Lost Radio Code for my 480 please help

[chocolatemaddy69]

Hi all
Blew fuse no 21 in my car, now radio wants code putting in again. Just bought the car and came with no manuals. Volvo want to charge me to give me out the code again - anybody able to help me with this? It'd be much appreciated. Txs.

[martinholmesuk]

Hey,

so it was the fuse Did you end up taking them out one by one?
Ha you removed the image already :p

[0603]

there are alot of people who uncode radios around also there are alot of cheap radios around, ive seen sony and kenwood cd players for around £60 and id guess that uncodeing is probably gonna be half way to that! My advice would be to bin the old volvo unit and get a shiney new head unit!

[MGB_GT]

Bin the Evil that is the Standard Volvo Radio Cassette. I'd rather hook a walkman up to a pair of headphones mounted onto the A frames than listen to one. Seriously though, get a chepo second hand one of Ebay, it'll cost you less than getting the Radio code back professoinally.

You could also try looking for a four digit code somewhere on the radio or car manual, many people write it down here.

Also, Volvo will give you the code for free if you go in with ID and your V5 document. Of course that's assuming they kept records that far back, I know they did it for me with the S40 stereo so it's worth calling them.

[chris1roll]

Has anyone had an (older, say pre850)volvo radio that actually works perfectly?

The 740 had one that you had to push a button that physically moved the dial to the presets, and woe betide you if you had the temerity to put a tape in it.
Had a 440 courtesy car that had literally half the buttons missing from it.
Not to mention the numerous ones that you turn on and just get some very muted static.
Or the ones that crackle when you alter the volume, or you go over a bump and lose all bar one speaker(usually the furthest one from you!)
Amy's 460 is all tinny, unless you push hard on the left had side of it, then the bass comes on, but goes away when you take your hand away again.

Hatefull things.


That said the radio in fathers V70 is superb, and if i really needed the boot space, as he does, i probably wouln't bother upgrading it as my daily driver.

[MGB_GT]

Hmmm, I've got the original 480 Stereo from the old F Plate. Wont work on ISO's, it's got the odd connectors with seperate wiring blocks for the speaker cables. It's yours for free if it's any use, works I am sure.

[coyote1980]

Bin the Evil that is the Standard Volvo Radio Cassette.

hey Volvo stereos ain't that bad, not the newer ones anyways.... OK, they're not as decent as Sony's if you want a lot of boom-boom in your car (however with a Volvo amplifier you should get plenty of boom-boom ).

I have a CT906 in my 480 and it sounds quite good!! Not that much worse than my old Sony

[claire]

Had the same problem. We emailed or phoned volvo and they faxed the code back to us. I think they asked for reg of car etc. Mine is a 1993 Kreg and they had the code for it. good luck.

[chocolatemaddy69]

Volvo dealers want to charge me £10 plus vat just to give me a stupid code. Don't think the stereo is too bad - had a listen to it on the drive up to Edinburgh on Saturday (pre fuse blowing days).

THanks all for your help - may even splash out on a new one - seems like less hassle LOL.

[dragon]

I've had 3 volvo codes from 3 volvo dealers in the past and none of the dared to try and charge me - all they do is tip tap on the computer and get the original code for the original stereo, so it takes less than a minute - I can't see what's to charge for there Let's be generous and say it takes the person there 5 minutes to deal with, going by the figures mentioned there, thats £1200/hour - that's steep, even for Volvo!

BTW: The last time I did this was 6 months ago when I got the V40 - all they required was they saw the car was in my posession (I had initially gone in whilst passing in another car) - 4 mins after I drove onto the forecort, I was driving away again with my newly-activated stereo pumping away!

[chriskay]

My dealer got me a printout of the service history of my 850 including radio & key codes, no charge. Alternatively, phone Volvo customer relations at Marlow.
Cheers, Chris.

[martinholmesuk]

all the volvo service history!! You got a number for that?

[dragon]

They'll only print the history that that dealer knows about, as dealers don't share history data (according to my dealer anyway) - But yes, dealers will gladly give you the history they know about, Mart - I got my most of my turbo's history by phoning the dealer in Northern Scotland for just the cost of a 5 min phone call to them

[chocolatemaddy69]

Tons of advice!! Thanks all!

Will call Marlow tomorrow see what they say. As far as service history goes, I'll call a dealer too since I got no documentation for this car whatsoever. Surely service history will only include services done at Volvo dealerships though?

Cheers all.

[chocolatemaddy69]

Volvo dears in Marlow phoned me up wi the code. What honies.

They are also gonna fax me a service history all at no extra charge


And so endeth the saga hopefully although still gotta figure out how to input the code successfully

[felyx]

Ring up johnsons volvo in GLOUCESTER and they will give you the code over the phone takes about 2 mins (quick or what) really usefull for buying stereo's from the scrappy (if you got the regestration) because they need a code the scrapyards sell them like for £5

cheers felyx

[fargo]

You can try switching on the radio while holding the button '4' or '6'.
Works for some Volvo radios...