Adam,
from previous posts, I think Stuart lives within 10 miles of you - he's certainly a north west bloke like you and I.
I have a feeling I'm about to be shot down...........
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Got it in one...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Oh great!
I mean that in the non sarcastic way that Stuart and Espada live near me but in the sarcastic sense in as much that my car is going to get broken into.
Still, if it does, all three of us could go for a pint ;-)
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Adam
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I'm sorry guys, maybe I have missed the gist of this but what makes you Ford owners so special that you have until now been immune from theft of ICE? or come to that items from the glove box. Join the real world fellas. Normal precautions apply, always park car in visible and conspicous spot, never leave anything on show. Always expect that your pride and joy will be violated and act accordingly.
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Yes RF I agree with you completely. Having already suffered a toerag stealing my cd player, I always park in view, remove the buttons and hide everything.
However, I'd rather my car not get broken in at all...
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Adam
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I'm sorry guys, maybe I have missed the gist of this but what makes you Ford owners so special that you have until now been immune from theft of ICE? or come to that items from the glove box. Join the real world fellas. Normal precautions apply, always park car in visible and conspicous spot, never leave anything on show. Always expect that your pride and joy will be violated and act accordingly.
I assume Stuart uis getting at the fact that because they're a non-standard size you don't expect them to get nicked, after all, the only people they'd be useful to are other people with a Ford, and they've already got one, right?
Ford (amongst other manufacturers) sell the non-standard size as a security thing, so a lot of people probably believe them. Even though in fact it's really just an excuse to charge twice as much for what is usually a pretty below par sound system.
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And it is a straight swop for a low grade unit?
No need for an autochanger in the boot or under the seat.
An atractive optional upgrade.
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It is the 6006 that is the in-dash 6 CD unit, the 6000 is single CD. Attractive upgrade for a tape unit though.
Also the 6006 has a removable panel where as I don't think the 6000 has. Don't know how they get around the code though.
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6000 does have a removable panel which I take off but it is useless because any other panel - even from a 3000 will work.
Guessing the old radio in a freezer trick doesn't work for the code then...
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Adam
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6000 does have a removable panel which I take off but it is useless because any other panel - even from a 3000 will work.
My previous Vectra had a removable panel. If a different panel was ever fitted, it wouldn't work until you put the correct code in. Why can't Ford's radio supplier do the same?
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I remember posting something similar a while back but:
My Focus belonged to my Dad and I had a Fiesta. I could use the clip from the Focus in the Fiesta and vice versa without entering any codes. So in theory, I could take my Fiesta 5000 clip and use it in a 6000 in a Mondeo and Focus parked up. HOWEVER, if they are disconnected, you need the code. If you found a way around this, then any clip would in fact work.
You are right though Dave - seems pointless when at least one other manufacturer prevents this.
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Adam
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yep i know all about this must have had eight on nine done in my area, all mondeos,focuss or transits.
south manchester (peel hall)
you think because its a big square unit it wont fit into anythnig else but it must do.
seems to have stopped in the last 8 weeks though because someone got "filled in" if you catch my drift
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Any time that a car company offers increased function or goodies on its ICE by model or feature , and charges the earth to buy them from the dealer, there will always be a market for "pub" upgrades regardless of shapes or size. Even more so with mainstream makes (ie Ford) where you have a large potential market.
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>>Normal precautions apply, always park car in visible and conspicuous spot>>
It was parked in a well lit spot, some five yards from a busy entrance to a social club - if the alarm had gone off there would have been several people out in a flash.
increased function or goodies on its ICE by model or feature>>
This particular Ford ICE model is at least three years old...:-)
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PS
The Mondeo has been parked in this particular spot, or one alongside it, at least 250 times since being acquired and his two earlier Mondeos on even more occasions without any drama.
That's why I wondered if anyone else had heard of the sudden interest in this Ford radio unit.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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If you live in the Lancashire Police area I know that they (last year) targetted all Ford cars in their area (using PNC) sending letters to the reg. keepers advicing them of the danger from this type of theft and offering to security mark radio sets in a particular idelible way (and making it obvious to potential thieves) My informant told me why Ford radios were targetted in this way, but I am reluctant to disclose it on a public forum. (not that its a secret - but the less publicity it gets the better.)
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Oh and while I am at it - why do Ford continue producing radios despite a known security issue ?
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One can see plenty of these on ebay.
Someone I know had the peculiar curved shaped Fiat Punto CD radio stolen, obviously as people with a tape player will pay up to £100 to upgrade.
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79 for sale on ebay at the moment and 226 advertised in the last two weeks, with the 6000 fetching around £100 and the 6006 around £150. There are that many scrapped cars they are coming out of?
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Yes, some even seem to have several!
If I had one stolen, I would report these people to the POLICE local internet crimes unit, I did this about some other items being burgled, and a Nigerian-gang man was arrested, an ebayer with 150 computers in his house, and thousands he had stolen were sold on ebay.
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I had my focus broken into a couple of weeks ago (Manchester area), little ******* got disturbed at 5am by a neighbour hearing them - I was lucky my CD player was still in place but I know that 15 were done in a 3 day period!!
GC
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WHEREABOUTS IN MANCHESTER
loads were done on my estate then the "wrong car" was done
bloke found out, sorted it, result no more car thefts
lot of sheds seem to be done at the moment though, ( idont mena old cars i actually mean sheds).
chop their hands off
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Stretford/Trafford. I suppose I have been lucky but still made me spends loads on an alarm system although I know it may happen again. Do these people just go round different areas then move on when they have done them?
