Congrats and welcome to the club! Enjoy!!
on the regular 612 (not OTO), the connector is in the same place on the right behind a small panel that you can easily half screw and pop off. . . the charger is originally a ctek charger but plug is slightly different. So you can make an adapter as above or make an adapter and pigtail it to a ctek charger. You will want to keep the trunk cracked open when using the charger. While there is a trunk release behind the driverside rear seat, it sometimes doesn't work or gets binded (you might want to check it). I had mine go dead and the trunk release wouldn't release to get to the battery terminals. . Dealer came out with flatbed to take it back and get that resolved.
Hi George, It was nice meeting you today for the Forza Magazines. Your car looks great in the photos! Hope to see you at a local Ferrari Club event real soon. Gary
I'm a new owner of a 612 and have similar questions about the battery tender. The previous owner left the charger in the trunk as well as the cover thankfully. My question is do you have to turn off the battery switch that is next to the port before plugging in? The switch looks like a key. I have a pigtail and the port. Assuming either one can be used?
No, leave the red kill switch on. Turning it off will reset everything, the emission monitors etc. The pigtail is likely not OEM, but added to the battery by a previous owner who wanted to use a different battery tender. The OEM port has the added safety feature, of preventing the engine from starting if the battery tender is connected to it. There are instructions on here how to wire a connector to allow connection of any battery tender to the OEM port.
The OEM port is nice, but the CTEK chargers are not the best. That's why my car has a second pigtail... I've heard of these instructions to connect to the original port, but never seen them.
It’s not. Taz in another thread pointed out that it is just a 5 minute job of plugging the vacuum line. My dealer did it for free and it significantly improves the sound. Here is Taz’s prior post: Ron- Affirmative, the same thing will work for the 612. I am pretty sure your valves are fail open, like the 599, so all that is required is pulling the vacuum lines and capping/plugging them. Another possibility is finding a set of HGTS/HGTC rear mufflers, which definitely sound better and even look better with the twin wall tailpipes. This is a friend's old HGTS with the bypass valves open.
If you take out the panel in the trunk floor (where the optional spare goes) there is another panel below that. I removed it when I got my car and found all kinds of goodies (tool kit, air pump, etc.). You might want to check it out.
Yeah if you look under the rear bumper between the silencer and the tailpipe there is a little hose on the vacuum actuator for the bypass valve. If you pluck the hose and screw a bolt into it you are done and the sound in idle / low range will improve significantly. This is assuming that there isn't any difference between the HGTS and the standard OTO exhaust plumbing. Mine is a non-HGT2 OTO and it made a big difference. There are no performance or emissions issues os far and it has been a while since I did the mod. If I can figure out how to load a video, I'll do it.
Mine had no check engine light or other issues, sounds much better, and recently passed California smog with no problems. Don’t know why you wouldn’t do it.
If you don't have the special "Ferrari" plug for the tender outlet, they are available on ebay for about $65. I just ordered one earlier this week. The plug will fit any modern ctek charger/tender. The original charger/tender that was an option with the car is a basic model ctek with Ferrari graphics on it. They are available on ebay as well for $300 - $400 with the special plug. I opted to go with a better model charger (MUS 4300) which has more features and add the Ferrari plug. This package is also available on ebay for about $140. It doesn't have the Ferrari graphics but its a better charger at half the price.
Update to my prior post about the "Ferrari" plug for the CTEK charger. There are two available on EBay that I can see. The newer magnetic one for the 488, etc and an older one that is listed for the 612 that may fit the 260, 430, etc. The one sent to me that is listed to fit the 612 DOES NOT fit the 612. Looking on Ricambi, there were two different battery plugs for the 612. Maybe this plug fits the very early ones but is not the same plug for my '06. I'm checking with the vendor to see if they have the correct one for the 612
