Originally posted by 97gssilverintg
My friend has a 99 prelude and he unhooked his battery the other day and now he needs the code for the cd player. I know you can go to the dealership and get it, but you have to pay money. Does anybody know where it may be hidden on the car? Let me know asap, Thanks!
I actually went to the dealership today and I got the code without paying a single dime. What you need to do is just take out your friends center console and remove the radio and write down the serial number, the model number, and the reference number. Bring those sets of numbers to the parts department and they will look it up for you at no charge. Hope that helps.
Originally posted by fastball
You don't know? Good thing you asked. That is the master program key. If you loose any of the other keys (full access black keys or vallet gray key) and you need a new key, you need to bring the red key to your dealer to get the new key programed for your car. DO NOT LOOSE THIS KEY, AND DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO USE IT TO START YOUR CAR!!!!! If you use it, it will dissable your anti-theft system, the car won't start, and you will need to replace the ECM. It is a master program key only, so even if you loose every other key, don't use the red key. You'll know if you've damaged the anti-theft circuit because the green key lamp on your dash that blinks when you shut the car off will just stay on all the time, and obviously the car will not start.
When I bought my car last year (used 2001 SH), I never received the red key. The dealership only gave me one key (yea....its bull****!). So I thought I need the red key too to reprogram the other keys, but that's not so. The Acura dealership that I bought my car from didn't even need the red key in order to reprogram it. All they did was just use the current key and copied the key and the chip inside the key (don't ask me how they did it) but IF you did lose your red key when you first bought your car, its not the end of the world! THEY ARE ABLE TO REPROGRAM YOUR KEY WITHOUT IT!!!!