ferrari 550 maranello interfacing

Hello everyone, I'm a new member here, and a 550 Maranello owner.

First, I see there have been a number of requests on this site for 550 Maranello wiring diagrams, and I do have them, such as they are, and would be happy to share them. However once you see their quality, you may feel you're no better off than without them. Their quality is certainly not up to the standards of other European OEM's, and are nowhere near as good as the Japanese. Anyway, the offer is there if you're interested; now here's what I'm looking for :)

A number of us want to interface to our alarm/immobiliser systems on these car to expand their capabilities a bit, and I'm hoping to find some help from the brain trust here. First a little background:

Most of the late model Ferraris (both V8's and V12's) use an integrated Bosch ECU + immobilser package that operates on 315 Mhz for the USA, and uses rolling code technology. The keyless entry fobs are the single button type, so you press it once to arm the immobiliser and alarm system, and press it again to disarm. The system on these cars does not use a "smart" key. The system is similar/identical to that on certain Porsches of the same time period, as well as some of the European Ford products.

One of the less than charming "features" of the 550 and the 575 is there is no trunk release button on the keyfob. Nor is there a lock cylinder on the trunk lid to release the trunk with a key. The only way of releasing the trunk lid is by opening one of the doors, reaching in and pushing a trunk release button on the dashboard which electrically releases it (there is also a manual pull cable hidden on the rear shelf, if/when you become really desperate and the electrical release doesn't work) So imagine you've just been to the grocery store (yes, some people do go to the grocery store in their Ferrari) and you're walking out with two bags of groceries to put in your trunk. First you have to put the groceries down on the ground (you'd never put them on the rear trunk lid), then you disarm the immobiliser, open the door, reach in and hit the trunk release button, then walk back around to the rear and put your groceries in the trunk. Pretty laughable for an exotic car that cost over $250,000 when new.

So some of us are interested in sourcing new, multibutton keyfobs where we could have an extra channel or two of control to open these trunk lids, once the main immobiliser is disarmed, however we've been discouraged by others in the tech community who believe the Bosch rolling code system for our immobilisers is nearly unbreakable.

What say you folks?

I could be wrong here, but I don't believe any of the companies make a data style bypass for nearly any Ferrari. However, (and this is where I could be wrong) a universal style bypass (ie 556uw) should work fine since it is not a smart key setup. I would imagine it would probably end up being similar to the Euro vehicles where you tie directly into the factory immobilizer ring... but again, I could be wrong. As for trunk, that *should* be easy. Go directly to the button and test to see what happens when you press it. This will tell you whether it is a (-) to release or (+) to release. I would play it safe either way and use a relay to isolate it from the switch... just incase there is a resting voltage on the circuit.Kenny

Owner / Technician

KKD Garage LLC

Albany, NY 12205

Kenny, thanks for your reply. As I'm not an expert in the area of auto alarms and immobilisers, I appreciate any and all suggestions.

What about these multichannel "universal" learning remotes, and clones - can they possibly be used to clone the one channel remote I have, then I could use the other channels for popping the trunk, etc.? Or are they essentially just junk and not worth the trouble?

One solution suggested by another owner is to use one of our existing Bosch fobs, and embed it into a 2nd aftermarket type system. The fobs for the new system would activate the new receiver/relay, which would  then be wired to "press"  the Bosch fob button. Seems like a Rube Goldberg way of doing it, but if the Bosch setup is really that secure, it may be the only practical way.

Interfacing factory fobs is not the easiest thing in the world. Your best bet would be to look through some wiring diagrams and possibly add an aftermarket unit that will have the alarm, keyless entry, and additional outputs (trunk, etc).Kenny

Owner / Technician

KKD Garage LLC

Albany, NY 12205

You would be best off adding an aftermarket keyless entry / alarm system that has AUX channels already built in. You face a multitude of problems trying to adapt the factory system to work. The first issue is with the transmitter. It is set up to be a secure one channel transmitter. The manufacturer is most likely using a commonly available secure protocol that was designed from the ground up to be extremely secure - meaning that replicating the remote, with the same code hopping algorithm will be nearly impossible. However, say you do, and you add a second channel to transmit "trunk pop" command. The in car receiver is not set up to receive, decode, and/or output the command. You would need to redesign both the transmitter and receiver. At that point, you are best off just adding an aftermarket system.Kevin Pierson

X 2 with what KP says, I've been involved with these, the electrics for the body control are basically a Marelli version of the Siemans BMW units with similar protocols. It's frankly easier and less invasive (= wasted/lost money) to add an alarm with those facilities. About 25 years ago Italian car alarms were all we had in Europe but they never evolved with facilities like aux outputs and timers, then along came Clifford in the early 90s and swept them away.

Thanks Howie & KP,

Actually Ferrari have learned a few things since the bad old Marelli days (Marelli = Italian version of Lucas), one of which is to use more German and Japanese products in their cars ,  so this immobiliser system is Bosch, and it's exactly the same (except perhaps for firmware) as the Bosch system on the 993 Porsche and several Ford Europe products (Scorpio/Probe/Mondeo). The Ferrari system carries Bosch's P/N: 9 330 065 172, and they refer to it as a Type VIM 172. I don't have the references for the Porsche 993 system, but I know for a fact the fobs are interchangeable as I have one which has been cloned to my Ferrari system. I do get some strange looks occasionally because of my Porsche key fob with the Porsche logo dangling off my Ferrari ignition key which has the prancing horse logo. People ask if I own both cars and I usually say "no, I could only afford the Ferrari" and that produces some even stranger looks........

Not sure that I'd want to try to rip this system out and "replace" it with an aftermarket - that's generally frowned upon from a resale point of view, and would probably drop the real value of the car at least $10K, however I'm starting to warm to the idea of "adding" a secondary system to the OEM and having it actuate one of the original OEM key fobs which would be embedded in it.. That would have a number of advantages:

1. Keeping the OEM immobiliser system intact and no modifications made to the car that wouldn't be easily reversible

2. Having the multichannel capability so that other functions could be added (popping the trunk, sounding the car alarm, opening a garage door, etc.)

Would the brain trust here have any recommendations for such a secondary system? I'd want it to be at least 3 channels, with preferably dry contact type outputs, or failing that, +12 or earth outputs.

BTW, for those interested in the wiring diagrams - my manual is way too large to post, but many Ferrari workshop manuals can be downloaded from Ben Deetman's excellent site: http://ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Manuals_Workshop.htm. Typically the wiring diagrams are part of Section L in these manuals. There are also wiring diagrams for some of the vintage Ferrari's and 3x8's on this page of Ben's site: http://ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Manuals_Other.htm

That's what we meant, don't rip anything out, just add. No real recommendations, just the usual reliable top makes, Compustar, Autopage, DEI, A/Vox. All will do what you require.

What is this brain trusts' opinion of the KEELOQ security algorithm?

I have found some systems that will do exactly what I want, and their rolling code algorithm is based on KEELOG. From what I've read, it's possible for someone to crack a KEELOG system, but it takes time and perseverence?

My personal take on it is someone will load your car on a flatbed before they'll take the time to crack the wireless security simply to unlock the doors.Kevin Pierson