Digital odometers rant
- Thread starter Jeepster_nut
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digital is a pain if you have a work truck with a fleet card like Fuelman, Voyager, etc. I always forget to check the odo before I pull the key out (since my Voyager card is on my keychain). So then I have to restart to read the odo. For some reason, in my Colorado, the time from turning the key to the reappearance of the odometer seems to be about 45 minutes.
Like DIGITAL a lot, have tenths. Especially like the A B trip meters....one for mileage, one for OCI.
I know with BMW at least that if the odometer is tampered with, a red dot will come on and stay on...I recently saw the light activated on a car for sale on Ebay!
Quattro Pete, mine looks about the same, except 60k is just a memory - just turned 90k. Can't see your tach, but I hope your engine wasn't running, with all those symbols lit up...
My understanding is that digital odos were adapted partly because they're (supposedly) more difficult to roll back. Could it be also because they're cheaper too? Nah...
My understanding is that digital odos were adapted partly because they're (supposedly) more difficult to roll back. Could it be also because they're cheaper too? Nah...
Many of the digital odometers use vacuum-fluorescent displays, which consume much more current than an LCD does.
Of those that are LCD, many of them are designed in such a way that they require a backlight to be visible. This backlight consumes more power than the LCD does. Sure, they could design them to not require a backlight, but then they wouldn't look so cool anymore.
Yeah, my A4 is just a memory too. I miss that thing. It was way more fun to drive than the e39.
Yeah, supposedly. From what I know, at least on some cars rolling back a digital odo is easier than an analog one.
Patman
Staff member
In my Corvette if you turn on the parking lights with the key not in the ignition, the odometer readout will display.
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In my Audi, with the ignition is off, the odometer display will be backlit when I turn the parking lights on. It's also possible to read the display without the backlight on when looking closely. The trip meter displays 1/10 miles (or 1/10 km if switched to metric units).
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Like others have said, my jeep has the "toggle" method for using the trip odo. No real reason to waste the digit for the total mileage when you've got it on the trip odo. It's not likely to exceed 99,999.9 for any tank of gas ..in this century anyway
I'm sure it can be done ..but tampering with a PCM is not that simple. The VIN is in there too and shows up on all kinds of databases. If you replace the PCM, the dealer, typically, uses proprietary software/hardware to flash the thing to your old mileage and VIN. Sure you can swap in a lower mileage PCM from a like model ...but if you have OBDII emissions testing ...your last mileage already resides in the DMV. I dunno how this works if you bought out of state vehicles ..but if the car ever reaches any dealer in the future ...some red flag is going to popup. My neighbor wanted a slick way to beat his lease penalty for over mileage (wife driving). After I pointed out the aforementioned liabilities, he figured that he would be too lazy to swap out the PCM once a year to get it inspected. I guess he could have done it every 6 months or so. I'd never bother. I don't have a programmed disposal method for vehicles. It's way more work cheating when you attempt to cut every corner.
Funny thing. My neighbor bought a jeep and didn't know it had a trip odo for about a year. She commented about it and we told her. The thing is ..it has a button to reset/toggle it. If it didn't have a trip odometer, one would think that the factory wouldn't have included the button. I never saw this in the owners manual ...(when all else fails, read the instructions) ...there was merely a button there ..and I pushed it .....viola~!
I'm sure it can be done ..but tampering with a PCM is not that simple. The VIN is in there too and shows up on all kinds of databases. If you replace the PCM, the dealer, typically, uses proprietary software/hardware to flash the thing to your old mileage and VIN. Sure you can swap in a lower mileage PCM from a like model ...but if you have OBDII emissions testing ...your last mileage already resides in the DMV. I dunno how this works if you bought out of state vehicles ..but if the car ever reaches any dealer in the future ...some red flag is going to popup. My neighbor wanted a slick way to beat his lease penalty for over mileage (wife driving). After I pointed out the aforementioned liabilities, he figured that he would be too lazy to swap out the PCM once a year to get it inspected. I guess he could have done it every 6 months or so. I'd never bother. I don't have a programmed disposal method for vehicles. It's way more work cheating when you attempt to cut every corner.
Funny thing. My neighbor bought a jeep and didn't know it had a trip odo for about a year. She commented about it and we told her. The thing is ..it has a button to reset/toggle it. If it didn't have a trip odometer, one would think that the factory wouldn't have included the button. I never saw this in the owners manual ...(when all else fails, read the instructions) ...there was merely a button there ..and I pushed it .....viola~!
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