How to enter a code on a radio we have not listed
For radios we have no steps for yet. Radios take a code in a few different ways, and nothing here can be as sure as steps for your own radio. Work out which kind yours is before you press anything, because a wrong guess can use up a try.
Every step
A general guide for radios we have no steps for, drawn from what the makers' manuals for the listed radios have in common. It cannot be as sure as steps for your own radio.
If it locks
If the display shows WAIT, LOCKED, CODE ERR or a countdown, the radio is locked from earlier tries. Leave the ignition and the radio switched on until it asks for the code again. That is most often 30 minutes or an hour. On a Ford, LOCKED after ten wrong codes does not clear by waiting. What each lockout screen means
A code made of 1 to 6 that starts with 1, 5 or 6, and no digits on the display?
There is no test without risk. One press of preset 1 can read the same both ways, and on some radios that step their digits preset 5 or 6 sends the code. A wrong guess costs one try, and some radios allow only two before an hour's wait. Search for your radio by make, car or serial first. Search the radios
A press did something you did not expect?
Stop pressing and look at the display. Some radios clear a part typed code if you leave them for about 20 seconds. Others count it as a try once all the digits are in.
A Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT or Skoda showing SAFE?
On most of them 1000 appears by itself after a few seconds. If SAFE stays, either the radio is locked for an hour after two wrong codes, or it is an older one that needs two buttons held together to bring up 1000. Find your radio by name to see which. See the VW group radios
A knob and no number buttons?
Some radios set each digit by turning a knob and pressing it, then holding the knob to confirm.