F430 Engine Immobilizer Problem

Hello Fellow Ferrari Owners:

This morning I got up early to drive my 2009 F430 GT (Gated Transmission) vehicle down to the local "Cars and Coffee" here in SoCal. Since the service light was showing I needed air in the tires; I first drove to the local service station to top of the tires with the correct air pressure.

After doing so I got back into my car but it wouldn't start as I noticed a symbol of the Engine with a "padlock" superimposed over it. The symbol was indicating the "Engine Immobilizer" was not recognizing the proper code needed to allow the engine to start. Additionally the check engine light was showing as well.

So the first thing i did was to try a second spare key, but still no go. I next read in the operator's manual that I needed to follow the manual start procedure by entering the appropriate code from the code card into the system starting with the first number on the code card by stopping the blinking symbol when the flashing symbol matched the number shown on the card. And then do the same for the following four numbers and the car should start, noting that this is the only way the car will start "manually" until a reprogramming has occurred.

To initiate this process you must put the key in the vehicle's ignition switch and turn it to the #2 position and then hold down the gas pedal for 8 seconds at which time the symbols on the dash should extinguish and then by releasing the pedal the symbols should blink a number of times and to stop the blinking when that number of blink matches the first digit on the code card.

The only problem was the symbols never extinguished preventing me from even starting the vehicle manually. I therefore had to call a flatbed tow truck and have the car hauled to the local Dealer.

Has anyone else had this problem? What triggered it, and how was it finally resolved?

All responses most welcome.

Thank You,

johnfe

 

Bob in Texas:

Hello Bob,

First of all thanks for your response, much appreciated. When the car was delivered to me from Ferrari of Salt Lake City, about 2 years ago I noticed that they had installed a new Optima Red Top 34R battery in the vehicle. But after reading about the Ferrari battery tender, where they stated it really wasn't made for acid gel type batteries one of the first things I did was to buy a brand new Exide L5/49X Acid Flooded Battery from Home Depot, which incidentally has the best prices on car batteries ($119.00), and install it in my vehicle.

So the battery is only 22 months old and has always been connected to the Ferrari Battery Tender which has always faithfully kept the battery at full charge so I highly doubt whether the battery is the culprit. Note, I have attached the specification sheet for the battery I put in the car. This vehicle was basically brand new and only had 3,927 miles on it's clock when I bought it, and was in mint condition, so it really shouldn't have an engine immobilizer that's failing, as I can only imagine they are very expensive? The vehicle now has about 4,200 miles on its clock.

I'm hoping they will be able to reprogram the PATS unit from their 'Leonardo Diagnostic Tool.' Or if it's part of the ECU that they can simply reprogram that as well? Since I left it at Ferrari South Bay in Torrance, CA Service Department:

http://ferrarisouthbay.com/service/

I guess I'll find out on Monday what the problem is. I'm hoping that it won't be a real expense part that has failed on the vehicle since it's still like brand new!!

What was unusual was it wouldn't even allow me to start the vehicle with the manual procedure which I read as an ominous sign.

I would just like to know what triggered this problem in the first place as I don't want to ever have to go through this situation again.

Thanks again for your thoughts,

johnfe

 

To: Mike32, Flyingbrick242, 360trev, Bob in Texas, and howl:

Thanks for all you comments. I've searched this forum and also *********** as well. What I've found is it's all over the board on this issue with no real definitive answers. The folks that talk about an Immobilizer issue mention a Bosch unit but it's always in reference to the F360 and not the F430 so I don't know if it's the same in the F430 model. Seems to me this should be as easy as reprogramming a EEPROM (Electrical Erasable Programmable Ram Only Memory) on the ECU. If that's the case perhaps the Dealership needs to also have my second key available as well. I also read their Leonardo must be a SD3 version in order to accomplish the reprogramming.

Fortunately, I do have a good working relationship with the local dealer as we've had cordial correspondence back and forth involving another issue on my vehicle. I'm also in agreement with howl, as I can't recall reading where anyone had any success with utilizing the "Manual Override Procedure" which I truly find most disturbing!! Because without this you can't even drive your vehicle away from where it has left you stranded! When I got the car to my Dealer, Daniel who helped me push the vehicle into their service bays laughed and said "Just be glad you have a Manual, that's the good news for you." When I asked why he stated if you had an F1 you wouldn't be able to even move the car. How sad, if he's right about this as I wouldn't know, because they would need the "Manual Override" more than anyone else would!

Before the tow truck came the guys at Hagerty Insurance assured me I would get the "White Glove Treatment" from the towing company they would provide which turned out to be true, as they had a folding FlatBed with hydraulically operated separate sections allowing them to vary the degree angle as they whenched the vehicle up onto the bed as to not damage the underbelly of the nose of the vehicle. I was impressed!! Fortunately I was there though to prevent them from attaching straps around the tie rods as I quicking got out the tow hook attachment and showed them how to screw it in to the front of the car. Dodged that bullet! LOL!!

