would you happen to know any keywords I can use to search for this thread? I searched nav and went through 14 pages of posts and could not find anything.

Isn't that reply number 6 in this very thread?

Eureka! You found it!

yeah, I read that one. and here I thought he was talking about a different thread.

I would shoot bullet4 (tony) an email and ask him for some help. Perhaps there's a document or something specific that he can tell you to advise your dealership to check. I would then sit down with the service manager and provide him anything that you find out.

It seems like they would be willing to replace/repair the nav headunit rather than replacing DVDs at $100+ a pop.

Hey Caholla, thanks for the advice. I should have done that if I went to my regular dealer. I decided to take my car to another dealer by work and I had a much more positive experience. They only took about 30 minutes (probably less, I wasnt keeping tracking) before confirming the nav failure. They said they will order the unit and a new disc and will give me a call when it arrives. The other dealer said they would need half a day to "take a look." Look at what? i dont know, since theres really only a 50-50 chance of whats going on. Either the disc is defective, or the slot is. Since it isn't the disc, it doesnt take a genius to figure out its the player. I'll keep you guys updated, been about a week without the nav.

Ok, well I took it to the dealer yesterday and they replaced the entire unit. They also didnt mention the fact that they were going to replace the entire unit and to take out the CF and CD that I had in the old unit. Now they are telling me it will take 6-8 weeks to receive my stuff in the mail....

So the Unit that they put in is a model SNAZ-A2 with Serial #:

HCB23003180

while the old serial # was:

HBB22003407

Do you guys know what might be different between the two units? This one is more of a dark tan/light black color, while the older one was pure black. Did I get a 06 navi or an 08? I am hoping its either a newer 07 or an 08, but it just seems a lot thicker (when opened) than my previous unit. It also is a lot louder than the previous unit.

This my understanding of honda parts:

39540-SNA-??1ZA is the nav for blue interior
39540-SNA-??1ZB is the nav for taupe interior

?? = model year
A3 = 2008
A2 = 2007
A1 = 2006

Per the invoice, I got 39540-SNA-A30ZBRM which would be the 2008 navi for the taupe interior. Caholla, would you happen to know the difference, if any, between the 07 and the 08 unit?

Long answer:

Honda uses the model year indicator to note the model year of the vehicle that the part was produced for. It's similar to a version number, however if there is a significant change in the part design or functionality, a completely new part number is assigned rather than a versioning of the original.

Across the board right now, A3 parts are installed in new '08s and also whenever a replacement part for an '06-'08 is called for.

The RM on the end of the part number = remanufactured. Which is not a big deal, doesn't affect future warranty claims, etc. With a core swap, the RM model is like $400 as opposed to $4000 for an off the shelf new one. What Honda does is ship the navi systems back to Alpine for repair and when they come back to Honda, it's given an A3????RM designation, regardless as to whether it was originally an A1, A2 or A3.

Since the '09 navi has bluetooth, the '09 unit should have an altogether different part number with an A1. I'm 99% certain of this and that A3 will be the version for this part series...Meaning the '06-'08 replacement parts will remain 39540-SNA-A31??RM. The exception would be if there were a unit recall or some other unexpected event that would call for a new version of the same design to be built. In that case there would be an A4 version and the A4s would only be put in as replacement units for '06-'08 MY vehicles. This is highly unlikely.

That does not mean, however that the '09 unit will not work in an '06-'08. It just means that there was a significant enough change in the design for Honda to want to differentiate.

Short Answer:

Honda has their own special method to part numbers and versions of part numbers. There may be a difference in the '06, '07 and '08 parts, but Honda does not consider any differences to be significant enough to give it a new part number. When parts for a new model year are built, and there is no 'significant' (to Honda) changes to the design, a new version code is given to the existing part number. When replacement parts are ordered, Honda will send the version it has on hand. When Honda receives remanufactured parts back in from the supplier, it designates the part with the latest version, followed by RM. The '09 headunit will likely have a completely new part number and an A1 version rather than a A4 version of the existing part series, as it will have standard bluetooth.