Aftermarket Alarm Suggestion

Hey All,

I recently had my 2000 AC SR5 4x4 stolen. I only had a club, they cut the steering wheel with a sawzall and it was gone in under 2 minutes. Seen it on my neighbors ring cam. Got it back a little over a week later, thankfully. They must've targeted me, since they didnt break any glass and the ignition cylinder was undamaged. I figure they just used a similar key, idk.

Anyways, I was thinking of installing an aftermarket alarm myself and I was hoping to get some recommendations from the community. I want to get one that will annoy the stuff out of my neighbors and hopefully prevent it from being stolen again.

Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

A hidden kill switch would be better than an alarm that's going to fail in 10-15 years. Paging @shifty`

 

That's a great suggestion, what would be the best option for that? I was thinking into the fuel pump circuit, or would the ig on to starter be better? Would that still give 12v to accessories?

 

Worked at a shop that installed alarms. Can guarantee you, if they want it, they'll steal it.

I do not recommend you install it on your own.
I do not recommend using Best Buy or similar no-serious talent/no accountability store to do the work.
I DO recommend finding a trusted shop that does audio and alarms and has been in business for at least 8-10 years. More on that below.

Lifespan of an alarm is a solid 10-15 years if you use a quality brand. The bullshit on scAmazon and fleaBay is "JC Whitney" / "Radio Shack" level garbage, and is going to cause so much grief, don't do it.

After 10-15 years with a quality brand, there's a strong chance you'll start seeing weirdness, window/door control problems, cranking/start problems. Sometimes you'll get more out of them than that, but it is what it is.

I still prefer the brands we installed bitd, Avital and Clifford. If you go to their websites, they'll help you find a trusted installer in your area - look for "preferred dealer" in their search tool.

Avital: https://avital.com/WhereToBuy/
Clifford: https://clifford.com/WhereToBuy/

Honestly, almost everything is owned by DEI these days (link), including the ever-trendy Viper alarms.

Hidden killswitch... you can install it anywhere. But depending on how they stole the truck, it may or may not help. If they didn't pop the column, they may've used a repeater or something to capture signal from your fob in the house and unlock the door. Dunno.

Anyway ... Better option is to throw a toggle switch on the hot line to the fuel pump, but I really hate splicing factory wiring. The logic is simple: They're gonna make a hell of a lot of racket trying to start it up, but the fuel pump won't go hot ... so no fire.

 

Thanks shifty i appreciate the info. I never had a fob when i bought the truck, idk if it has the receiver/transponder to get it from the factory. Its not a chip key either so i thought the thief must've had a similar key filed down. I work at a Toyota stealership and am comfortable with the EWD and soldering. But i appreciate quality work from somebody who is an expert, and i'll check the links you provided to see if there's the one that I know of in my area that carries those brands.

 

Ravelco is pricey but 100% guaranteed IF you use one of their installers. Website says full size trucks are around $700.

https://www.ravelco.com/

 

Thanks a lot, seems like they are not available near me, but i appreciate the ballpark figure so I have some idea. Gonna call around tomorrow.

 

Definitely not a chipped key. That was a Sequoia thing, and sometimes later-model double cabs have it, never access/reg cab.

Hearing "solder and comfort with EWD" makes me happy, if you're that confident, go for it. Working at a dealership doesn't always mean much to me, you should see how horribly dealerships were splicing in the shitbox KARR systems in the SW US, and over here in the Gulf States some dealers ported with the "Securikey+" system. It was a hackfest. Scotch-locks and T-taps galore. Butchery of wires. Spaghetti under the dash. We've seen some horror stories here, but there's even more on TundraSolutions, TacomaWorld, TundraTalk from earlier years. Check out this thread on Tundras.com's sister forum TacomaWorld. That's a "clean" install! I cringe seeing all those T-taps, it's a shit way to install.

If you have an OEM keyless module in your truck specifically, it'll be RS3000. It's the top-middle box with a dog-leg arm you see in this reply, scroll down two replies after that to identify it if needed, but also heed this reply about its original location in case yours has it there. Apparently it shifted size/shape and location at some point? Who knows... but we know this: Programming the RS3000 is not fun, but the 1st link I gave in this paragraph is a thread dedicated to exactly that. I know with the newer RS3200 system found in either '03- or '04-later trucks comes with the glass break expansion module and other bits you can purchase, I see in the RS300 manual here it supports that too.

As for how they took it ... If you don't have a fob, then this is likely what happened. Lishi makes a number of tools out there that'll easily get you a key on any car. One popular one is this decoder tool. Someone can casually walk by, insert to your door, feel out the keyway barrels, jot down the numbers, then go cut a key. It takes about 30 seconds to feel out a door, cut a temp key with a Lishi key cutter, walk back and drive away. I mean, that's is the easiest way to discretely do it without raising suspicion. Don't ask how I know about this There are other tools Lishi makes that are useful, it's the go-to brand for those who know (IMHO)

 

Thanks for the replies, havent saved enough to get the alarm yet, i installed a kill switch, on the c/opn relay which provides ground for the fuel pump since the fuel pump gets power through two sources. The yellow wire in pin 5 on the right most connector to the ecm is where i spliced in the kill switch. Gonna look at doing a second kill switch for the ign/started shortly.