Most importantly, I would like to know what triggered this event in the first place, and would also like a confirmation of the proper "Manual Override Procedure" by intentionally disabling the immobilizer for further proof that the "Manual Override Procedure" has been repaired as well. Without providing that assurance I would consider the repair as only being half fixed once the car's proper programming allowed it to start once again. For me, I must have assurance that if I ever encountered this problem again in the future, God forbid, I must be assured I have a "work around" that will indeed work as well; so to never leave me stranded where I can't get my vehicle back home without calling a Tow Truck!

In conclusion I agree with howl, as it's quite unusual that no one was able to make the manual override work perhaps pointing to a improperly outlined procedure in the operator's manual, probably due to a translation misunderstanding.

Thanks everyone,

johnfe

PS. I have attached several helpful documents I downloaded while searching out this issue.

 

f355spider:

Item no longer available. Before buying the current battery which is only 20 months old, I bought a Schumacher Battery Load tester from Amazon to add to my tool arsenal, however I had to return it because I could not get the dial indicator to properly "zero out" before initiating the testing procedure. What you are stating might indeed be of a concern, because when I first got the car my Ferrari battery tender, it would always have the red LED indicator illuminated never changing to green as it's supposed to indicating the battery is fully charged. My concern was overcharging the battery because this can damage a battery as well. However, I did note that if I would unplug it and plug it back in it would then lite up the green LED indicating it was indeed in the fully charged mode, but after several days was back to just showing the red LED and once again if I unplugged it would then lite up the green LED.

The general consensus was it was only a LED problem in the Ferrari battery tender and it was not over charging the battery, but who really knows for sure? Indeed something that should be checked out.

Thanks,

johnfe

 

Ingenere:

In consideration of the most depressing situation you've outlined I guess the first place one should check out would be the fuses and relay units pertaining to the immobilizer unit which may be the problem.

I thought solid state components were supposed to last a long time. If they put them in Fiats and also in Alfas as you describe, did they also anticipate a short life for those cars as well?? Just saying....

After all my vehicle is a 2009 Ferrari with only about 4.2K on it's clock which is minimal at best. Therefore the duration of time these components have been under load is very short all things considered. How could time alone be a variable factor when considering the life of solid state components? What am I missing here??

johnfe

 

f355spider:

Having already experienced letting an acid flooded battery lose it's complete charge in my 2003 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage (due to when I stored it in a storage facility due to its security system drain while my driveway was being repaired and having a new garage door installed) , I was already aware of how much damage this could cause this type of a battery, reducing its life by half every time this happens. No electrical capabilities at the storage facility for the 30 days it sat and at the time I was unaware of the battery disconnect button. So I was a savvy buyer when I purchased the one for my Ferrari, as well as the new one I put in my DB7. Both batteries were bought from Home Depot at $119.00 each and I also checked the dates on each of them when I bought them as well as checking the voltages of each before even installing them.

Therefore, I never allowed this battery to ever go perhaps below 95% of its original charge as it was always kept on a battery tender from day one. Unless the tender was bad I'm confident my battery was in excellent condition. As to the batteries in my Key Fobs about 6 months ago I replaced all the batteries in all the key fobs for every car I own. So suffice to say I don't think there was a problem with them either. I had no problem using the main one or the spareone to lock and unlock the doors multiple times. When it was dropped off at the Dealer an employee of the dealership wanted to try something and he stood outside the vehicle and armed and unarmed the vehicle in rapid succession 3 times before getting in and trying the key once again but to no avail.

However, under the current circumstances I was unable to check the 2 fuses which supply power to the engine immobilizer and was also unable to check the engine immobilizer relay as well. My guess would be that's the first place one might want to rule out perhaps even before hooking it up to an appropriate scan tool.

I thank you for your input and thoughts on this topic. It's really got me stumped and baffled because of the newest on my vehicle. I guess tomorrow I'll know more from the Dealer once they have an opportunity to review the problems with my vehicle. I've already written the Service Manager an Email outlining the conditions in which this occurred and will fire it off to him at about 7:45 AM tomorrow morning because sometimes Emails received on the weekends are often overlooked.

Thanks again,

johnfe

 

360trev:

Thanks for your information, I liked the wiring connectors. If your talking about electrolytic capacitors I know what you mean about the rating as I recently replaced some in my computer monitor where I got them from digikey. While looking at the hours ratings I saw quite a difference between cheap ones verses paying a little bit more.

skylar:

Yes I'll be sure to post the fix. So far this morning I received an Email stating the car started right up. Only to receive a second Email stating that they were getting it to act up as the problem is definitely intermittent. They noted that the tire pressure fault indicator is still staying on, which was the initial reason for driving to the service station where the immobilizer kicked in and left me stranded. I believe that the tire pressure fault indicator will only go out after the car is driven a short distance after filling with air. Can anyone else confirm this is the way it works? I also noticed this was an option so I guess not everyone will have experience with the tire pressure fault indicator.

Thanks insightful,

johnfe

 

360trev:

Thank you for this information and your suggestions. I have attached a PDF document which shows the schematics of the Electrical Devices which incidentally includes the, alarm, brake, airbag, suspension control, immobilizer, tire pressure control, and electronic differential systems. See if any on this is helpful to what you're working on. I also am including a PDF document showing the index of the various functional diagrams so you can see how they are grouped together. Let me know what other groups of these functional schematic diagrams may be of interest to you after reviewing the Index.

johnfe