OSUtyphoon

I just spent the last week dealing with the factory radio security code problem... After hours of searching online, calls to the dealership and banging my head against the desk in pure frustration, I think I've found a solution that will work for most situations (that doesn't involve paying a dealership $80+ dollars to reset the code.

Brief backstory.I have a 1993 Lexus LS400. The alternator went out while driving, which ran the battery dead. Voltage got too low and the factory Pioneer Stereo (Model P1609) went into security mode. I'm the 3rd owner of the car, so I didn't have the 3 digit code to unlock. Previous owner did not have the code either (so it was safe to assume the code came from the 1st owner, because these cars came from the factory with the radio security feature disabled). Did some research online and found out if you guess the code wrong 10 times the radio locks up and you "have to go to the dealership to reset". I called Lexus of Portland and they told me they could not give me the reset procedure over the phone or tell me anything about the process for "Security Reasons". They wanted me to bring the car in and for $80 would reset the radio. When I questioned them if we could disable the security feature on the radio they said this was not possible (which is incorrect information) and that I would have to pick a new security code. I remained skeptical and refused to let the dealership fleece me out of $80 for 25 year old radio that not even the most desperate car thief is going to steal. I think I have found a solution (See below)

First thing you need to do is get the radio into HELP mode. This is achieved by entering the wrong 3 digit code 10 times. I'm not going to go into a ton of detail how to do this. You can read page 110-114 of the car manual for more information how to enter the security code. http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM50434U/pdf/2.pdf Now say you know the code (or are lucky enough to guess it) at this stage in the game, the rest of the post will be non-applicable... Buy lets assume none of the 3 digit codes you enter work and the radio is now in HELP mode so we can move on.

Next step is to get the radio into "APS SEC" mode so you can enter the master reset code. (FYI the radio must be in HELP mode to start the part of the procedure... If you still have some of you 10 attempts left you need to burn through them before starting this part)
Turn Ignition to ACC
Press and hold "1" and "4" and "6" at the same time then press power (push the volume **** in)
If done correctly, the radio should now say "APS SEC"
You will now enter the manual reset codes
Press and hold "Tune Seek UP" and then press "1"
The radio now should say ^_ _ _ . The code for my radio was 241. Go ahead and enter in now
Then press and hold "Tune Seek Down" and press "1"
The radio should now say v_ _ _ The code for my radio was 239. Go ahead and enter it now
Press and hold "SCAN" and screen should blink SEC and then turn on.
I had to enter the code 3 times before I could get it to work. First two times I just tapped "SCAN" but the 3rd time I held the "SCAN" button after entering the codes and it worked.

A few things to keep in mind. This master reset code listed above is only the code that worked for my particular radio. I cannot guarantee the code will work for other pioneer radio models and LS 400 years. To obtain this reset code I had to pay a German website http://www.radiocode24.de/en/Toyota/LEXUS-Radio-Code-Mastercode-Modell-P1609.html $4.95 Euros to email me the code. To order this code, I had to give them the serial number off the bottom of the radio which involved removing the radio for the dashboard. Here is a video showing how to do that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OgjAv5aUi4 On my particular radio, the serial number has 8 digits "NDOO8543" I know the website I listed above has other model number Pioneer radio's for which they can get codes should you have a different radio than a Pioneer P1609. Also, I have the Pioneer radio with CD changer. If I had the non CD changer model I believe the code would have been "596 & 239". Once this procedure listed above is complete, the radio should no longer say SEC when turned on because the security feature should be disabled (IE you can remove the battery and not have to go through this process again).

On a side note. It really chaps my *** that the Lexus dealerships are charging people money to master reset these radios. This car is 25 years old and nobody wants to steal this radio. These codes and reset procedure should be made public. The previous owner of my car (an old man in his 80's) told me when I purchased the car that he had to pay Lexus of Portland $80 two separate times to reset this SEC code when his wife ran the battery dead. What bothers me more than anything is each time they did the master reset for him they re-enabled the security feature (without telling him what the new code they programmed). Then they lied to me by saying they could not disable the security feature on the radio (even though I now know that is completely possible with this procedure outlined above). These practices the dealership is engaging in is dishonest in my opinion and perpetuates the unnecessary cycle of owners being forced to waste money at the dealer to reset their radio every time the battery goes dead.

Hope this helps anyone who is dealing with the same problem. Please leave comments below if you have any input, questions or have other radio codes for similar year/models

creilly

This seems like the sort of thing that would save someone a huge headache and a fair amount of money. That's some shady behavior by the dealership too. Asking $80 for a security reset is one thing but resetting the code and not telling the elderly owner the details is another.

dicer

I love it and totally agree that there is no more security reasons to keep the procedure a huge secret. No one in their right mind is going to even attempt to take an old LS sound system. Now it would be nice to be able to find the electronic repair information on them. Great work and huge thanks. And another really really good thing is that German site was very legit, and that is fantastic news as well.

Maximus666

This didn't work for me,here in the UK you only get five attempts at the code.My radio didn't go into help mode it just went off,now i can't do anything with it.ps a 1993 ls400.