I Have a Code - in Two Places

Sometimes not trusting your instincts is difficult, and often can cost you a lot of time.

Case in point:  I changed the battery in my wife’s car.  Some of you may have experienced the same problem I encountered.  After the radio is disconnected from the battery, the anti-theft system kicks in and decides, “Help, I’ve been stolen.  You can’t use the radio, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah” (performed by a chorus of taunting voices) ---- unless -----you have the Code-code-code (echo for effect).

My wife called with the bad news at mid-morning.  She wasn’t pleased.  We both listen to books on CDs as we travel and the radio wasn’t doing anything except displaying the time. Sigh!  No good deed goes unpunished.  This is what I get for replacing a failing battery with a new one.  Who knew?

I’m a semi-tech guy, so what’s the first thing I do?  Go online to see how others have handled this problem.  Right away, I found a site with an explanation of what was going on and different locations on the car that might give me a clue as to the correct code to enter so the radio would work again.

Let’s see - under the fuse box, under the coin tray, in the glove box, in the trunk.  And if that didn’t work, just turn off the radio, hold preset buttons 1 and 6, turn the radio on, and the serial number might pop up, call Honda, fax in the VIN#, a copy of your DL, serial number and they would call with the code within 48 hours.

In the back of my mind, I remember some notes from the previous owner (yeah, I buy used) that I may have filed away with the car’s maintenance records.  Was there something about a code for the radio?  Maybe.

When I got home from work, I proceeded to do a quick scan of the "code" locations on the car.  Plenty of stickers and numbers everywhere – a lot more than I suspected.  I tried a few of the numbers I found – didn’t work.  Maybe it was the fact that the preset buttons used to enter the code ran from 1-6 and some of the digits I wanted to enter were larger.  Pretty soon I'm thinking I'm looking at the wrong numbers.  And each time I enter a bad code, I come closer to the dreaded LOCKOUT (for an hour) Hmmmmm?  Fear not, this story has a semi-happy ending.

I found the correct code in two places.  The last place I looked because of my online search (the trunk), and in my notes from the previous owner, which in addition to the actual code, listed the places I could find it myself, just like the suggestions online.

Lesson:   I should have trusted my instincts and gone right to the folder in the file cabinet.  But solving the problem online was soooo much better because – because  -  or maybe it wasn’t.  The online search told me where to look.   The notes in my folder told me the actual code.   

Next time.....