Ok guys, so I was having some trouble with my car starting, turned out it was the passkey reader in the lock cylinder itself. So I replaced the lock cylinder. Everything works now, but eventually it'll break again. So I started thinking about what I would do then. That's when I had an idea.

My car was factory F45 with the selective ride control. However, those shocks are long gone, and the computer in the driver rear cubby has been disconnected, so the selective ride control switch does nothing now. My thought was how hard would it be to make that switch be the "key", and then install a simple push to start button in place of the lock cylinder?

Let me explain. A normal key has 4 "positions" right? Key out Off, Key in Off, Acc, On (crank). The selective ride control has 3 positions. Tour, Sport, Perf. So, Tour would be Key out Off, Sport would be Key in Off, Perf would be Acc. On (crank) would be the job of the push to start button in place of where the normal key would have gone.

This is merely a thought of mine and yes, I know, this means anyone that got into the car could steal it. However, if someone wants to steal a car, they are going to. This has been a thought of mine from when I tried to start a car at work.

Storytime. I worked at Discount Tire, went to pull in an older Toyota truck. Truck wouldn't start. Asked the guy if there was a trick, he says "oh, pull & hold the turn signal stalk back". So I get in the truck, do what he says, hi beams come on, & vroom. Truck started no problem.

Anyways, let me know what ya'll think. If anything else, I'm wondering if I can still use that switch as a killswitch for the fuel pump or something. Some sort of "hidden" killswitch so if (god forbid) the car was ever attempted to being stolen, it wouldn't go anywhere. I was thinking this would be a better option than having a toggle switch on the dash or even hidden under the dash, as that would be real easy to find. Anyways, let me know what you think. Thanks.

 

Your VATS is your "hidden switch" unless you have a tuner disable it, your plan won't work. Plus sounds like a ton of potentially mickey mouse wiring.

 

 

With the column lock issues these cars already have, I don't think I would worry too much about it. If the lock cylinder fails again, after another 20 years, then maybe look into it.

 

The selective ride switch is not a standard position switch like the ignition switch. You will have to take apart the switch and rewire it to make it behave like an ignition switch.

 

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