I bought an S40 with a 3rd party stereo, which refused no matter how it was wired up to operate the electric antenna.

One or two days of hunting on eBay and I found a Volvo HU-615, which is ideal as it encorporates a CD, Radio and tape player. It was on eBay in Canada. I am in the UK.

However, it was only after I had won that the seller mentioned that he had lost the security keycode.

On browzing through Google I see that a local Volvo dealer can give the code so long as the radio was the original unit, i.e. matched with the VIN numbers etc.

This is obviously going to be from a car in Canada.......

Does anyone know whether it is possible to unlock this unit in any other way?
Will Volvo still manage to provide me with a code, despite it being an older unit and not from the UK?

I would appreciate some advice on this matter. All I want is to be able to listen to my radio!

Parris, I think you should be able to get this done. You may have to pay an extra fee to the dealership to reset the stereo (If no one else knows a way).

I dont think you are the first person to have this problem. If no one has a solution, PM me and I will move this question to the S40 forum (you may get more responses there).

Hi, many thanks! I appreciate the reply. I had worried that the Canadian radio frequency bands would somehow be different, but I have been assured that this unit SHOULD be fully compatible with UK radio freq.

If there is a simple, easy, straight forward solution then I would be pleased to try it.

At the price I paid for this unit I am willing to pay a little extra to have Volvo sort it out, however if a cheaper or homebrew solution exists then I'd be willing to give it a bash too. Buying it in Canada has potentially save me approx. $100.

Thanks again!

Take the radio to the dealer they can look it up by the Radio serial #

I noticed in one UK Volvo forum (Volvo Club UK) that Volvo should actually provide the security code free-of-charge.

...unlikely...

Thanks for the information, however if anyone has any other advice prior to me nipping down to Volvo I'd appreciate it. I've got a week or two before the unit arrives from Canada. In the meantime I have asked the seller to provide me with the serial number, which is apparently all that's needed to get a code, is this correct?

Yes that is correct. The Radio serial number.

Hi, thanks for that.

Sadly, I have just discovered that although the radio motor works, the previous owner had actually CUT the coaxial antenna cable. I have no idea why he/she decided to do this, but cleaning the trunk (boot) I discovered a snub end of coax sticking out of the rear passenger side panel. I'm now going to have to find the path of the cable through the car and splice the coaxial back together again!

Typical. As the station I located in testing was a very local one (1mile from me) the tiny stub of cable left behind the controls must have been enough to locate it, but nothing else will work until I reconnect.

This Volvo is a real labour of love! :-)