Homestead

I was fueling up tonite at the card lock when another CTD pulled in to the opposite side of the pump. We were chatting away while fueling and ended up having a couple cups of java in the restaurant afterwards.

He's a hot shotter out of Washington state on his way to Fort McMurray and was towing a 35' gooseneck loaded with drill pipe.

We got talking about truck theft for a bit and he mentioned the "gizmo" he has on his truck. Truck is an 01 and he bought it when it was 2 months old from a fellow hot shotter that was retiring. He really didn't know much about it but he says it works very well.

I'll try and describe it the best I can........

It's mounted down on the frame below the VP. It looks mostly like hydraulic valve with an electric solenoid mounted on top. It has one input and 2 outputs. The input comes from the fuel filter, one of the outputs goes to the VP. The other output turns and heads back to the rear of the truck. He said that it is tied into the fuel return line. It has 4 electrical wires coming out of it and they head back towards the cab. Where the wires go, I'm not sure but he says you need the cigarette lighter in place to start the truck.

Now the cool part......

To start the truck, push in the lighter and start it normally. If you don't have the lighter in place, the truck will fire and run until the truck uses the fuel up in the VP and the line from the "gizmo" or valve, then it dies. He explained that the "gizmo" is like a diverter valve. If you don't push the lighter in when you start the truck, the valve opens or diverts the lift pump pressure back to the tank.

He says you can crank on it all you want and it won't fire back up. The truck starves itself of fuel and just sits there with everything else working like normal.

In the 200,000 plus miles he has driven the truck, he has never had a problem with it so he never dug any deeper looking into it. So he doesn't really know anything about it. I couldn't seem to see any numbers or brand marks on it.

Anyone have any kind of any idea what this valve might be off of or from????

I'm interested in doing something like this on my truck.

Jeff

kawi600

sounds like a fuel solenoid like the veg-oil folks use to switch fuel sources. check out greasel, greasecar and fattywagon I think they have pics of them.
You can always just use a steering wheel club or some kind of rim cable lock if youre worried about theft of the whole vehicle. Pager alarms are great if youre within range. I had one on my bike and it prevented a theft at 2am, very nice.

HOHN

Club or other wheel lock is pretty much worthless-- no thief is scared of them.

But they'll chose a vehicle that doesn't have one over one that does.

kawi600

Hm, well if theyre armed with a saw chances are theyre a little more professional than most.
You can always just disconnect the fuel solenoid

Sixpack

I like the idea of using the cigar lighter in line with the clutch safety switch. You have to push the lighter in to get it to crank. I know, a good thief will look for it there. But not much one can do if the thief is determined to get your rig. If you can slow them down a little the chances of them getting seen/caught go up..

Ridiculous

i agree, the lighter spot is very nice. and a bad theif won't look for it there so they will more than likely just give up and move before they DO get caught.

sounds like a cool little gizmo.
i give it a 7

fox128

I understood that starving the VP led to it's own destruction (hence, fuel pressure gauges, new lift pumps, etc....) So couldn't a theif cranking on the engine until the batteries are dead do harm the the expensive vp?

Begle1

I don't see why you'd use the lighter trick.

I figure that if you can hear about it here, then a thief's already known about it a year ago.


Come on now you can always fin a place to hide a switch. Or three switches. Or something.

BigBlue

Starving it of fuel while the engine is running is very bad. Starving it while trying to start it probably isn't that bad. Not to mention that I'd much rather replace my injection pump than my entire truck.

Ridiculous

true that...i didn't really think of that.
i just thought it sure was clever b/c i would've never thought of the lighter b/c one would normally think "oh that's just a cigerette lighter not a switch"...but ya i see what ur sayin though

newriverSpecon

And then the VP would be damaged as part of the theft and covered by insurance.

Randy

Sixpack

Why?...... Take the lighter with you.... I'm sure the thief would have one to fit your truck.

Timmay2

Real pros wouldnt even turn your car on. flatbed trailer and 1 minute of hiding in plain sight, and your baby's gone.

amateurs are the ones still trying to drive off with them

If youre worried bout someone drivin off in it, you could always put a series of rocker switches in and label them something dumb, like AUX LIGHTS, AIR HORNS, BRAKES, TOW LIGHTS.. then wire it up so that you have to have them say, on on off on for the truck to start.