550 Alarm dash light always on

Here's a new one for everybody. After reading my workshop manual .... I discovered that on my 2000 Maranello w/9k miles, the small LED in the center dash area near the gas gauge shouldn't stay on all the time (I had assumed this was normal) ...... It appears to work correctly when I arm the alarm system, at start-up, etc...... but when driving it's always on. The manual says it should turn off during normal operation .... and only stay lit as an indication that a door, hood, gas lid, or the trunk isn't closed properly. But the MFD "multi-function display" always says everything is "OK".... and I've checked to ensure that all doors, etc. are closed tightly and that these sensors are working properly...... I'd think the same sensor signals feed the "MFD" and the alarm system ........

Any ideas? Any one else have this problem?

 

Thanks Doody .......

 

Thanks for the info ..... do you know what the exact fix is.... I'd like to fix this myself....... if possible. Is the NiCad battery inside the alarm ecu box under the passenger seat or somewhere else on the car...... My workshop manual doesn't show the NiCad's location ... and offers little info on the alarm system.

 

Thanks to "Doody" who pointed me in the right direction and then "Redhead" who provided some additional info .... this problem has been fixed. The standard issue with these alarms is they lose their charge when the cars battery drains or is shut off and the NiCads in the siren eventually go bad resulting in a fault signal being sent to the alarm ECU which makes the LED stay on to alert you there's a problem ... this is what I expected to find ......

R & R 'd the alarm siren. There's two small round NiCad batteries inside that were never intented to be replaced. The siren is a 5 inch square sealed unit with no way to open it except carefully sawing along the factory seam to seperate the two factory glued pieces that form the unit. Inside is a small circuirt board, the siren itself and two NiCad batteries (# Z3A120, 3.6 volts in series for 7.2 volts, each battery is about 1" round by 1/2" high). I had little success finding OEM replacement batteries, but did get a few hits on the internet from overseas companies...... The problem in my case was fairly heavy corrision on the batteries and battery contacts. There appeared to have been some light moisture in the unit at some point (but not flooded) .... I cleaned the batteries with a wire brush and electrical contact cleaner, and checked to see if they were still good... one read 1 Volt, the other 3 Volts ... Figured they were history ....but put the unit back together and connected the siren to the car to see if it would take a charge..... the Alarm light issue immediately worked correctly ..... after a few hours, I removed the siren unit, and checked the batteries again ..... they were now fully charged, showing 4 Volts each. Glued the unit back together this time with black silicon and put it back in the car ..... the alarm light now works as it should. Total cost to repair ..... "Zero" .... and better still ..... Ferrari didn't get $ 350 out of me for a new siren. If the batteries had been bad ... I was going to keep looking for OEM ones... or in the worst case .... buy radio shack NiCad battery packs totaling 7.2 volts and hard wire them to the circuit board contacts .... everything would fit inside the unit ..... and there's ample room for non-OEM batteries. Better than throwing the unit away.......

 

Redhead ..... The original batteries ended up being OK .... just bad contacts, some corrosion. Don't know who Bruce Wellington is......

Doody ..... thought about taking pictures ... but didn't .....it's a pretty simple procedure. If anyone would like a detailed explaination..... I'll be happy to provide.

Thanks,