straight to the car dealership as soon as you can As well as a mechanic/electritian to fix it all back up!

[ccalby]

thanks lol, but that is way to much to remember , however if I ever need to hotwire a car, I will have to quickly log on here

[ktmrider530]

On old Chevy trucks, if you punch the top of the steering column it will break the locking mechanism and it will start without a key. I've done it twice, maybe it was just luck... who knows. I wasn't stealing them, they were mine lol

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And, on old fords if you pop the hood, there is two bolts with wires to them on the passenger side of the engine compartment. If you bridge that connection, it will also start the car.

[Extasey]

How hard do you have to punch the column?

[ktmrider530]

How hard do you have to punch the column?

Not sure, the first time i did it i was mad. On the second truck i hit it a few times about as hard as i could.

[Extasey]

Not sure, the first time i did it i was mad. On the second truck i hit it a few times about as hard as i could.

Lol, so once the locking mechanism is disabled (broken), do you need to jump the car or something?

[DAMINK™]

For me i used to just smash off the honeypot. This is the plastic between steering wheel and dash.
Now once that is smashed out you will see a metal rod which comes out the back of the ignition barrel and down to the steering lock.
Now this is important as above tut does not cover it. If you simply hotwire a car and try drive away the steering will lock and you will not go anywhere.
Anyhow you push down on the metal rod in the same direction as the steering column and you will start the car bypassing the ignition barrel entirely.
*Side note. I used to rip the barrels out with a slide hammer often also and do above to start and release the rod.

[Extasey]

Lol I briefly mentioned it

Heard of steering lock? Hopefully it won't be engaged but if it is, you will only be able to drive in the direction the wheels are already pointed becuase you don't have a key.