PIN code and remotes | FerrariChat

PIN code and remotes

Discussion in '348/355' started by Skiday, Nov 13, 2017.

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  1. Skiday

    Skiday Karting

    Feb 22, 2016
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    Isle of Wight, UK
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    Andrew Day
    #1 Skiday, Nov 13, 2017
    When I bought my 355 there were two black remotes with it, but only one worked. The seller said "Oh the other one needs a new battery" and like a chump, I fell for that. So having watched a brilliant video on YouTube by 'Specialized ECU Repair'

    I now know a lot more about the car's PIN and the remotes.

    However, I've been through all the books from when the car was new and sold in Germany, but there is no 4 digit PIN written down, and strangely, no place for it to be entered, and the particular dealership in question is no more. Here's the rub. Ferrari UK can (they say) provide the code, for £192.28 + VAT @ 20%. That's just giving me a very bad taste in my mouth. All that money to look up a code on the computer??? And not even a round amount, like the 28p is important on top of the £192. And to make it worse, even if I do shell out this outrageous amount (£230.74), there is no guarantee that it will still be correct, as it is possible someone may have changed it in the past.

    It is a common thing to see adverts for the Fiat Coupe (my other Italian stallion) with the words "Has the important RED key", when in actual fact the red key no longer has any special use (it would have been used by Fiat to upgrade software when new or nearly new, now the car is dead to them). I haven't seen the words "Has the important RED fob" in a 355 ad. Is it a well known thing in the 355, 360, 456, 550 & 575 world that you must have the red fob or the PIN code?

    What is the make of the 355 alarm?

    Would anybody like to work out how many turns of the key it would take to try 9999 different combinations starting the car manually without the fob?:confused:
     
  2. emac

    emac Formula Junior
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    ernest
    #2 emac, Nov 13, 2017
  3. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    #3 Dave rocks, Nov 13, 2017
  4. WATSON

    WATSON Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #4 WATSON, Nov 13, 2017
    Gobble has this all handled for us. :)
     
  5. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    #5 Dave rocks, Nov 13, 2017
    Yes he does. He is flying to my house to do mine as soon as we can coordinate. Or should I say, as soon as I stop working 7 days a week...
     
  6. WATSON

    WATSON Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #6 WATSON, Nov 13, 2017
    You are making him work too hard. I just drove down to his. :)
     
  7. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    #7 Dave rocks, Nov 13, 2017
    The truth is he wanted to come here at least 10 times already and I just couldn't swing it. New paint booth arrives 1st week of December. Once operational I'm hiring so I can get my life back and back to my project 355 ;)
     
  8. Skiday

    Skiday Karting

    Feb 22, 2016
    111
    Isle of Wight, UK
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    Andrew Day
    #8 Skiday, Nov 14, 2017
    So I got a reply from 'Specialized ECU Repair' to the enquiry I sent them. £575 to extract the code + $575 to sell me one red and one black fob, + $175 to programme 3 fobs. In the video linked above Gobble take 2'30" to programme 3 fobs. That means 'Specialized ECU Repair' are asking $4200 per hour!!! And I thought Ferrari main dealers were expensive! If he were charging an hourly rate the same as a Ferrari specialist of about $120-140 p/h then he would be spending 4 to 5 hours working on the immobiliser, and I can't believe that. Surely he links it to a laptop and it pretty much does the rest. It's just taking advantage of those who are perceived as having money because they have a Ferrari. I am not a rich man because I have a Ferrari, an Aston-Martin and an E-type, I am a poor man (but happy) because I have a Ferrari, an Aston-Martin and an E-type.

    I havn't got a quote from Ferrarifobs yet, but let's hope it's a bit more down-to-earth (although if he's flying to his clients perhaps not).
    His site says "We're conveniently located in Milwaukee, WI USA". I guess that's convenient if you live in Milwaukee, a little less so if you're in the UK!
     
  9. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    #9 Dave rocks, Nov 14, 2017
    Andrew - it's not the time to provide the solution - it's the time and cost to develop the solution and the rather minimal market.

    And, Mark is flying to me because we are friends ;)
     
  10. yelcab

    yelcab F1 World Champ
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    #10 yelcab, Nov 14, 2017
    So you don't think the 1000 hours he spent to figure out what 64 bit coded words are your PIN is worth anything? Typical. Please spend your money with the dealer. You will be happier.
     
    WATSON and emac like this.
  11. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    #11 Dave rocks, Nov 14, 2017
    Andrew - I should add in Mark's video he is just illustrating how to learn an immobilizer with new FOB's. To retrieve a PIN is much more work requiring desoldering a chip, etc. Mark's services are very reasonable for what he provides.
     
  12. WATSON

    WATSON Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #12 WATSON, Nov 15, 2017
    Mark does this as a hobby. He makes waaaay more money at his day job I assure you.

    Mark has done the research and invested in some tools. The process and service works and his cost is reasonable.

    Your snarky comment about his location is interesting. What is your point?

    Your second snarky comment about Mark flying out to see Dave is pretty misguided. Mark and Dave have been talking online & offline for years...like many of us. I assure you the cost of the airfare and hotels is covered by the day job and not the fob repair business.

    Perhaps you might consider waiting past your 13th post before tossing backhanded insults at members that make our cars better.
     
  13. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    #13 Dave rocks, Nov 15, 2017
    Yours truly ;)
     
  14. WATSON

    WATSON Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #14 WATSON, Nov 15, 2017
    Well, then I'll meet you guys out there! :)
     
  15. WATSON

    WATSON Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #15 WATSON, Nov 15, 2017
    I have been meaning to do this for awhile but have been to damn busy. I just got home and had to try it today.

    The previous fob "cloning" process we did a few years back left my cloned fob in-op as it had lost sequence over time and was not connecting.

    On June 30th Gobble re-set my PIN and generated three new remotes. Two black and one red.

    I have only used the one black fob since. Numerous trips, starts and stops over the summer and fall.

    So, now the test, will the other fobs work?

    Yup. First try on the red and second black fob.

    :)
     
  16. yelcab

    yelcab F1 World Champ
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    #16 yelcab, Nov 15, 2017
    That alone is worth the money. The previous Ferrari solution was $2,000.
     
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  17. Loser

    Loser Formula Junior

    Apr 11, 2008
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    Gilroy, CA
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    #17 Loser, Nov 17, 2017
    I can confirm that Mark's service works perfectly.

    The red fob that I received from the previous owner with my 1997 F355 Spider wasn't working properly and I only had one working black fob.

    I sent my immobilizer and 2 fobs (1 red, 1 black) to Mark and he read the PIN from the immobilizer, reprogrammed the red fob, and programmed a 2nd black fob for me.

    I now have 1 working red fob and 2 working black fobs. I just re-installed the immobilizer back into my car today and everything is working.

    And best of all, this is not a cloning service, so I don't have to re-synchronize my keys periodically.

    - Tom
     
  18. Beetle

    Beetle Formula Junior

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    #18 Beetle, Nov 18, 2017
    I use immofixer in Australia fantastic service.
     
  19. greyboxer

    greyboxer F1 World Champ

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    #19 greyboxer, Nov 18, 2017

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