Any 550 owners ever have an ABS/ASR computer die?

Apparently, mine it now tits-up. $2100 plus labor. ****ing highway robbery, especially since this is a non-wear item buried in the passenger footwell, well away from the heat of the engine bay.

Anyone else have this happen???

 

I've never seen ANY ECU in any Ferrari ever genuinely blow up beyond repair on it's own.

I've seen bad diagnosis techniques blow them, and I've seen bad connections diagnosed as ECU problems, but never a genuine ECU failure on it's own.

Maybe I've just missed them, but I really urge a second opinion, and/or swap to/from a known good car before committing to the spend.

What's the symptoms??

 

Speedometer does not work
Odometer does not work
ABS does not work
ASR does not work
Lots of warning lights
Yet the car otherwise drives perfectly

 

So whatsa problem? Get out some black masking tape to cover the lights, and you're good to go.

At the risk of being very simplistic have you checked the fuses and connectors?

Dr "I've had too many years of dealing with the Prince of Darkness" Who

 

Yes, all fuses are OK, all connections are OK.

 

I heard that a battery cable was loose, caused voltage drops. That'll kill a PC, so I think that is root of evil. Or, I'm full of cr@p.

 

No battery cable was loose when the problem appeared. I literally checked every electrical connector I could find all over the car.

 

Before spitting out the 2.1K, I'd ask the dealer to demonstrate through a quick swap with a 550 on his lot that the problem does indeed follow the suspected culprit.
Crashed Maranellos fortunately don't abound, but the US market must be large enough to find 2nd hand spares of that nature ?

 

OK, I'm full of cr@p!

 

I have seen a few ECU's go bad but not many and as I emailed you, never one of those. Other than that I mirror Phil's statement. Somebody else said to swap with another car, that is what should be done. Find a doner and try it. I know it is easy to say from 1000 miles away but it sounds like a harness connector is loose or corroded.

 

It's always easy for the guy that doesn't have to do the job.

 

What is important here is to test as many circuits as possible from the ECU connection.

It's possible a chafed wire or other problem is causing a short circuit, and to do a swap may cause further grief that can be avoided.

Disconnect the plug and measure resistances through all the wheel speed sensors, power in and ground etc. Cover as many as you can.

Maybe Malcolm can help with a wiring diagram of the ECU and pin locations...

I think 1 faulty wheel speed sensor or connection could cause all your faults, or any number of simple problems.

Maybe get a good independant auto electrician to help with diagnosis.

 

Yeah, good advice, folks. Thanks.

They say they have tested all 4 wheel speed sensors, and all check out. But the SD2 cannot get any signal whatsoever back from the ABS/ASR computer.

While a new one comes over from Italy (3-4 weeks, if you can believe that), I am pursuing a parallel path to secure a used ABS/ASR computer, as long as the computer from a 1997 Maranello is identical to that of my 2000 Maranello.

 

Swapping ecu's should tell you whether it is your ecu or something in the car that is causing the error codes, assuming you are sure the new ecu is good.
Finding the root of an ecu problem seems to be a preocess of elimination to the tune of $100.00 per hour to run down the culprit. The problem usually is that of multiple error codes and checking each error and possibly adjusting or fixing that error and seeing if new codes develop then.
I just went through that again for the second or is it third time.
First time was rebuilt ecu;s that did not fix it. Second time was new software (software update) into my original ecu's that did not fix the problems. It actually made it worse. Third time was reloaded orginal software into my original ecu's that seemd to fix the problem for a month. First three tries- cost of about 5.5K. That included two O2 sensors. Time-6 weeks.
This last time, one more O2 sensor after rebalancing the throttles. Two weeks and 1K.
The funny part is that my car has always run superb even with all the error codes and lights.
Listen to Dr. Who- If it runs great, unplug the damn lights and forget about them.
I am convinced that the weakness in these 550's is the electronics. The ecu warnings will bleed you dry from diagnostic time and never knowing the source of the problem. Too many critical minute adjustments that may trigger the error codes seem to be the weakness in the car according the the dealer.
FNA recently told me that an unsynchronized throttle will cause the ecu's to throw error codes.
Good luck

 

Unsynchronized throttle ? Can you pls elaborate ?

 

Update: they say they tested all connectors pin by pin, and all check out.

Also, the new unit will be here in approx. 10 days from Italy.

Finally, they will temporarily swap in an ECO from another Maranello if one is available in the shop.

 

Sure Shark:
From my understanding, the new maranellos are the same as old Daytonas in that the motor is like two 6 cylinder engines. They check each bank and then there is a throttle control to each side or each bank. I believe it is still cable actuated. They should open and close at the same rate and be indentical. If one side is not the same, then it becomes more pronounced as the rpm's increase.
In the old days we used to use mercury tubes to check that they were the same. Now they have a different means of measuring the sides but the concept is the same.
If they are not in synch supposedly you would feel a miss ( I did not even at over 160) and this may result in error codes with the ecu's.
After my care was fixed again, it ran the same except with no error codes. I noticed no difference at even higher speeds.
My personal feeling is that no dealer or FNA understand just how the ecu;s are effected by anomolies with the 550. They just keep running diagnostics and looking for the culprit and use a process of elimination.

 

That sounds pretty conclusive, I hope (sort of) the ECU fixes it.

 

The best way to balance is still with mercury columns and in fact the older dealers (if they have not broken them) have a very nice set that Ferrari sold to them back in 85.

If the banks are not in sync what you have is 2 six cyl engines running at different power levels. Unless it is out a great deal the driver will never notice anything. At some point before you will notice it however the engine management system can set one or more errors. One of the problems that must be remembered is that most of the error thresholds are determined by the boys in the white lab coats that work for the EPA and not somebody that is actually all that aware what goes on under the hood in the real world. That is part of the reason many of the things Dave Helm and I and Ferrari Doctor say and some of the things you guys experience on the cars in the U.S. make no sense to the guys in Europe and Australia. Their cars are electronically very different.

You are partially correct in your statement that FNA and the dealers are not aware how the systems are effected by anomolies. As hard as it is to believe Bosch is very closed mouth as to what goes on with their systems. Ferrari Spa tells FNA every thing they know and FNA tells the dealers everything they know but it aint always much. Again it is partially a problem caused by the boys in the white lab coats establishing parameters of operation of a whole bunch of sensors and actuators that need to work in harmony. The problem begins when you take all the junk out of the lab and turn it loose out in the real world. Things are different out here, what is in reality normal operation may be just slightly outside of established parameters and bingo you get a light. The whole rest of the world for the most part does not have to put up with that. I won't say who but I do know of many instances when a problem car had an ongoing problem with check engine lights that ECU reprogramming was done to raise the thresholds to the point that that stupid light will never come on. I have worked on a few cars that were so resistant to a check engine light I would have had to pull 3 spark plugs to trigger it.

Sorry for the hijack. You are back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

Thanks for the informative post RIfledriver.
I would love to learn how and where to raise my ecu parameters so that I never see a check engine light again
Maranelloman: I hope your ecu fix works.

 

Sorry but that is one capability that the manufacturers keep a monoply on.

 

Well Mr. MM the good news is we found out what is wrong with the car. The bad news is the most expensive part broke.


Believe me it could be worse.

 

LOL...I know, I know. It's just that I have not been able to document ANY other examples of the ABS/ASR computer in a 550 failing, ever.

 

First I ever heard of, thats why I would try real hard to find one to borrow for a few minutes.

 

Trying...trying...