Rotating Code

I was talking to my neighbour across the alley today. He saw me struggling in and around the car and I can only assume that he came to laugh at me. He knows slightly more than I do about the mysteries of the internal combustion engine, and he also knows when something is going to be entertaining to watch.

I was trying to get the radio in the Acura to play again. I had foolishly disconnected the battery a week ago and for security purposes, the folks at Acura designed the radio so that it needs to have a code typed in before it will work. No, the code isn’t in the owners manual, it isn’t on a separate card given to you when you buy the car and you can’t get it from some dodgy source on the internet. The only way that you can get the code is to call an Acura dealership.

 

Once you have dialled their main number, you are asked to dial “2” and then “1”, been asked to “Hold please!” and listened to musac for about five minutes, you get the reception who puts you through to the service department. “Hold please!”, another minute or two of musac and then the service professional is on the line. I was just getting into the musac. I tell her my problem and she asks if I bought the car from them. When I say “No” she tells me that there isn’t anything that she could do over the phone. Perhaps if I made a service appointment…? I tell her that I will get back to her, but what I should have said is “Yeah…go fuck yourself!”

 

I call the only other Acura dealership in the city, dial “2” and then “1”, been asked to “Hold please!” and listened to musac for about five minutes, you get the reception who puts you through to the service department. “Hold please!”, another minute or two of musac and then the service professional is on the line. I tell this guy my problem and he says that all I have to do is to pull the radio out and copy the serial number down. Once I have that, they can look up the six digit code and before you can say “Bad Taste” I will be cruising down the road listening to Miley Cyrus, Yanni, Boys 2 Men and Justin Bieber.

I was in the middle of the extraction process when Stan came over to talk. I discussed the security issue I was having and being an ex cop, he understood. Sure he understood, he doesn’t own an Acura. Stan left after a while and I once more lay down half in and half out of the passenger seat, with my head upside down and undoing screws with my left hand. Where are the left handed people when you need them? To make matters worse, I have been having bouts of vertigo and this contorting my body wasn’t helping at all.

I would have just left it and worked on it when I felt better, but driving without music is just weird. It appears that I need to have a sound track for my life. It is mainly back ground for me, but I have become so used to the back ground I can’t concentrate without it. I was getting distracted by not having a distraction. Weird.

So, long story, but the radio works and if I have to disconnect the battery ever again, I have the code to get my music back. Well, unless it is a rotating code. That would suck! I guess I should have written down the serial number too…