458 - Can not open my 458 door! Pls help! | FerrariChat

458 Can not open my 458 door! Pls help!

Discussion in '458 Italia/488/F8' started by rogerq1771, Mar 26, 2020.

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  1. rogerq1771

    rogerq1771 Rookie

    Dec 28, 2017
    12
    Can not open my 458 door with the remote or the physical key! Pls help! Maybe battery flat , no alarm light blinking too.


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  2. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    May 21, 2006
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    I can only come up with one method to revive the car and open the doors. I've never personally done this, but if I were facing your situation, here is the method I would probably attempt first:

    If you look on page 183 of the owner's manual, it shows how to pop out the license plate light. Given that this bulb runs on 12 volts, this means the electrical leads for the license plate bulb are wired + and - to the battery of the vehicle. This being the case, you should be able to remove the lens, then jumper to the wires /socket in the bulb housing and trickle charge the battery back enough to at least open the hood and/or doors, etc.

    I would think the wire gauge going to the license plate light house be adequate to allow the trickle charger to revive things enough to open the doors after a few hours of charging and/or perhaps right away.

    I'd start by using a voltage meter on the terminals of the light fixture to see if you can obtain a voltage reading for the electrical system. I'd also suggest using a continuity setting to verity which is ground prior to attaching any sort of trickle charger in via the light bulb socket.

    Good luck!

    Ray
     
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  3. Hocakes

    Hocakes Formula Junior

    Apr 24, 2010
    451
    FL
    This assumes the parking lights or headlights are on to have juice to that circuit in the 1st place. The lights are presumably SWITCHED off so this won't work.
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  4. Il Co-Pilota

    Il Co-Pilota F1 Veteran

    May 29, 2019
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    If you're careful, you can open the door. Just "help" the rubber seals along a bit so you don't tear them. Note that you obviously need to open the passenger side door, as that's where the battery is.

    If you're in the US get this.
    https://www.summitracing.com/parts/brl-b7548

    If you're in Europe, get the Varta Silver Dynamic 77ah battery.
     
  5. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    #5 RayJohns, Mar 26, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2020
    Correct. But it also depends on which side of the circuit is being completed during switching too. If it's setup where the switch is on the negative chassis side of things, and the car turns the license plate light on by grounding back to the car's chassis, then the other leg would probably go directly back to positive. He's going to have to use a volt meter and check continuity to see what's going on. I don't have any sort of schematic for the 458, but I think it's worth a shot.

    Here's basically what I'm getting at. Definitely need to be careful not to blow anything up. The other option would be to drop the under body panels and tap back in directly through the starter leads, which should have a direct route back to the car's battery, if you jump over the starter solenoid.

    Myself, I'd give the license plate wires a check first just to see.

    Ray

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  6. Ianjoub

    Ianjoub Formula Junior

    Dec 22, 2019
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    Ian Joubert
    Did you try the passenger door? Did you try the key fob to see if you could release the front trunk. <<<< if that works it would discount the dead battery theory.
     
  7. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    The fact that there is no alarm LED blinking on the dash is probably not a good sign for the battery health.

    Ray
     
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  8. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    I found this in the work shop manual and combined a few pages of info into one photo.

    From what I can see, one side of the socket is hardwired to ground (not switched on the negative side). The other side goes back to something called the NBC or Body Computer Node. I assume this is the ECU which controls the lights near the back of the car or something. So if you attempt to do what I described above (trickle charge the car backwards through the license plate light), most likely you'll be provided power to the hot side of some computer printed circuit board and/or relay.

    Probably not a good idea.

    I think the second option is probably the best (if worse comes to work) and that's drop the panel and charge battery up via the cables that run to the starter. There may be other ways, but I don't know what they are off the top of my head.

    Ray


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  9. LVP488

    LVP488 F1 Rookie

    Jan 21, 2017
    4,839
    France
    What is strange is the impossibility to open the door with the physical key - it should be able to mechanically unlock the driver's door, which could then be open (carefully of course, because the window would not slightly go down to ease the opening if the battery is too low).
     
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  10. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    Yeah, I believe there is a cable in there, so you'd think the key would do it. I might be that he's not understanding that the window glass seals up against the top and thus the door needs to be pried open - aka, it's not just going to pop open like a normal car.

    To the OP, when you operate the key, listen by where the door latch is and see if you can hear it moving. If so, then try holding the key turned and then see if you can free the window from its sealed area up along the top of the door. That might be what's throwing you off, assuming the cable stuff in the door is operating correctly.

    Ray
     
  11. Il Co-Pilota

    Il Co-Pilota F1 Veteran

    May 29, 2019
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    This

    The lock is mechanical, not electric. This is one of the reasons it's there. Unless the lock is physically broken, then it should unlock and the door can be pried open.

    I've done it a few times on 458's and once on a 488. It does need a bit of force to get free of the seal. It is worth noting that once the door is open, there's no closing it until power is restored. It might be worth having a new battery ready so that the car does not sit unlocked in case the old battery cannot be boosted.
     
  12. Melvok

    Melvok F1 World Champ
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    Is the cable of your trickler still connected in the car ?
     
  13. Ianjoub

    Ianjoub Formula Junior

    Dec 22, 2019
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    This ^^^^^^^^^^

    Slam the door closed at your own peril. You may break the window.
     
  14. rogerq1771

    rogerq1771 Rookie

    Dec 28, 2017
    12
    Thks everyone who contributed.
    I called my local agent, they send over a ferrari road recovery van, the mechanic took out a long metal ruler with a hoot like end tip, inserted the ruler through the window rubber seal. He then used the hoot to reach to the inner door open handle and pull the handle to open the door. It only took him 1min in all.
    He than replaced the battery and gone. Leave me with an invoice of $700.


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  15. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
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    Sounds like fun. Did you confirm if your mechanical key works to unlock the latch yet?

    Ray
     
  16. Ianjoub

    Ianjoub Formula Junior

    Dec 22, 2019
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    Only $700, you got off easy :p
     
  17. rogerq1771

    rogerq1771 Rookie

    Dec 28, 2017
    12
    He explained once the car security system detected event such such a Total flat battery , it Sense it as a event of potential thief , and it will self protect and kind of lock down the whole car. You can’t even open the car with the key fob remotely or physically. Which just I felt was stupid.


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  18. Il Co-Pilota

    Il Co-Pilota F1 Veteran

    May 29, 2019
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    Heh. 700 bucks is initially cheap. The downside is that the car still has a Ferrari branded battery in it, so the timer is already counting down till this happens again.
     
  19. rogerq1771

    rogerq1771 Rookie

    Dec 28, 2017
    12
    I’m blessed that I am located in Singapore which is a small country. The agent office to my place is only 4km away. So basically they only charge me the battery cost. The rest are free service as a Ferrari owner.


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  20. rogerq1771

    rogerq1771 Rookie

    Dec 28, 2017
    12
    But to be fair, I have check to flat battery. It was last changed almost 3 years ago. So it is reasonable.


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