VF Wagon - Any tips on how to recover a stolen One (that I bought)?

[goony]

Hi.

Had the car parked for a couple of minutes idling, and I believe I had it locked.

The keys are still with me, but when I came back the car was gone.

Is there any smarts around pinging the GPS or similar, any chance to remote shutdown?

I know it is still around as there have been sightings.

Any other recommendations to try and recover the vehicle please?

thanks,

and Yes, I would probably buy another one, maybe...

 

[stooge]

Nope.

Have the police find it is pretty much all you can do.

If you had a gtkpro2 tracker installed like i use for machines on the mine sites you could disable it with your phone and go straight to its location but thats not much help for your situation now.

 

[hademall]

I remember driving off in our VF without the key fob. When I stopped down the road and turned the engine off I was stuffed because the engine wouldn't restart.

 

[stooge]

I remember driving off in our VF without the key fob. When I stopped down the road and turned the engine off I was stuffed because the engine wouldn't restart.

Yep it wont restart without the fob.

With the right tools i speculate that it could have a new fob programmed to it but i dont know for sure because i have never tried it on a vehicle i dont have the key for.

 

[goony]

Thanks. Just been contacted by ACT Police. Seems lucky it rained and they lost it round a corner. Needs new rear undercarriage it seems but it's alive. And a bunch of tradies will get their gear back. Could be much worse.

 

[Skylarking]

Sad your car was pinched but lucky you got it back. Hope the damage isn’t bad…

Curious how your insurance company will handle this claim (if you make a claim)…

They may consider that you didn’t secure your car and thus contributed to its theft in which case they may decline the claim…

Really, whenever your not sitting in the drivers seat, it’s very important to switch off the engine and lock the car every single time… no quick ducking in white the shopping or to take something out of the boot…

Really, I need to put in a kill switch for the fuel pump in my car as keyless entry and keyless start are just not secure…

 

[stooge]

Really, I need to put in a kill switch for the fuel pump in my car as keyless entry and keyless start are just not secure…

I attach the gtk devices to the fuel pump on modern vehicles.

You could just make a plug to go into the fuse slot for the pump that has a 20a fused line with a switch in line.
That way you are not modifying the vehicles wiring but you would need to run the wire for the switch from the rear fusebox.

If you wanted to get a little more technical you could use a latching relay or make the latching circuit with a normal relay.
What that would do is keep the pump line connected after you press the switch to enable the pump until the vehicle powers off.
Doing it this way it would default to off any time you turn the vehicle off so you do not need to remember to turn the switch off.

Typically a latching relay works well with a key start vehicle but it should work fine with a push to start system as long as you hold the button to enable the pump when you press the start button.
Remote start wouldnt work though.

It is a really simple circuit to make and you could probably use a little rf remote to trigger it so you dont even need to run a wire up front, it could all be contained in the rear fusebox compartment.

 

[goony]

Thanks.

The tracker is already in the house to be installed.

Now, I have some rear suspension damage. The "new undercarriage" comment was a bit overstated. Maybe emotional + beer....

In tghe pics one of the strut members is bent, but on removal of the bent strut, the hub did not return to it'snormal alignment, so the lower arm was also removed, could be slightly bent but not obvious.

This makes me think the damage may extend to the mounting points of those two members, and the question is if I am able to bend them back at home - or as I am more inclined to think - is it off to a panel beater or mechanic for re-alignment?

All comments welcomed.

Thanks JD.

 

[vywgn]

Definitely need the lower leading arm and the adjustment arm replaced after that an alignment, that will tell any more damage