HELP! Alarm won't go off, and I've lost both keys/fobs!

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean? If you are implying that my buddy didn't save money in the long run by not getting extra keys, that's a long story too. He bought his car from a dealer, who promised him a second set of keys. It took days, and the dealer said he would either find the original set of original keys or buy new keys for him. Never got them.

On a similar note, I have another friend who bought a car from the dealer, and received two sets of keys. After hearing this story, he went out and tested the second set. The second set doesn't work... he's guessing the dealer switched his second set with someone else's. So, if any of you have a spare set you haven't tried yet, go test it!

 

UPDATE:
Shelton tried the original alarm code, and it didn't work. So, the next step is replacing the alarm ECU's. My buddy told them to go ahead and order it on Tuesday, Feb. 12th. ETA for part would be 2-6 weeks, cost around $1700. So, rather than keep it at Shelton any longer (car has been without a key since November 1, 2007), he was going to have a friend pick it up (via car carrier) and store it at his house and play with the key code sequence. Called Shelton to tell them the truck is on its way, and got a call back saying that the alarm ECU part just arrived today, Feb. 14th. Hopefully it'll be installed and the car will work. If not, I guess he'll have to order a new Motronic ECU.

 

Simple, he doesn't participate in these online forums and I do. As a friend, I told him I'd help him out. From what he relayed, it sounded like it was worth getting a second opinion. I'm just trying to present the facts. This is probably his 8th Ferrari or so, and it wouldn't be the first time a dealer tried to take advantage of him (not saying that Shelton is, just trying to see if anyone else has been in the same situation and how they solved it). Perfect example of this: same guy has a Murc, battery died and dealer wanted $1000 to reprogram the key to sync with the alarm. Posted on the forums, and voila the key sync takes 30 seconds to do with a few button presses.

Daniel - Thanks for the support. You and Ricambi have been great (as always) in not only supplying parts quickly but also giving great info on the forums.

 

Shelton ended up replacing the alarm ECU's and swapping the Motronic ECU's, and it worked.

This implies the old alarm ECU didn't work (or they had the incorrect original alarm code from FNA) even though this was the first key switch (since the Motronic swap worked).

Shelton originally thought that the previous owner could have possibly switched keys and never updated the code with FNA, but that doesn't seem to be the case since the Motronic swap worked.

 

Good question:

If you have an original black remote, do you need the original pin code to reprogram a NEW set of red and black fobs?

I think if you don't have the original red fob, you'll need the pin code. IE, I think either the red fob or the original pin code is needed to enter the alarm ECU into "learning mode" to reprogram other fobs.

You can buy the original pin code from FNA assuming your alarm has never been changed before. If you don't have the pin or red fob, start off by buying a new alarm ECU first, and try swapping the Motronic ECU's. Swapping will work ONLY IF the alarm ECU has never been changed before. Each ECU can only be written once. There are two Motronic ECU's, so after changing your alarm once (which means you swap the Motronics to write to the virgin Motronic) you will have to buy one new Motronic ECU each time you change the alarm ECU.

 

Are you positive that the red fob is not enough to put the alarm ECU into relearn mode, or at least to add new black fobs? I was confused by the instructions... it says the red fob can be used to program new black fobs.