Forty-two Seventy
I just cracked the security code for my car!
I need to remove the whole centre console unit of my car to replace a blown LED, but the thing that's been holding my up is the fact that I don't know the 4 digit security code that the previous owner had set.
I worked out a few weeks ago that if you go to the "change code" screen, it starts by asking you what the current code is, and if you get it wrong it just asks you again. So, occasionally at lunchtimes I've been going to the car and entering security codes in blocks of 100, which takes about 5 minutes.
I decided that I'd hop around the complete 10,000 number set rather than starting at 0000 and working my way up linearly. Then today I cracked it - the number was 4270. I had decided to start at 4200 this lunchtime in honour of Douglas Adams.
I did quite well statistically. The 4200-4300 block was only the 13th block of numbers I'd tried.
I had to keep a list so I knew where I'd got up to:
- 0000 - 0100 -- might as well start at the top
- 8700 - 8800 -- start choosing random start points
- 5400 - 5500
- 2600 - 2700
- 3200 - 3300
- 1800 - 1900 -- I wondered if it had been set to a memorable year
- 1900 - 2000
- 2000 - 2100
- 0100 - 0200 -- Next I wondered if it was a date in the form dd/mm
- 0200 - 0300
- 7400 - 7500 -- go back to random start points
- 6100 - 6200
- 4200 - 4270 -- found it! Thanks Douglas!
- Sorry to anyone coming to this worthless page after searching Google for a phone number
If you are a blog stalking car thief you should probably know that the code is not 4270 any more.
Older E32 articles
Last month I imported all of my old BMW E32 Articles to this site, but I was contacted by a reader pointing out that many of them had broken image links in them. This was due to the way I put the site together on my server before uploading it all to my web host. All of the images ended up with URLs pointing to the temporary host I set up on my server while I was configuring it. I’ve fixed them all now, as far as I can see. I’ve also set up an index page which lists all of the repair articles I wrote for my E32.
Sparkly car
I had my car valeted today. It’s something I’ve only had done (to this extent) once before, that was about three years ago when I was returning a company car that I hadn’t kept particularly clean.
Anyway, I went for the full package, including engine bay clean and prep. It cost me £79 but I think it was worth it. I am going to try and make an effort to keep it “topped up” to this cleanliness level. The valeting company I used do a cheaper Wash & Vac service at £15, which I might take advantage of every so often.
Anyway, I took some pictures.
Engine pics
Here’s what you see when you remove the plastic engine cover. Click the thumbnail to view it full size (1.1MB file).
Replace LS400 cabin air filter (pollen filter)
OK, only had the car 5 days but already I can’t resist getting to work on it.
The airflow from the vents wasn’t quite as powerful as it should be, so I checked the cabin air filter and it was rammed full of cack. I spoke to Bill Anderson at Puravent about a replacement, because the LS400 mark 4 wasn’t listed on the site. I measured my existing filter and Bill found that it was the same dimension as the one in the IS200 and RX300. I ordered it and it arrived the next day.
I don’t know what the stock Lexus filters are like, but the Puravent ones seem pretty good because they’ve got a layer of carbon granules in them, which absorbs bad smells like diesel fumes etc.
Anyway, the procedure…
Open your glovebox and empty it enough so you can see the removable section at the back. This piece just slides up and out.
Behind it is a white nylon panel on the side of the fan housing. There are two clips on the bottom edge of it, you just squeeze them in and ease the panel out, bottom edge first.
The two pieces look like this:
Once the panels are out of the way you will see the edge of the filter:
Click it down to release it…
…then pull it straight out.
Disgusting!
Push the old filter material out of the frame from the bottom, then insert the new filter and push it down into the edges of the frame. The airflow is down through the dash to the fan, so if there is an airflow arrow on your filter (there is on the Puravent one) then it should point downwards. The picture shows the arrows on the side of the filter before I pushed it down into the frame.
Slide the frame back into the slot and click it up into place. Then replace the nylon panel (3 tabs at the top need inserting, then push it home at the bottom). Finally slot the piece back into the glovebox and put all your stuff back in the glovebox. Apart from those sweet wrappers, you can take this opportunity to stick them in the bin.
