Hotwire Your Automobile

This is basically a How to Hotwire Your Car guide, stressing the "Your" part of the subject. The term "hotwire" refers to the act of bypassing an automobile's ignition key switch to make the automobile start and run.

Older vehicles, namely ones from pre mid 80's, which have a carbureted engine and a single ignition coil and distributor, can be hotwired from the engine bay.

A vehicle is more commonly hotwired from within the cab of the car. The following methods are documented for the purpose of performing the hotwiring of an automobile.

From the steering wheel column

Simply pull off the plastic cover under the steering wheel, exposing several wires. 'You need to use all these wires to get the car going,' says Tim Ross, an undercover New Jersey Police officer specialising in car theft. Don't rush, you could still be gone in 60 seconds. 'Firstly, you need to get the ignition on. Touch the two matching red wires together,' explains Tim. 'If you're successful the dash will light up.' Now the ignition's on, you can power up the starter motor. Crossing the brown lead with the reds should crank over and kick off the engine.

From the key ignition on an older car

Use a screwdriver to force the key ignition open. Look for two red wires and contact them to make the engine turn over.

Other notes on hotwiring

In all reality, the color of the wire does not matter, please locate, under the steering column, two wires coming from the ignition. Those are the two wires, it is false to state they're the same color in every car.

This procedure is very likely to fail with a modern post 1995 vehicle due to security measures such as a vehicle immobilizer, body computers, and coded keys. You may actually prevent the automobile from starting properly even with a key, or starting at all under any circumstance.