Digital car odometer-> What happens if the battery dies?

[JEDI]

My car has a digital odometer. where does it draw it's power? and what happens if it loses that power? will it reset to 000000?

THX

 

[MichaelD]

Yes, and your new car warranty is reset back to day one as well.

Nothing happens to the odometer. The mileage is kept in some kind of EEPROM that gets overwritten w/every new mile you drive, but doesn't get erased if it loses power. <--maybe not the most technically correct explanation, but it gets the job done.

So, no; you cannot disconnect the battery on your 1991 Hyundai and sell the car as new.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: XFILE
My car has a digital odometer. where does it draw it's power? and what happens if it loses that power? will it reset to 000000?

THX

I think it gets reset back to 1960

 

[deftron]

Ever heard of something called memory ?

 

[vegetation]

Nope, but if you drive around long enough to hit all 9's, then the car will think it's the year 1900 and cease to function.

 

[XZeroII]

My car has a digital odometer and it never resets when I d/c the battery. I believe that information is stored in the car's computer on an eeprom chip.

 

[Scarpozzi]

The data is saved in the computer of the car.

 

[Vette73]

Funny but a customer that hauls pizzas had a buick that was digital and when it hit 200K it reset it self back to 0 and put a little notch on the dash beside the mileage.

Don't know how high any other Digital cars go?

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: XFILE
My car has a digital odometer. where does it draw it's power? and what happens if it loses that power? will it reset to 000000?

THX

Actually, I can do better than guessing. My car's got a digital odo.

I'll go out in a couple hours, disconnect the battery, wait a minute or two, then post pics of the result

 

The data is not saved in the ECM of the vehicle, the digital odometer has it's own memory.
Yes there are tools out there to reset/change the mileage, but I'm not going to tell you where, it is illegal to change the actual mileage of a vehicle without doing the proper DMV paperwork.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: XFILE
My car has a digital odometer. where does it draw it's power? and what happens if it loses that power? will it reset to 000000?

THX

Actually, I can do better than guessing. My car's got a digital odo.

I'll go out in a couple hours, disconnect the battery, wait a minute or two, then post pics of the result

If you have a BMW I hope you saved your secret codes for your radio because you'll need them.

<=== Drove around for weeks without a radio bc he couldn't find the security codes for his car after changing the battery.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Roger
The data is not saved in the ECM of the vehicle, the digital odometer has it's own memory.
Yes there are tools out there to reset/change the mileage, but I'm not going to tell you where, it is illegal to change the actual mileage of a vehicle without doing the proper DMV paperwork.

Thats correct, just like when you replace a dash you have to have th old one turned in and put the milage either back into the new dash or list it as being changed.

One of the reasons I don't have a car with a Dig. dash. Always afraid its going to go out. And a new/reman dash is not cheap.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: XFILE
My car has a digital odometer. where does it draw it's power? and what happens if it loses that power? will it reset to 000000?

THX

Actually, I can do better than guessing. My car's got a digital odo.

I'll go out in a couple hours, disconnect the battery, wait a minute or two, then post pics of the result

If you have a BMW I hope you saved your secret codes for your radio because you'll need them.

<=== Drove around for weeks without a radio bc he couldn't find the security codes for his car after changing the battery.

Hmmm...I just got a crappy, old Honda...but I'll check the manuals about taking the proper precuations before I pull this little experiment for XFILE

 

[Analog]

flash memory.

 

[JEDI]

i know that disconnectin the main battery wont do anything.

i'm assuming that the digital odometer has it's own powersource, much like a computer's bios.

so it's burned into eprom huh? hm..where's my eprom writer?

 

[TheKub]

You may beable to reset your odometer but the computer in the car keeps track of your miles. Heard about someone that used a switch to turn off thier instrumentation cluster (ie no gas guage, no speedo, no odo, etc.). It worked when the switch was off the odom didnt register. However, when they went to turn in the car the dealership was giving it the once over they used one of thoes little handy computer things to check out the cars computer and the odoms didnt match. They let him keep the car rather than sending him to jail.

 

[StageLeft]

I've recently disconnected the battery in the 2000 max and of course the odometer didn't reset. The trip did, as did the clock, stereo, etc. (no security codes thankfully), but the odomoter was at the same. Maybe an EMP attack would reset it

 

[fitz4521]

Originally posted by: deftron
Ever heard of something called memory ?

nope

 

[blahblah99]

its stored in an eeprom, probably within the gauge cluster itself. If you want to reset your odometer, you'd have to pull out that eeprom and do some hacking.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
The data is saved in the computer of the car.

Is that the "highly technical" explanation?

 

[ElFenix]

a mircowave would reset it

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Funny but a customer that hauls pizzas had a buick that was digital and when it hit 200K it reset it self back to 0 and put a little notch on the dash beside the mileage.

Don't know how high any other Digital cars go?

Another quality GM product