Peter
Member
I replaced my instrument cluster: the old one has a dodgy gateway that doesn't provide speed info to the ECU, hence no cruise control (and lower mileage in the ECU than in the instrument panel as the ECU has recorded speed 0 for about a year).
Now the radio is blocked, showing "SAFE" on the display. No radio code was provided when I bought the car a month ago. That was no problem: even after disconnecting the battery, the code is not needed as the radio is in some way linked to the car. But now I needed the radio code...
I spent about an hour with the Audi dealer yesterday - they were willing to provide the radiocode for free (!) but they couldn't retrieve it. They tried with their computer connected to the car as well as online accessing the factory database with VIN and radio serial number.
The radio does not give away the code (and rightly so), the new cluster has never seen the code for this radio and the Audi factory no longer supports the radiocode database...
The dealer suggested to install the old instrument cluster again, from which they expected to be able to retrieve the radiocode.
This would require swapping the cluster, visiting the dealer, wait and pray, and swapping the instrument panel again. And all that without 100% certainty it would work. So I decided to try a different route.
There are several companies offering the radiocode based on the serial number and I found one on eBay (seller fast_radio_codes) who delivered the correct code within minutes for a mere € 7,27. So if you need your radiocode...
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/322034762918?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Now the radio is blocked, showing "SAFE" on the display. No radio code was provided when I bought the car a month ago. That was no problem: even after disconnecting the battery, the code is not needed as the radio is in some way linked to the car. But now I needed the radio code...
I spent about an hour with the Audi dealer yesterday - they were willing to provide the radiocode for free (!) but they couldn't retrieve it. They tried with their computer connected to the car as well as online accessing the factory database with VIN and radio serial number.
The radio does not give away the code (and rightly so), the new cluster has never seen the code for this radio and the Audi factory no longer supports the radiocode database...
The dealer suggested to install the old instrument cluster again, from which they expected to be able to retrieve the radiocode.
This would require swapping the cluster, visiting the dealer, wait and pray, and swapping the instrument panel again. And all that without 100% certainty it would work. So I decided to try a different route.
There are several companies offering the radiocode based on the serial number and I found one on eBay (seller fast_radio_codes) who delivered the correct code within minutes for a mere € 7,27. So if you need your radiocode...
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/322034762918?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
