More Surprises

Like every other golf fan in the world, I spent much of yesterday afternoon waiting for the final round of the US Open to start. (I'm all for having sports in prime time, but even I thought not having the final twosome tee off until 6 pm on the East Coast was a tad late.) The only good part was that with all day to kill I was able to scratch a few small projects off my to-do list. Near the top of that list was resetting the code for my car door. Like most cars made in this century, my Mountaineer comes equipped with a keypad on the driver's side door which will unlock the car should you ever accidentally lock your keys inside. Now, even though I have owned this truck for five years, I never got around to finding out what the code was. But, after a member of my family had an issue with this very thing a couple months ago I figured it was time to correct that and put in a code of my choosing. According to the owner's manual all I had to do was punch in the the factory-installed code, push a few more buttons and I could then put in whatever combination I wished. The first issue was that the factory code was supposed to be inside the glove compartment on the owner's card, but since I bought the truck used the card was long gone by the time I got my hands on the keys. On top of that, I bought the car from a Subaru dealership and since they didn't even tell me the car had a remote starter installed, expecting them to know the door code was probably asking way too much. If I wanted to find the code, I was going to have to do it on my own.

After checking the owner's manual I learned that 5-digit combination was also in another location - taped to the computer module. Of course, that meant my first step was finding the computer module. (The book just tells you it exists, it doesn't tell you where it is. It's like Middle Earth in that regard.) So, I took to the internet and found a website claiming the computer module was under the hood near the engine on the passenger's side. I popped the hood but, factoring in all the things I knew about car engines, I was unable to find it. I didn't find anything which even looked like what I needed. So, I went back online to see if anyone had a diagram of what I was looking for and discovered that in some years the computer module wasn't under the hood, but located in the car, under the second row of seats by the seat belt mechanism. I dutifully went back to the truck to look in that location but once again found nothing. Turns out, the internet is full of bad information. (I know, I'm as shocked as you are.) A very specific search for where the computer module is on a 2001 Mercury Mountaineer revealed that this whole time it was in the back of the truck, hiding in the left panel where the tire iron is. (And, to any Mercury Mountaineer owners who are on this post right now trying to find the code to unlock their door, I just saved you at least 30 minutes of your life. You're welcome.)

Of course, now I had the issue of trying to actually read the code. Since the back hatch of my truck remains broken (I swear, fixing that is on my list of projects), I had to come at it through the folded-down back seats. It was clearly the wrong angle and I couldn't read anything. I was going to run inside to grab a flashlight when out of the corner of my eye I spied a small tag on the back of the panel which had hidden the module. It was a five-digit code, but I couldn't read the last two numbers because they had faded. It seemed far too convenient to be what I was looking for but I thought it could just be my lucky day and I would try a couple different numbers, just guessing at the code. After two or three failed attempts and one fleeting thought of going online to look up the best way to bring faded ink back (because going online for information had worked out so well thus far), I decided to just go back with a flashlight and see if the code was perhaps written in larger ink somewhere else. Sure enough, under the bright light I saw the code written in large, bold letters and I could easily read it even at the bad angle. [Sidebar: Everyone said the code was taped to the module. Well, to me that implies it is loosely attached and can just be pulled off. That is why I thought the small tag could be the code. In actuality, the code was on a label covering almost the entire side of the computer and wasn't going anywhere unless I took out the entire thing. This is just another example of why the people who write instruction manuals need to choose their words carefully.]

Now I had the code and it was so simple and memorable that I didn't feel like I had to input a personal one. That should have been the end of it, but the day had one more surprise for me. As I was pulling the flashlight out of the panel a small flash of purple caught my eye. Curious, I put the flashlight back in and saw the purple light was from the beam catching the back of a CD. My truck has a couple places where you can store CDs (after all, it is the best of the best from 2001), but believe me when I tell you that the same place where you keep the jack and tire iron is not one of those places. So, finding a CD here was pretty random. (Even more random? The CD was titled "Salsa & Meringue #3 & #4." Not exactly the kind of music my stereo has been playing for the last few years.) My best guess is that somehow the CD slid between the wafer-thin opening between the panel and the window and the previous owners couldn't reach it. That, or they just wanted to randomly leave a CD and wonder if anyone ever found it. If they ever randomly find this blog post I want to let them know that I did and even though it is now 5 years later, I appreciate the effort. Because of them if I ever do get locked out of my car not only will I be able to let myself back in, but I'll have some upbeat music to celebrate. Scratch another item off the to-do list.