In a bit of a pickle

So my car is sponsored by a company that makes LED parts for cars. We decided it would be nice to do some LED stuff to the gauge cluster. So, we took the gauge cluster out of the car and sent it off to another company to do some work on it and get an idea of what would look good.

A few weeks later, we get my gauge cluster back...yeah i've been driving around with out the gauge cluster....I had no choice

When i put it back in..

not a single mile has been recorded

I drove 500+ miles without the odometer....in my opinion, this is a huge flaw in a brand spankin new car (06!!)...When the gauge cluster is out of the vehicle, the odometer does not record mileage.

I would not intentionally disconnect the odometer just do get less miles..this is fraud right?

so yeah i dunno what to do....If my dealer knows...the warranty could be voided...eek...i'm nervous....really nervous.

Yeah, the odometer can't record mileage when disconnected. I would suspect that you are screwed on the warranty, they can say you disconnected it to avoid putting on to many miles and making the warranty expire. Just curious, how did the dealer find out about the odometer?

Just a note to people who "upgrade" cars with a warranty. Find out from your dealer if any of your modifications will affect the warranty before doing the upgrade. Sometimes the most minor of things will affect your warranty. ;)

The dealer hasn't found out..i'm just trying to figure out if they can right now. It's connected and it's going to stay connected. I just find it odd that a brand new car would have such an easy way to by-pass the mileage. I figured there was a computer buried deep inside the car that just transfered the information to the odometer...but the stupid computer is right in the gauge cluster...that's stupid.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

The dealer hasn't found out..i'm just trying to figure out if they can right now. It's connected and it's going to stay connected. I just find it odd that a brand new car would have such an easy way to by-pass the mileage. I figured there was a computer buried deep inside the car that just transfered the information to the odometer...but the stupid computer is right in the gauge cluster...that's stupid.

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Nate,like Bill has mentioned some upgrades just might void your warranty.If you need to have it serviced the tech just might be able to notice that the guages are differant then factory specs and could alert the warranty holders.I was told when we bought my truck to not change anything on my truck that changes its apperance.The only thing i can add to my truck is a rhino lining of which adds to the value.You might want to set down and read everything in your warranty contract and see what if anything will infact void your warranty.I hope everything turns out well for you ;) .

Any modification performed to a car under warranty must be done by the dealer or else if you experience problems with the modified item the warranty will be void for that aspect of the car. This is what they explained to me at the dealer when I contemplated having someone from outside install my car alarm.

So its possible if they found out that your warranty would be voided for those gauges and perhaps anything related to those gauges.

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

Any modification performed to a car under warranty must be done by the dealer or else if you experience problems with the modified item the warranty will be void for that aspect of the car. This is what they explained to me at the dealer when I contemplated having someone from outside install my car alarm.

So its possible if they found out that your warranty would be voided for those gauges and perhaps anything related to those gauges.

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Spaniard,the part about the alarm being installed by someone else would void your warranty i think is crap.I am not saying you are lieing but i think your dealer just wants your money lol.In the past i have had alarms installed on my vehicles and it never voided any of my warranties and they knew about the alarms.:P

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

So its possible if they found out that your warranty would be voided for those gauges and perhaps anything related to those gauges.

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Actually they will void the warranty on the whole car. Most warranties are void after a certain mileage, if they suspect the odometer has been tampered with they will void the warranty. Mostly because they have no way of knowing the actual mileage that has been put on the car.

I'm not saying it voids the entire warranty, on the entire vehicle, but toyota would not have been responsible for any issues with the alarm system if I had any of it done by someone other than the dealer.

I also know that Subaru did not cover parts under the warranty because they were aftermarket parts when my friend had a different exhaust system put in.

When it comes to not dishing out money or services dealers will find anything to screw you. Not saying they probably didn't want my money also but it makes sense to me that stuff not done by the dealer would void the warranty.

I guess it's not so much the warranty i'm worried about..I'm more worried about them plugging in a machine that reads one amount of miles and then my odometer reads a few hundred miles less...I'm scared they would look at that as tampering. I know that's illegal. The less miles on your car, the more valuable it is right?

