
Originally Posted by
tim_n
I did something stupid on wednesday morning. I decided to have a go at DIY electrics on my car when my rear windscreen wiper stopped working.
Thinking it was a fuse (it was before) I pulled out each fuse individually and checked them to see if they'd melted (trying to avoid the £15 mechanic fee and the smug grin on his face...). Unfortunately I pulled out the radio system fuse and woe and behold it asked me for my radio code.
d'oh. I lost it years ago!
So I rang round, found fords would get me a new one for £70, a few shops for £40-30 and finally a guy called 'wire wizzard' who only had a mobile number listed on yellow pages could do it for £15 and wouldn't need to send away.
My mind decided that if he could do it without sending it away to be recoded, he must have a piece of software that did the job for him. If there's a scam there's an entry on ebay, so I did some hunting and found indeed there was software for my radio type! £2.50 - and the seller had taken out the name of the program - therefore it's a free download somewhere...
I always feel a little ripped off paying someone for information I should be able to find myself, so I did some more hunting... and found a file to download. Meantime I actually found the code in a disused lavatory with a sign 'beware of the leopard' (or was it my document file?) and typed it in. As I returned victorious to my PC, the file finished downloading and low and behold, it generated exactly the same code I had in my hand.
Had I needed to use the software I'd have had to bought some special devices for removing my radio to find the serial number - a whole lot of pain I'd probably have paid £15 for.
Just thought I'd share that with you.
But what's the point of having a bleeding serial number on a radio to unlock it with when there's a bleeding tool to do it on the net? grrr.