Recovering the code of a Philco Delphi stereo (factory default on VW Polo) (2009)

I had lost the code of my car stereo (SAM 2002 0 VWZ4Z3E9114784) which was factory installed on a Volkswagen Polo Classic 1.6

Reading a couple of forums I found out that the code calculators did not work for my model and that the only option was to open it and read the code from an EEPROM memory. In order to access this EEPROM you need to pop both the top and bottom cover and then remove the CD mechanism shown beneath

 

 

 

The EEPROM is an 8 pin chip located on the bottom right of the picture. On its package it reads 9355093 (a code name for a 24C08 EEPROM) or 9355032 (in case of a 24C04).

 

In order to solder and un-solder the chip I learned a couple of tricks from here and here. The next step was to hook the eeprom to my PicKit 2 programmer following this wiring guideline

 

        Connections for 24LC devices

        ---------------------------------------

        PICkit 2 Pin             24LC Device Pin (DIP)

        (2) Vdd !                8 Vcc

        (3) GND                  4 Vss

        (5) PGC                  6 SCL

        (6) AUX                  5 SDA (requires a 1K pullup resistor)

                                 7 WP - disabled (GND)

                                 1, 2, 3 Ax pins

                                    Connect to Vdd or GND per

                                    datasheet and to set address

 

 

Using the programmer I was able to read the following content shown below in HEX (note that this is way less than 4K)

 

:100010004D4D4D4E53710065D0B0B1C43DBE2F9CC7

:100020002442BE60EC2CC1C0484845450845F20C4E

:1000300000AA3C4104003558303033353131394362

:100040002020FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF7E

:10005000FFFFFF56575A345A334539313134373858

:10006000343762100332000009000400004C19010B

:100070000059610000BC888888888888888888231F

:10008000888800000000002A0900000000000041EC

:100090002B414A0B243B41414A222C05531D061794

:1000A0002D58771D01010835581201000128000163

:1000B0000409140F140F0A0A1407152055FFFFFF37

 

 

The unlock code is located on the highlighted bytes (i.e. code 0845). Finally, in order to enter the code follow this procedure

  1. Switch On the Vehicle Ignition and turn the unit on.
  2. The Radio will display "SAFE" followed by "1000" after 5 seconds
  3. If the display continues to show "SAFE" and a number in the bottom left of the display,
  4. then the unit is Codelocked, and will require Decoding to reset.
  5. Press Preset "1" repeatedly until the first digit is correct
  6. Press Preset "2" repeatedly until the second digit is correct
  7. Press Preset "3" repeatedly until the third digit is correct
  8. Press Preset "4" repeatedly until the fourth digit is correct
  9. Press and hold the ">>" button to enter the code.