i dont want signal wire hanging.

Can't you just cut off more wire so it doesn't hang then? Snip snip! lol

goes back to the earlier post, defeats the purpose.

Unless you're doing the occasional steep hill parking like we do in SF and I want to securely curb my tire? Or is that whole step pointless too, to aim your tire towards a curb when on an incline/decline, and have the steering wheel locked. If it isn't a big deal for the wheel to be locked if I'm pointed towards a curb, then I agree, no point in having the wire there at all then.

Do you think it is secure enough to just have your wheels turned towards a curb for incidents like this? Or will the weight of the car going downhill rotate the steering wheel so it no longer remains curbed and then goes down the hill? I ask cuz I just want to make sure it is safe in this regard and cuz I don't really know.

If there is merit for having the steering wheel locked and turned on an incline, I'd risk turning the steering lock to active via a switch for those occasions and back to de-active the rest of the time. Easier to hit a switch than unhook and then rehook the connectors each time i want to active/deactivate it.

What's with the cutting? That's the reason for the "bypass plug" so nothing has to be cut. The lock just sits there unlocked all the time and the "car" thinks it's working properly so no warning light. Unplug the lock, plug the bypass into the lock, then put the original plug back into the bypass. I think this is how it would go. :icon14::icon17:

axio- if you have a spare steering lock like me and a few others, yes, that can be an option. but wat if you turn the lock on, and it dies? you can't revert to no-steering lock condition as kelly explained unless you get a steering lock that works.

wat the hotwire harness is doing is to freeze the mechanism in the unlocked state. in order to do that, you need a working steering lock.

I thought the parking brake was for uphill/downhill parking...Just like the cars that come from the factory with no steering lock (2012 370Z, and many others)...

Yes, I understand that. So basically the best option then, for use that don't have a spare working steering lock, is to use the harness, no switch, and not even park in a spot that is steep enough where we should consider curbing our tires because there is no guarantee the steering wheel will stay in that same position should something happen.

I mean I get it. The risk of activating the switch is that it might never unlock. So I guess I should just park on flat land and keep looking for a parking lot in SF instead of the street! :tup:

Yeah, just worried if I got tapped hard by shitty parallel parkers. Happens all the time in SF... you should see my wife's car... the bumpers on her TSX are trashed.

Turn your wheel to the curb...what your supposed to do, once the wheel get wedged in to the curb from being hit it won't move....

If that's the case, there probably isn't a need for a harness then, other than to test if cutting the wire works (without having to trouble ourselves into re-soldering the wires back if it doesn't).

do you have a RC car or any model car where the front tires turn? if so, place it on a floor next to a wall and pretend you are parking that car on an incline. turn the front tires away from the wall and pull the car back. you will see that the tires catch the wall and steering does not turn the other way.

same if you point the tires towards the wall and push forward. the tire will just bite into the wall, given that the model's tires are pretty sticky.

you shouldnt have issues parking your car without the steering lock if you let the tires bite into the curb a little bit by rolling it forward/aft as you normally would. just give it a try on your car without turning the car off. it's the same as if the steering lock is completely deactivated from the car.

Good point. It should just catch up against the curb. In that case, like I said above, no reason for a harness other than a few people to test whether no #1 wire intact works fine, without having to solder the wires back.

yep, but most of us would rather not cut anything if there is such a harness available. biggest reason being, we still dont know if this deactivated state causes any side effects for the rest of the car, especially BCM, IPDM, ECU interaction long term.

True. In that case, let's hope these harnesses come out sooner than later.

I thought we had a few people who have made the cut? Can we get a little more confirmation and feedback?

I'll take a straight harness without a switch. I don't see the need for a switch while parking. If I want to reactivate the lock function for example, if I were to trade in or sell the car, I would reconnect the original plug. And probably leave the harness in the glovebox with a note on what it is and how to install, at the owner's risk. My '09 model's warranty expires in September and my biggest fear is that the lock will fail stranding me somewhere. Put me down for one as soon as they are available and the functioning is verified to be problem free.

I have been monitoring the threads relating to the failed steering locks for some time now and am definitely interested in some form of bypass mechanism. With or without the switch, I want one.

C U T T H E W I R E !


Problem solved PERIOD

So! Did you do it???

Did you do it? Or are you trying to :stirthepot:

Pictures or it didn't happen

I can't bear reading through 10 pages so I'm just going to post. Why not just cut the brown wire, strip the ends with some length on them and leave them taped off? If you actually need to prove the lock works for some random inspection, just remove the tape and twist the stripped wires together.

If you want a switch on it, just use some telephone wire taps from Radioshack on each end of the severed wire.

Sounds like a great idea, try it out and report back to us. :tup:

:iagree:

It should work, we're just waiting for someone else to cut up their harness first. If my warranty was expired I would do the wire mod. :tup:

Bdl99 will have his harness ready for the few testers he has pre-arranged a beta for with his harness. As soon as these are tested everyone will know if cutting the wire works or not because it will be simulating that exact same electrical signal as if you did the cut wire method. So this will tell everyone if it does or does not work! I would wait until after this before any one does any unnecessary cutting just to safe them from possible problems. Then if it does work you can make your decision on whether to cut the wire or spend a lil $ and get the harness!?!?!?........

I think I have an automotive connector pin removal tool somewhere in the garage, shouldn't it be possible just to remove the pin in question from the connector body and then reconnect with it out effectively "cutting" the wire?

Then when the test is done just re-insert the pin and everything is back to normal with no evidence of tampering for warranty etc.

Just need to find my removal tool.....

Yes this should work. Sometimes you can use a flat jeweler type screwdriver for a pin removal tool.

It would be nice if one of the Beta testers could do more investigative work other than making sure the brown wire trick works...

like what?

My car wont be ready for a few days, but when it is, I'll cut the wire and report back. Might as well. I'll keep you guys posted.

Determining the possibility of removing the S/L completely.

Connectors will be here tomorrow.....

LMBmikeZ, LSUTurboTiger, Mike and ChrisSlicks
Can you please PM your email address so I can sent payment instructions and get your addresses etc

From my admittedly limited knowledge of the circuits involved with the lock, I think all of the other wires except the brown one have to still be connected to the lock mechanism as there is some kind of loop through or feedback from the lock module to the BCM. So you could probably completely remove the lock assembly but you would still have a bunch of wires that need to be connected.
I'll just leave the lock assembly in place and not worry about it if disabled.

That is my believe as well, although it isn't documented very thoroughly (intentionally). I'll do the brown wire cut first with the harness first and then do some probing with a scope to see what is what. I was going to cut the wire in the stock harness but once I got under there and saw how tight and filddley it was I chickened out as I had a track day that weekend.

Awesome! Can't wait for the harness! :happydance:

payment sent
hopefully it will be here by tuesday, leaving for zdayz wednesday

wait wait. if your making the connector id take one too!

and same situation as Mike, hopefully be here by tuesday.

Maybe we could install em at zdayz!

Mike, I wanna check it out at ZdayZ as well if you get it in time :tup:

I'm pretty sure he only got a few plugs as testers and mike is one.