My moral is keeping me from unhooking the gauges and driving around for a few more years...i could always trade it in with the odo saying "17000"...but it's not my nature to do something like that.

However, the dealer doesn't know me. To them, it's tampering. It was never my intention.

Nate, just be totally up front about it if/when it comes time to sell or trade the car, or have diagnostics run on the computer or something. Tell the interested parties before they find out on their own. Telling them after the fact doesn't help you look any more honest. ;)


Just say something like, "You should know that back in Aug of '06, I had some custom work done on the cluster. While it was out, I didn't realize the odometer was no longer keeping track of the mileage. So it's actually got around 500 more miles on it than the odometer is reading."

Then its made clear from the start that you aren't trying to hide anything, nor trying to rip anybody off.

holy crap who woulda thought i could tell the TRUTH..lol! thank you for that advice!

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Originally Posted by JLC

Nate, just be totally up front about it if/when it comes time to sell or trade the car, or have diagnostics run on the computer or something. Tell the interested parties before they find out on their own. Telling them after the fact doesn't help you look any more honest. ;)
Just say something like, "You should know that back in Aug of '06, I had some custom work done on the cluster. While it was out, I didn't realize the odometer was no longer keeping track of the mileage. So it's actually got around 500 more miles on it than the odometer is reading."
Then its made clear from the start that you aren't trying to hide anything, nor trying to rip anybody off.

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Exactly what I was thinking ! Being honest before hand makes you sound more innocent;) .

What is the make and model?

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Originally Posted by cueball

What is the make and model?

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Z4? Bob is that you?

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Z4? Bob is that you?

-adam

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It's a Hummer, your fave :gj:

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Originally Posted by cueball

It's a Hummer, your fave :gj:

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You always know just what to say .... :love:

-adam

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

When it comes to not dishing out money or services dealers will find anything to screw you.

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Spaniard- That hurts bro, lol, just kidding. Just to let everyone know the dealers don't care if YOU pay them or if the WARRANTY company pays them. Either way they get paid. Obviously it is easier to count cash than to put a claim in through a warranty company. With that said.

Nate,

I have been a representative for General Motors Corporation for over six years now. In my six years with them I have seen the weirdest things happen from people with odometers not registering(reading) to flames shooting out of their heating ducts while driving over the Brooklyn Bridge. Tuck and Roll is all I am saying about that incident. LOL

Anyway: Yes this "incident" can totally VOID your new car warranty. Not just the cluster's warranty but the whole powertrain/bumper to bumper warranty. Not to be cynical but you being honest will only make you feel better and will probably mean nothing to the dealer. Again please don't be mad at me but it is the plain cold honest truth, it states the facts in your owners manual that if you "tamper" with the inner working of your vehicles components it will void your warranty possibly in its entirety. I am sorry, I only speak from pure unadulterated experience.

P.S. The front hubs of your car have sensors on them. These revolution sensors register the electronic information to the vehicles onboard computer that is way up in the dash. The computer then sends a signal out to the odometer to electronically count the miles you have driven. The computer records all revolutions regardless of if the odometer is connected or not. If you hook up a OBDII system to your onboard computer it will tell you exact mileage, hours idled, top speeds, fuel curves, start count, transmission shifts, highest rev., etc.

I don't mean to scare you but ride the lightening and keep routine maintenance documented for your car and go on with your life. If ever a warranty issue occurs than hopefully the service technician doesn't check your mileage onboard vs. odometer that day. It happens EVERYDAY at dealerships across the country, like i said earlier weirder things have happened.

Live and Learn.:(

-Danny

Tybalt....i'm screwed.

Do you feel you are going to need warranty work soon? I just reread the posts and you stated it was not so much warranty issues but a moral issue? Please reiterate on this.


-Danny

no warranty work soon...it's only around 17,000 miles. Havn't had any problems, I've been doing most of the maintenance on my own....oil...tires...etc.

I have failed to mention I work for a nitrous oxide company....of course nitrous is on the car..but has caused noooooo problems (because i rarely use it), so taking it back to the dealer is out of the question right now. The nitrous system can easily be taken off...it's just the milage i'm worried about.