no red key? how screwed r u without it?

[ducatiz]

I think the immobilizer is lame.

Say you steal a bike, and realize "hey, I can't start this thing." What's your next move?

Chop it up, sell it for parts.

The immobilizer ensures that if you're bike is stolen, that you're probably never getting it back. Way to be.

Just look at the people on here who have had their bikes stolen-you don't look for your bike on ebay-you end up looking for your distinctive parts. That doesn't do it for me.

I had a bike stolen when I was in college -- an old Honda.  No immobilizer.  The bike was found about 5 months later.  The odometer had about 4000 miles on it more than when it left me.  After riding the shit out of it, apparently seizing the engine, they took the wheels and tank off and set it on fire in a corn field. 

Many bike thieves are just joyriders -- the others don't ride it off, they throw it into a truck and its parted up by that evening. 

The immobilizer stops joyriders, but will never stop the chop shops, and are not designed to.  Bikes have been chopped for ages.

[gmart]

From my understanding, the insurance institute in Italy forced Ducati to produce the immobilizer system. Since the Governament controls the insurance industry there as well, it became a requirement for them to implement. I beleive it was due to the high number of Ducati's beeing stolen in Europe. Hopefully they have come to there senses and made the 'red' key requirement mute from here on out. However for now, if you don't have a 'red' key you will not be able to perform some maintenance on the bike. The ECU requires the 'red' key (the red key is determined by the first key used to start the bike) to be in the ignition before maintenance is performed. So, you will not be able to reset the 'tool warning light' etc without it. Also, if interested there is an aftermarket ECU that will make the whole immobilzer moot, however, i think it is priced quite high. I think in the $1000 area. You can touch base with BCM in NH if interested in the details.I think there in NH, may be one of those other northern states

[Popeye the Sailor]

I had a bike stolen when I was in college -- an old Honda.  No immobilizer.  The bike was found about 5 months later.  The odometer had about 4000 miles on it more than when it left me.  After riding the shit out of it, apparently seizing the engine, they took the wheels and tank off and set it on fire in a corn field. 

Many bike thieves are just joyriders -- the others don't ride it off, they throw it into a truck and its parted up by that evening. 

The immobilizer stops joyriders, but will never stop the chop shops, and are not designed to.  Bikes have been chopped for ages.

Eh, I still feel it's more trouble than it's worth.

[Howie]

Great, the joy rider doesn't get the bike.  Meanwhile the low life punched out the lock, tried to hot wire it, then got mad and kicked the bike over on the side.  Now you have a non running bike with a large repair bill.  IMO, the immobilizer is good for preventing the rightful owner from operating their bike and not much more.

[MadDuck]

Having gone through an immobilizer issue is what motivated me to sell my 999. I loved that bike but after spending $3K on that issue alone I swore never again. The new versions are supposed to be more friendly. Maybe we'll see one day.

[Big Troubled Bear]

Did the 998 come with the red key

[ducatiz]

Eh, I still feel it's more trouble than it's worth.

I agree it's a hassle sometimes, but think back to the days when we all had skeleton keys to get into our homes and cars barely had locks on them.  l

[needtorque]

Ok, long and the short of it.  Back to the original topic.  The immobilizer started in 02' on most makes/models ducati.  The bike can start and run just fine without the red key but only if the immobilizer has not been activated.  The red key does 2 things. It will start and run the bike and it will activate/deactivate the anti-theft system (aka immobilizer) .  As long as the immobilizer is not activated then not having the red key is not a problem. 

You cannot cut a new red key from a black key it does not work that way.  The black key will only start/run the bike and operate the other locks but it will not do a damn thing if the immobilizer is active. 

So, all that being said if the bike from the original post does not have the immobilizer activated then it will run fine with the black key.  However, I thought the 998 was not produced in 04'.  I am pretty sure ducati had moved on to the 999 by then.

[ducatiz]

So, all that being said if the bike from the original post does not have the immobilizer activated then it will run fine with the black key.  However, I thought the 998 was not produced in 04'.  I am pretty sure ducati had moved on to the 999 by then.

probably thinking of the '03.  Last 998 model year was 03, but I think some were rebadged as 04 bikes.

Sort of how USA had the 800SS for an extra year, but for the rest of the world, it was dead.

[zooom]

So, all that being said if the bike from the original post does not have the immobilizer activated then it will run fine with the black key.  However, I thought the 998 was not produced in 04'.  I am pretty sure ducati had moved on to the 999 by then.

probably thinking of the '03.  Last 998 model year was 03, but I think some were rebadged as 04 bikes.

Sort of how USA had the 800SS for an extra year, but for the rest of the world, it was dead.

last year of the 998 officially was '04 because they had the "Matrix" editions and a few leftover "FE"s as they were badged...

as far as the origional post though, if the immobilizer isn't active as "Needtorque" says, you are okay for the single black key to operate the vehicle on a normal basis completely otherwise...the worry is if you lose that key or the system gets activated, you are stuck, because you need the red key to program any future black keys or unlock the system. It carries the algorythem to unlock the system and to allow for the system to to accept specific further black keys unique algorhythem to tell the computer that those keys are okay and programmed to operate the vehicle.

[ducatiz]

last year of the 998 officially was '04 because they had the "Matrix" editions and a few leftover "FE"s as they were badged...

i was under the impression all of thsoe were rebadged '03s, even the Matrix..  they never put them on the website or in the literature for 04

[zooom]

i was under the impression all of thsoe were rebadged '03s, even the Matrix..  they never put them on the website or in the literature for 04

being that the serial number has to correlate with the model year via the 10th digit, you cannot just rebadge a bike and call it a next model year...yeah, the factory may have had the leftover bits for bikes to produce short of VIN creation/stamping...but I think that particular specific part of the process is done when the frame is naked before assembly, and due to the resistance of the 999 design when introduced in late '02 and being that people were still racing the 998 in various series for the 03/04 season...there was a relative call for them to support the bike which meant a certain level of homologation for to do that...the "Matrix" edition helped them reach that goal with the movie correlation...and proved to be a good one as the Matrix bikes sold out before the FE's did...

[ducatiz]

being that the serial number has to correlate with the model year via the 10th digit, you cannot just rebadge a bike and call it a next model year..

Ducati has actually done this a number of times in the past.  The Pantaheads list has several examples of 750F1s that were rebadged (revinned?) to a later model year by the factory. 

I don't doubt you are correct about the '04 model 998s, but the manufacturer can re-vin a bike.

[2001cromo]

What does the key look like?

This is a key that has the bozomobilizer in it


The below is the older non-bozomobilizer type



I hope that helps clear this up

[nateqwik]

Ducati has gotten away from the red key. My 696 doesn't have one, never did.