Land Rovers are unusual: the radio and the navigation system each have their own security code. Whether your screen went dark after a battery change on a Discovery or your Range Rover's sat-nav is asking for a PIN, here is how to get both working again — with nothing more than your VIN.
This is the thing to understand about Land Rover before anything else. The stereo carries an anti-theft lock, and on many models the navigation unit carries a completely separate one. Lose battery power and you can find both systems asking for codes at the same time — two different codes, for two different units.
Our Land Rover order page handles this with a simple switch: choose radio code or navigation code when you order. Need both? Order each from the same page and we will send both codes to your email. If you are not sure which lock you are looking at, our guide to the difference between radio and navigation codes clears it up in a minute.
Nothing is faulty. The audio security system switches on the moment it is disconnected from the battery, and from then on the security code is the only way back. Land Rovers also have a substantial standing electrical draw, so one left standing for a few weeks can trip the radio without ever failing to start. The usual ways it happens:
A locked Land Rover stereo stays silent and waits for its code. If the navigation system has locked too, it wants its own code before it will work. Discovery, Freelander, Defender and Range Rover units word the prompt slightly differently between years, but the behaviour is the same: silence until the right code goes in.
No pulling the head unit, no removal keys, no reading labels upside-down with a torch. Land Rover ties the factory-fitted equipment to the vehicle's seventeen-character VIN, so that is the only thing our order form asks you for. You will find it at the base of the windscreen, on the driver's door pillar sticker, or on your registration paperwork. Send it, and the factory code for your unit comes back by email.
Around the clock, every day of the year — there is no such thing as closing time here. Standard orders are emailed back in 30 minutes to 24 hours. In a hurry to get the Range Rover back on the road? The Express option on the order form guarantees your code within one hour, whatever the day, whatever the time.
Key the code in on the preset radio station buttons, one careful digit at a time. The radio should then work normally. If it does not power up, enter the code again and then press and hold the BAND button for 3 to 5 seconds. On a lot of Land Rover units that final press is what commits the code, and it is the step most people never get told about. The full steps are in our free Land Rover code entry guide.
The navigation code goes into the navigation system, not the radio. Entry differs between Land Rover navigation units, so the exact method for yours is emailed along with the code. Do not guess — attempts are limited before a lockout. And remember: the radio code will not open the navigation lock, and the navigation code will not open the radio. They are separate systems with separate codes, which is exactly why our order page lets you pick each one.
Enter a wrong radio code more than three times and the radio goes into lock mode and disables itself. To recover it, leave the radio switched on for one hour so it can reset and accept the code again, or hold the BAND button down for five seconds to clear it. Whatever you do, resist the urge to guess. One correct entry from the code we email you beats any number of hopeful stabs at the buttons.
The VIN route covers the equipment your Land Rover was built with. If a previous owner fitted a different head unit, its code belongs to that unit rather than the car. If there is any doubt, email us first and we will confirm exactly what we need — we reply every day of the week.
Grab the VIN, pick radio or navigation on the form, and we will take it from there.
Not sure which code you need? Start here.
Seeing a different message on the screen? Here is what each one means →
