Our service for BMW cars is no longer available, with the exception of old 'hard-coded' radios (useful to those of you restoring classic BMWs). As an alternative on BMW, we recommend Peter at Restored Classic: restoredclassic[at]aol.com

You will need to pull the radio from the dashboard to read the numbers from its chassis - this will be on a printed label, engraved on the metal case, or both. BMW radios tend to be a lot more fiddly to remove than most (where it's often just a case of using the correct extraction keys), requiring that you first remove one or more trim-plates or small plastic panels to reveal screws that need to be released.

And to further complicate things, there is little in common between the various models of BMW - screws are placed in different positions under different panels. You will need patience and possibly access to a variety of tools including Allen keys and Torx head screwdrivers. Removing a radio from a BMW is OK when you know how but not a job for the fainthearted novice!

Vintage BMW car radios: Some older radios use soldered pins on the circuit board to physically set or 'hard-code' the security code. These include the Alpine CM5903L, CM5907 and CM5905. You will need to physically reset the radio to a known code, if you're confident using a soldering iron.

CAN-BUS 'Paired' Units: Note that several radios, such as the Philips 22DC705, 22DC795, RCC100, RCC102, RCD108 and other more recent models are electronically paired to the original vehicle's engine management system. You cannot (easily) transfer it from one car to another.

These paired models will display "DISABLED" when installed in a vehicle other than the one to which it was originally fitted. Only re-coding specialists such as DND Services (in the UK) (www.dndservices.co.uk) will be able to help if you send the unit to them.