120Km/Hr Speed Warning Alarm on F430

Hi, I am new to this forum and it's my first post.
I have just received yesterday my new silverstone grey F430 Coupe. Really a great car and a great ride.
I live in Cairo, Egypt and I bought my car from the agent in Qatar and I have a small very annoying problem. The car is fitted with a continious audible speed warning alarm which is activated at 120 km/hr (rediculous, isn't it) and only stops if you go below 120. I didn't imagine that such a device would be mounted on a ferrari vehicle.
I need to deactivate this alarm or cut the wiring to the buzzer. I would appreciate it if somebody could provide me with an idea on how to do this.
Thanks in advance.

TK

 

I think that you should bring the car to a experienced car electrician (or ferrari). Personally I wouldn´t fiddle with a F430´s wiring program.

Good luck and congratulations on the purchase!

 

Thanks Parham, I thought maybe it could be deactivated through an OBD-II diagnostic scanner or something similar.
There is nobody here in Egypt who is qualified to look into a Ferrari. If I can't deactivate it on my own, I don't mind having somebody qualified travelling to Cairo at my expense to perform this task.
I have attached a picture of my F430.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

There are many regional settings programed into the dashboard electronics.
I suspect you are experiencing something that was required by your government or possibly something that was required for another market and it was misprogrammed. If that is the case it can be changed with the SD3 but someone will have to hook up to your car to find out. A call to a Ferrari dealer in your part of the world could also answer the question if I am correct.

 

Thanks Brian. Yes, you are right. I talked to the agent in Qatar, where I bought it from and all cars imported into their country need to have this alarm. It's a country regulation. At the PDI it can be deactivated at the owner's request. They did not notify me, that is why I still have it and I was not aware that it had such an alarm. The only problem now is that they have some difficulties sending someone over to Cairo with a SD3 to deactivate it, so I am trying to find somebody elsewhere who can perform this task.

 

Hey Brian, ever been to Cairo?

 

what does your tag say?

 

I have the same color, great choice. Good luck with that ridiculous alarm.

 

If you want someone to go for a ride around your country with you and confirm that the alarm does go on at 120Km/Hr and stays on till till you reach redline in any gear, I am available, just send me a round trip ticket.

Doug

 

Tarek, congratulations on your new ride. Enjoy it in good health!

Your dealer in Qatar is correct. This can only be done by hooking the car to the SD. I had mine deactivated here at the local dealer in Kuwait. It took 3 minutes to do it. IMHO, you shouldn't let anyone else other than an authorized dealer try to do the job.

If it bothers you so much, you may have to ship the car to the nearest dealer, unfortunately. It looks like you’ll have to do that anyway for all maintenance. Also, I doubt there are many places in Egypt where you can safely go faster than 120 km/hr. And then, probably only for a few seconds at a time before you have to slow down.

Are you living in Egypt fulltime? If so, are you planning on keeping “nemar el gomrok” by shipping the car out and back in every 6 months, or are you eventually going to pay up? (Ouch, it hurts just to think about it! I understand it’s close to 300% for a V8)

It also hurts to think about that awesome car pushing its way through the tiny, run-down streets of Cairo!

 

Only if you are a tall blond

 

Well I was blonde, it's comming back, a much lighter color, some call it gray.

ah, Just send pictures of the drive around your country then.

Doug

 

Hi Omar,
Don't worry about the "nemar gomrok". There is a way to keep it full time in Egypt without requiring to take it out every six months and keeping the same plates. I do live in Cairo fulltime. I see you are aware of our local system. You come often? If you are interested to know how it works, let me know.
Yeah, I know our streets around the city are not well suited for such vehicles, but our highways are ok and I have been doing 300 km/hr with other vehicles on these highways without problems.
I spoke to the sales manager in Qatar again this evening and he will try to send someone to Cairo next week with the SD3 to deactivate the alarm. But I still need to have a backup plan incase that doesn't happen, so I am trying to locate someone else who will be willing to travel to Egypt with a SD3 and get it done. I will ofcourse carry all expenses involved.
Let me know if you come to Cairo. We will get together.

TK

 

Doug, you are always welcome to come, honestly. Have you ever been to our part of the world before?
I will gladly post some pictures of the drive around in the next few days.

 

Thanks, I do love the color.

 

Agreed,

I've been to Cairo and done extnsive travelling through Egypt. I cannot think of one road where a 430 would get good use. Every highway I travelled on was full of guys with donkey drawn carriages. We'd be cruising 50 or 60 mph on the highway and bam, there's a guy with a donkey in the middle of the 3 or 4 lane road.

Seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth to have that car there. Beautiful car none the less.

 

That's not true Jason. You must have driven on the roads through the agricultural areas. We have the new desert highway roads to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, which I travel often by car. Each is about 500km. I won't say they are perfectly smooth, but there aren't any donkeys there in the middle of the desert.

 

Any pics of the area? If the rat bastard politicians can't bring the world closer together maybe we can on F-chat

 

Tarek

You should give Karl Verdi a call. They frequently fly people out to do work on cars to areas with no dealer - only thing is they are not an official ferrari dealer so may void warranty. Details:http://www.verdiferrari.biz/contact.htm

I lived in Oman for many years and we had the same alarm at 120kph, my dad had a mercedes and when he bought it they disconnected it, a lot of people do this. I also lived in Cairo for a couple years but I was very young and don't remember it well! Oh, and nice car!!

 

I am Egyptian, lived in Egypt for 28 years up to 2002. I now visit Egypt about once every 2 years.

I can only agree with those who say there are absolutely no roads in Egypt where the F430 can be enjoyed. As you know, even the desert roads have people driving down the highway in the wrong direction just so they don't have to drive in the right direction to the nearest U-turn!

People routinely drive at night with no lights on whatsoever; some truck drivers even decorate their front headlights with red stickers and drive down the highway in the wrong direction at night with their lights on. The result of course is that anyone seeing them from a distance thinks they're seeing the tail end of a vehicle, only to be surprised later and have a second or 2 to avert a head-on collision!

Imagine this driving environment and then imagine how those desert (so called) highways having to twist around a desert mountain range in the middle of Egypt’s Eastern Desert province. It is practically suicide to take those roads at anything more than 100 km/hr in broad daylight and slowing down to 50 or 60 km/hr around the bends and even then, you’d be pushing it.

My wife and I always used to fly to any destination inside Egypt just to avoid driving. I lost 2 close friends of mine to horrific accidents on those roads in the last 10 years.

Tarek, many of us on this board take serious issue with breaking speed limits in Europe and the US, where roads are incomparably safer than Egyptian roads. Doing 300 km/hr in Egypt is (to me) unimaginable.

The F430 can best be enjoyed on a track. There are many open track days in Bahrain and Dubai where you can get to experience your car in a relatively safe and controlled environment. There are also a bunch of qualified and experienced performance driving instructors in both of those tracks that can teach you about breaking, turning, clipping the apex, etc. Those would be good places where you can expend a little bit of your need for speed.

 

Thanks Mark, I will definitely do that.

 

Well Omar, I will not argue with you. It's all relative. Next time you are coming to Cairo, let me know. I will be glad to get to know you in person.

 

I will post a few for you

 

who's your avatar ???

 

I have been fortunate to do a lot of traveling in North and South America, but have not had the chance to see your part of the world. Brian and my father had done a great deal of traveling before he passed away. The wife and I promised each other to see more of the world before we get too old.

One day, when things cool off a bit in the world, which we all hope is very soon, I hope to visit and spend a few weeks in your beautiful country...(especially if I can casually drive around at 300Km)

I look forward to your pictures

Doug