All anyone has to do to roll back mileage is sign a piece of paper and send a cluster in to a programmer. If people want to be dishonest they will find a way.
Update to adding trans temp gauge...
- Thread starter DougAMiller
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HiHoeSilver
Away!
He is the OP.
OP
OP
DougAMiller
Full Access Member
OK, pulled the cluster out of my Tahoe this morning and programmed memory address 0x000059 with 0x00, it was originally 0x01. It was literally just flipping one bit. Drove it around enough to confirm that the gauge is now working. Interesting that the memory dumps from 2003 trucks that I looked at all were set to 0x00, which is why you can just put the stepper motor in and it works. Apparently, sometime in 2004 GM just decided to set the option to 0x01 if the cluster wasn't equipped with the trans temp gauge.
So, if you have the cluster apart to put in the stepper motor, making the change in programming only takes about a minute (you just need a programmer like one of the ones I linked to).
So, if you have the cluster apart to put in the stepper motor, making the change in programming only takes about a minute (you just need a programmer like one of the ones I linked to).
HiHoeSilver
Away!
That confirms my earlier research that 2004 was the year it began to be hit or miss. 2005+ are all no go.
This is awesome. Will now be ordering my gauge face, needles, and steppers.
drakon543
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my apologies to doug
ill step out there hoping atleast my point was made and so i dont make a further fool of myself. plus anymore would be just be ruining a good thread.
OP
OP
DougAMiller
Full Access Member
No problem, and no hard feelings. Understand that my little rant is the result of months of research where I sorted through a lot of conversations in which someone would erroneously declare that messing with odometers is illegal. Simply changing an odometer is not, odometer fraud is, there is a difference.
Exactly. I used to be an electronic technician and worked for a company that did warranty repair work for Chrysler Electronics, which was a subsidiary of Chrysler Motors, before Damier bought the company. In the 90’s they used a lot of full digital instrument clusters and they had a lot of problems with them. We programmed mileage into at least a dozen instrument clusters a day and shipped them out. Same thing was used, an eprom programmer that clipped onto the eprom chip through the back of the cluster. Didn’t even need to remove the cluster from the housing. Dealerships would send us a request for a model and mileage. I assume they would have a record of the ones under warranty but we did non warranty ones as well, so I believe they would have the customer sign an odometer disclosure form since many of the clusters we repaired would have unreadable mileage when we received them, just dashes instead of numbers. Anyway, we programmed the mileage that the dealer requested.
HiHoeSilver
Away!
We know you're no fool. Don't want to screw the thread up either, but wanted to be sure you knew what I thought and I didn't come across wrong.
That said, AWESOME info, Doug. Thanks for all your work. People will do what they please with certain info, and there's nothing anybody can do to stop them. Stupid is as stupid does.
OP
OP
DougAMiller
Full Access Member
Nate, or anyone else that's interested in doing this. I think once you have the programmer and the software that goes with it, it will be pretty self-explanatory how to change the eeprom. Just need to read the eeprom and change the one location as I've described, then write the data back to the chip, but I'm happy to answer any questions when you get into it.
BTW, an interesting aside, one of the things that I've seen stated many times when putting a different cluster into the truck is that the VIN of your vehicle needs to be programmed into the replacement cluster. However, I found that when I tried the Denali cluster in my Tahoe and afterward read the eeprom, the Tahoe had changed the VIN itself.
BTW, an interesting aside, one of the things that I've seen stated many times when putting a different cluster into the truck is that the VIN of your vehicle needs to be programmed into the replacement cluster. However, I found that when I tried the Denali cluster in my Tahoe and afterward read the eeprom, the Tahoe had changed the VIN itself.
Thanks for the great info in this thread. There is some disparity in what model year cluster can just add the stepper motor. The reason I say this is my 2004 Tahoe has a build date of 06/03 which made me think mine would be just a stepper motor add-on. With 03 being an easy add, I made the leap of faith that an 06/03 build date would have it be able to display trans temp.
However, I have read somewhere that the tell tale sign of whether your cluster will work right out of the gate with the addition of a stepper motor is that the cluster will have the light bulb for trans temp gauge pre-installed on the board above where the trans temp gauge is. My board does not have the light installed there. I have the overlay and needle but never bothered installing them because it probably wouldn't work.
Anyone else heard that one about the light being in place on the board is the sign of whether it is ready to display trans temp?
Would the OP be interested in turning on the function for other's clusters? I don't know that I want to bother with the eprom reader if it will only be used one time? What other use could it be put to? Thanks in advance.
