Citigo Greentech, Garmin sat nav

[qpr]

Hi. My wife has a 2013 Citigo Greentech. The sat nav which plugs onto the cradle above the dash loses the "voice directions" every time she sets a destination. I suspect it's not charging, probably the unit itself as the car battery seems ok and I have charged it with a smart charger. I've now brought the Garmin into the house and plugged it into the mains with a suitable plug and cable. It is asking for a code, and I have no idea what it is. The book says I must send the unit back to Garmin to be "unlocked". I've tried their hotline but got no response. I've also tried the usual 0000. 1234, 9999 etc. but without success. Is there a way of sorting this? I've looked through all the documentation and can't find anything to help.  Cheers.

[freemansteve]

Always make sure contact pins are clean, using cotton bud & isopropyl.

It may not be your issue, but it's a known problem.

[qpr]

I may be owe you a huge debt of gratitude. First time I got my hands on the  car for a while. Didn't have proper cleaner so I took a risk with acetone. Cleaned both sets of contacts very carefully using a cotton bud and quickly wiped with a tissue. Usually, I have to return to factory settings and go through the process before putting in an address and getting vocal instructions. This time, I connected the nav unit to the cradle, put in a pre loaded address and as if by magic, the voice started right away. I only tried it once, as the garage is blooming freezing . Time will tell, but it certainly looks promising, cheers.

[freemansteve]

Glad it works now!
Steer clear of acetone next time - it can destroy some plastics and ruin paint. Besides, isopropyl is cheap.

[qpr]

Yes, that's why I wiped it off immediately with a tissue. I couldn't source isopropyl locally, only online. I was going to use a drop of Jack Daniels ! Sat nav still working this morning. Would you know if the whole cradle can be removed from the dash? I only cleaned the back of the Garmin unit and the contacts on the "upstand" Don't want to force it and break something.

 

[freemansteve]

The cradle that sits on the 'port' on top of the dash is removable, but it looks different to my F/L version, so I'm not sure how it unclips....

[qpr]

OK Cheers.

Maybe someone can help.

[qpr]

Going through the book, it looks like there is a button at the bottom of the cradle " stalk" that has to be pressed, then it just lifts off. I'll try it tomorrow.

[qpr]

Well that's the problem solved. We went away for a week and on return, fired up the Citigo and the Sat Nav requested a "security code". Tried everything I could think of without success. Eventually phoned Garmin's hotline and after a bit of a wait, I was told that the device is no longer supported (I knew that) , and there was nothing they could do to help me. When I said, "so chuck it in the bin then "? he said I could try contacting Skoda.   So the bin it is then.

[freemansteve]

best place for it (well, electronic recycling, not landfill obviously)