My finished saga of trying to get the right radio code.
 

So about a month ago after doing a lot of research and keeping an eye on prices, I finally found a good deal and became the owner of a lightly used 2010 Base Fit. I would say proud, but it wasn't until I got out of the dealership that I realized that it didn't have cruise control. All the same, it's comfortable, drives well, and gets great gas mileage. A week later I installed an aftermarket cruise control and all should have been good...

Except that the radio suddenly started asking me for a code. An owners manual didn't come with the radio, and there wasn't a code in the glovebox, under the hood, in the door wells, or in the spare tire compartment. I followed a guide to get my code from honda's website, and the code I got didn't plug into the radio. I took it in to a dealership and the code they got was the same as the one I got from Honda's site.

After some research the associate says that I need to pull the radio and the serial number printed on the radio should be different from the one the front screen displays when you hold 6 and 1 and press power. I pulled it today and the serial number is exactly the same. They have me dropping it off tomorrow and they might fix it or they might just get confused.

At this point I've been spending 2 hours a weekday commuting for 3 weeks without radio and have slowly been going insane, can you guys give me any suggestions for replacement radios if the dealership decides to charge me more than the cost of just buying a better radio, or if anyone has any idea how I can fix my radio?

I'd think the dealership would be taking care of the work for you. I personally had to re-enter mine last night and had no issues. If it's not in the glovebox as Triskelion suggested, you could upgrade. Buying a new radio isn't a horrible idea, but if you want to keep a "stock-ish" / uniform look, you'll want to look into Navi trim (provided you don't have a Navi model.) Wiring harnesses, etc.

So it isn't as easy as finding a replacement Fit radio on ebay or somewhere else and installing it with the plugs that are already there? I was thinking maybe something like this- Honda Fit Car DVD Player GPS Navigation in Dash Stereo Radio System iPod BT TV | eBay or there are the equivalent of my current radio on sale for under $100 on ebay.

That would work, it wouldn't necessarily be 100% plug and play. You can do aftermarket and make it look identical to that. The dash that Ninja posted should work as well, I'd check with the owner and see if they have the code!

I dropped my car off at the dealership today and when I came back they had figured out the code and didn't charge me a penny! Thanks for your advice, and to anyone else out there new at taking out your radio, that screw that's under the radio that you probably can't see is visible if you take out the passenger side glove compartment, and even if you think otherwise you should always use masking tape or something else to protect your dash when you pry the radio out if you don't want your car to forever look like a crackhead with a screwdriver broke into your car and tried to steal your radio.

Haha, I wonder if they had an automated method, or had to try digit by digit.:rotfl:

I know a bit about electronics, and playing with it I found a bit of an exploit with the radio that lets you get by having to wait after entering 10 wrong codes. I did the math and if you could just hook into the contacts for each button and have some way of validating a success it would be something that you could automate with something like an arduino and just leave on overnight. 6 numbers ^5 entries = 7776 possible combinations. By hand I could put in about 10 every 30 seconds (a little faster, but 30 is an even number). That's 20 per minute or 1200 per hour. At a constant rate it would take 6 hours, 28 minutes, 48 seconds to enter in every possible code, and I bet a machine could cut it down to at least 10 every 20 seconds.

For anyone's reference...

Turn the radio off. Hold 1+6 and turn it on. The radio will display your serial number.

Now go to the Honda Owners site with your serial number and your VIN, and you should be able to get your radio code.

I had to do this two weeks ago.

This may come in handy

Is there a way to get your radio code if it is still connected and working? I never got a radio code when I bought the car.

Use the above method. Worked for me.