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8< Snip 8<
{suggestions of how to decode radio's without going through the proper channels removed. DD}
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Same here , 3 done in same street in Swinton , all Fords , I saw the last one being done , the little **** didnt even get off his mountain bike!.
Ebay must play a significant part , one guy had 8 Ford6000 in dash CD players for sale , and I have seen the disk for sale too , easy money.
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There was a spate of theft of these Ford ICE units from Mondeo's and Focusses (?!) in Essex about a year ago. It was widely reported and there were articles in the local press concerning this issue.
I can't believe that Ford made all the removeable strips the same. The manual says that each strip is individually coded to a specific unit, but it would appear this information just isn't true.
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You can buy the keypad strips on Ebay as well!
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Hello.
One thing i can suggest is that you remove the radio and get one of those security marking pens and write all over it your address etc.
I only reccomend doing this if you intend to keep the car.
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(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters
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It cleans off quite easily with methylated spirits, though, so it certainly wouldn't be permanent.
Perhaps filling the removal holes in the front panel with Araldite might work, or, alternatively, I wonder whether it's possible to tap them and fit very long screws, which would take a thief a long time to remove.
It might be possible to fit a "Kensington Lock" to the rear of the unit, which would stop it being removed from the vehicle.
Does anyone else have any good ideas to prevent theft of these units?
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That's a good idea Galaxy - the part about the lock to the rear of the unit.
Two things with the Araldite suggestion - firstly, what happens when you sell the car or need access to the back? Secondly, when mine got pinched, it got prised out with 2 screwdrivers from either side of the dash. The removal holes weren't touched.
I'd say any measure like that would be passive simply because the window's already been smashed by the time the thief realises they can't steal the radio.
I'm sure I read ages and ages ago of a radio that when disconnected, because useless - full stop. Don't know if that's true because even if you take it out legitimately then it would be broken. Has it's flaws but if it was obvious this would happen should the radio be taken, then it has it's uses.
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Adam
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Adski,
If you needed to remove the radio legitimately then you would have to carefully drill and/or file the Araldite out of the holes.
I never realised that the units could just be levered out of the dashboard with screwdrivers, but you've obviously, and unfortunately, found out the hard way that this can be done.
I agree about the window aspect, but what more can you do?
A radio which became totally useless when disconnected would be a very good idea but then how would you remove it legitimately? I can't say I've heard of this myself.
I suppose the ultimate deterrent is to do what quite a few of the used car dealers do, that is, to completely remove the unit from the car when it's left. This would work successfully but would be a real pain to do in practice. Plus, what do you do with the radio once you've removed it? You could put it into the boot but then that's the first place a thief would probably look!
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Very good points Galaxy. You wouldn't be able to lever yours out should you want to change it without damaging the car as my dash was wrecked. They gouged it out a little and then, the clips that hold the radio in, could easy be pushed in to release the radio.
And there is NO WAY I'm carrying the Ford stereo (the size of a breezeblock) around with me! Knowing my luck, I've more chance of dropping it than it getting nicked!
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Adam
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A little bit of C4 in the radio, together with a timer that will activate if the power is cut off, and big sticker saying "this radio will self destruct within 10 minutes of being stolen" should do the trick.
Remember to disarm it before removing the battery though...
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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It may seem daft, but how 'unique' the ICE is in car is one of the main points I consider when buying a car with my own money.
We bought a Peugeot 106 when they first came out as the radio was specific to the car, and we currently have a Jazz, which has the radio built in.
Years ago I had a Cavalier and the radio got nicked, replaced, then nicked again within a week. It had to be removed whenever the car was parked.
I'm about to opt out of a company car and am very keen on replacing it with Mondeo Ghia X TDCi but I know that radio theft is a big issue and it's really putting me off.
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8< Snip 8<
{suggestions of how to decode radio's without going through the proper channels removed. DD}
I bought a 2001 Ford Focus in July fitted with a 4000 Radio/Casette player. I disconnected the battery and then discovered that there was no code for the unit in the vehicle. I contacted the garage I bought the vehicle from but they could not help with the code. The helpful salesman suggested either contacting my local Ford garage for the code at a cost of £25. 8< Snip Again 8<
It was my intention to upgrade the unit to a 6000 or 6006 but I think I will keep the "not so sought after" 4000 !
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Mods,
I think it is unhelpful to describe the way that radios can be decoded on this site. Whilst I would concede that proficient tea leaves that are doing this as we speak, this site's ethos should prevent any aspiring little thieves picking up tips here.
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I have to agree with PugUgly on this. All these cheap *back street* places that offer decoding are just adding to the theft of units. They are also creating a buyers market. Your head unit gets stolen, so you are tempted to buy a knocked off one from "a guy in a pub". Guy in pub knows he's onto a winner, so he goes and steals some more.
Therefore all reference (I hope) of where to go for decoding (apart from authorised places) have been removed.
DD. BR Moderator.
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>>A radio which became totally useless when disconnected would be a very good idea but then how would you remove it legitimately? >>
Although I have a radio code for my VW's Gamma ICE unit, it is actually programmed to my particular vehicle at the factory. Therefore, if I have to disconnect the battery for any reason, when it is reconnected the unit indicates that it has "learned" to become operational again and no code is required.
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Got the same VW Gamma, and have no code.
Garages have done work on it which requires battery disconnection, and I've always reminded them that I don't have a code beforehand. They just say "don't worry, we can get it to work again".
My owner's manual mentions that some units are linked to a particular vehicle (and hence you would only need the code if you put it into a different vehicle). However, it doesn't tell me whether or not mine is one of these, or how to find out.
Any ideas?
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