Kinda off topic, but my buddies house was broken into about 6 months ago.

His insurance replaced everything, and his house was broken into AGAIN the day after the insurance replaced his crap. Coincidence? I think not.

 

After our house was broken into a few months ago we installed 4 security cameras a few days later and 3 extra locks on the front door the same day. The crooks didn't seem to even mind the alarm. Apparently they broke in by just pressing up against the front door until the deadbolt broke out of the frame. No one's tried to brake in yet, but if you've read any of my axle rebuild thread, people still try to steal from us.

 

Security cameras wouldn't have done jack for us...it was stolen in the store parking lot. It was recovered walking distance from the store. I suspect that while I was walking around looking for my truck that I was passing the *&%$'s car not knowing.

The car was bought whole sale from a dealership. It was not a private sale. The PO traded it in, and my husband, the car sales man, said that they had great credit and while I'm sure some criminals have good credit, most of them make a string of crappy decisions, so I'm really think they were stable. It sat at the dealership for awhile and then my husband bought it. I have personally been all over this truck, first looking for an oil leak and then changing it so it's more to my liking. I would be shocked to find out there's a key on it. It's been up on the lift at the dealership while we looked at brakes and shocks and all kinds of things...there's no key. But...maybe there's a key that is out there that opens it. What are the odds that the criminal guy has a toyota product and he decided to try it out on my crappy 4runner? I can not imagine he managed to some how have a crappier truck than me...how would it even be fun?

 

I think someone has already said this, but my key for my 1987 4Runner opens and starts my buddies 1994 Camry, another friends 93 4Runner, and yet another friends 1986 Celica.

There is probably decent money in that sort of crime. The only tool needed is a key for an older Toyota.

 

Sounds to me like the PO is playing games with you... or could be one of the POs "friends."


Either way that's really creepy. I'd install a kill switch and deffinatly put up cameras in front of your house. I can't believe that weirdo took your garage door opener.

 

Well maybe it's not a stalker.

 

Oh, and as far as starting the truck with no key at all.

Take anything small and flat and stick it in your ignition. Turn it. (It will probably turn, most do)
Unplug your power to your starter, stick a wire in it. Run that to the battery pos. terminal.

Vroom. 2.4 Liters of fury fire up.

 

PO has no idea we have it. It was bought when they traded it in from the dealership.

 

Think that they could pull that off without witnesses? I'm trying to envision them slim jimming the door, running wire, and not being noticed. Anyone ever heard of that? People are pretty unobservant I guess.

 

Since that is the way I had to operate my 4runner for about a month, I got pretty good at it. I doubt that's what they did, really. I would actually bet it's not what they did.

Just a way TO do it though. In case you ever lose your keys =)

 

My 89 and 86 4runner can run off each others keys. They are not the same but they work.

 

Maybe I should just get myself a skinny screwdriver, lol

 

I could open the doors and start my 85 with just about any key, house key, shed key, etc....including the small blade of a swiss army knife. It haint hard. Ya, maybe someone is fooking with you or maybe its just some kids with a sick sense of humor. Either way, buy a gun. I'd be pissed as hell...and more paranoid then I already am. Its a catch 22. I take a lot of safety measures so my stuff does not get messed with, including house, bike, yard, etc... and guess what? It doesn't.

 

I drove tow truck for years and we had a coffee can with Toyota keys usually only took one or two trys with a worn key and even on new ignitions you
can almost always get them to start without any damage and anyone who has practiced can unlock pretty much anything without any damage being done anyway if it was my truck I would buy a really good alarm and a ignition shutoff switch hidden unfortunately even this isn't enough if someone really wants it good luck and hopefully this helps

 

Out of curiosity, do you have keyless entry, or an alarm that is activated by a wireless remote on your keychain?

I saw on TV how some thieves are sitting around parking lots, waiting for somebody to lock their car using the remote. The thieves have a device that captures the signal from the vehicle owner's remote, then will copy and send a signal to unlock the doors and disarm the alarm. This still wouldn't explain how the piece of $%&* got past the ignition switch.

Either way, very sorry to hear about your troubles. I agree with the killswitch idea. I want to upgrade the killswitch in my truck.

About the garage door: most of them allow you to change the code pretty easily. If you have another remote, you can change the opener and the remote, so at least you can use that again.

I hope you find out who did this. If the police don't want to do anything about it, I bet some members on here would be willing to! FYI: I'm ready!

 

If I saw Michalik's dog in his yard I wouldn't touch his stuff either. It looks like a demon.

 

thats creepy man. i hope you find out who did this.

 

That's the main reason I bought the alarm that I did. It has a starter kill relay. So if the alarm is armed, the starter wont turn over with ANYTHING in the ignition, even the correct key. This, along with hiding the alarm itself somewhere other than "right under the dash", and making all the wiring look factory can possibly make a difference.

When i install alarms, i unloom/untape all the wires i will need to manipulate under the dash from the bundles they belong and re-tape/re-loom them back into their respective bundles when im done. So if someone DOES get in, they aren't able to immediately tell which wires have been tampered with, thus telling them which wires need to be "un-tampered" if you will. Again, that way they don't immediately know there's an alarm either. I don't even hook up the siren unless specifically asked to, cause honestly, who gives a when they hear an alarm going off.

Granted there are ways around this, it's another step to get around. Like many have said before, and will say again, if they want it bad enough, they'll get it.

 

actually id say that its more like the P.O. x girlfriend who had a key to the vehicle and didnt know he sold it. thought it would be funny to move it around or something.

side note
i had a friend do this to my 84(rip) with his 87 key, he moved it around behind my house lol i freaked out. looked all over the block finally went around behind my house and there she sat.

 

The possibility of someone with an old Toyota key taking it are very high, once the locks/keys wear out, they are very interchangeable. My buddy can start his 89 4runner with a Volkswagen Jetta key, I can both unlock and start 3 of my friends toyotas with my key, one guys is so bad i can unlock his truck with a pebble or penny, and start with anything that fits in the ignition. So just saying it could have been anyone