How to stop a car starting

[Barakka]

I need to know the (is there a) safe way to stop a car starting, so that when you turn the key it tries to start, but can't.

Safe as in won't damage the car in any way and can be put back straight away.

Note - i'm talking about my car not someone elses- it's a 2003 Toyota Celica, and I only need to do it once for a few minutes

[oolon]

Take a lead off the battery? The classic one is to disable the alturnater. However that does not work on many cars now as they don't have one! Taking the wire out of the starter motor would work too.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Drop a Moose on it??

[Barakka]

Take a lead off the battery? The classic one is to disable the alturnater. However that does not work on many cars now as they don't have one! Taking the wire out of the starter motor would work too.

Would it still try to start though, I need it to sound like it's trying to start... think bad guys/monsters are coming and the damn car won't start...

[Barakka]

Drop a Moose on it??

You don't know how appropriate that is ...

[Gerrard]

Sounds like you want the engine to turn over, but not fire? Not sure if it would damage the engine in the short-term, but disconnecting the spark plugs would be a straightforward way to do it. Either that or pull the fuse for the fuel pump.

[jimbouk]

Would it still try to start though, I need it to sound like it's trying to start... think bad guys/monsters are coming and the damn car won't start...

Chose your weapon; fuel, air or spark. Removing the lead to the distributor cap should give you turn over, though messing up the air/fuel mixture may give you some better 'spluttering' pre start.

[Lucio]

Pulling the fuse to the spark plugs should do the trick, you'll get the starter motor noise but the engine won't turn over.

[Biscuit]

Turn the lights on and let the battery run close to dead? Full beams on for an hour or so seemed to run mine dry the other day when i was working on my bike in my garage. Just make sure someone else has jump leads of course!

[Lucio]

Thought of one more trick, get a copy key made without the transponder chip in it. Just get a local key cutter to make one that's for the door only. Best part is you can then swap between working and not working without mucking around with the car, which if you're shooting a movie will be appreciated.

[Tumble]

The key thing wouldn't work as the engine wouldn't even turn over. Disconnecting the coil pack/plugs is probably the easiest way. Fuel pump and sparky fuses are usually a pain to get to.

[bigizzman]

If you pull the spark plugs make sure you put them back in correct place/order.
Also make sure they can't short to chassis, believe me big SPARKS!!!!

[razer121]

The key thing wouldn't work as the engine wouldn't even turn over. Disconnecting the coil pack/plugs is probably the easiest way. Fuel pump and sparky fuses are usually a pain to get to.

Well it worked on my mums pug when i swapped the keys over and stupidly forgot to put the little fob thing in the new key (yes we was there for about an hour trying to work it out XD)

[badass]

Jesus you lot are over complicating this.
How old is the car?
Old - remove the king lead. (the one that goes to the distributor where the rest of the Ignition leads come from) It'll turn but not start. The engine may flood but just leave it for a bit before starting to make sure it does.
New - remove the fuel pump fuse/relay. Depending on car it may start then die, refusing to start afterwards or it'll just not start at all. To make sure it doesn;t even splutter into life, start it yourself first and let it die.

[peterb]

If your car has a catalyst, trying to start it by disconnecting the plugs runs the risk of pumping petrol vapour into the catalyst running the risk of damaging it when the car is started normally.

Disabling the fuel pump may be a better solution, although you may have to bleed the fuel system afterwards (usually just by cranking the engine).
EDIT

Just had a quick Google search. Not much there, but if you can find the fuse for the engine management system and pull that, it should stop the engine from firing through fuel starvation (safeguarding any catalytic converter) - of course, this is done at your own risk!

[TheAnimus]

how well do you need it to attempt to start?

you could just take out the fuses for the ECU or something.