I see folks selling the Speedometers with low milage settings for sale on Ebay. Isn't this illegal to buy and change? If you were to change the speedometer with a low milage one on a 02-03 maxima it will pick up on the speedometer that you changed. When you put back the original one, it should change back to the miles on that one. But doesn't Nissan Manufacturer have some type of way to figure out the real mileage on your car? I know some people do it with leased cars. Don't get me wrong but I was shopping around for a Maxima 03 for a friend and I saw this and wanted to know if people do this, how can I assume the digital milage reading is real..

 

Whatever the speedo says is the mileage that shows. If someone changed it you would never know.

 

i changed mine with no problem. i switched from a GLE cluster with the black faces to a SE cluster with the white faces. all you have to do is change out each piece and switch the back of the clusters and you will retain the correct mileage on your car. very simple to do!

 

2003s have the digital ones. Im guessing you cant change those?

 

2K+ are all digital. the 2K and 2K1 are interchangeable while the 2K2 and 2K3 are interchangeable.

the back of the cluster is where the mileage is retained. all you do is switch out each individual guage (fuel gauge, speed, tach, temp guages). the computer is attached to the back of those and they are a direct swap from one cluster to another. you will use the back of your original cluster and that is why you keep the correct mileage.

 

damn, now im scared to get a used maxima!!

 

Just check with the dealer to see the milage when it was last serviced or had recall work done, or call the oil change place.

 

so if i have like 40 k on my car and i changed the cluster that had 28 k .. it would retain 28 k?

 

it would retain the 28K. However you can switch the parts and it will retain the correct mileage of 40K.

 

do a carfax before you buy a car

 

does the dealer sell culsters

 

i wouldnt buy one from there, it will cost an arm and a leg if you do. you can usually pick them up off of ebay for a decent price.

 

So the question I would ask anyone who knows is if you have like say 40k miles and have it registered with motorvehicles at 40k for example, you change your cluster to 20k miles on it, you have like 25k extra miles to use until the next emissions or whatever. Is there a way that Nissan can check what the original miles on it? Because than anyone can change their speedometer without anyone finding out what the real milage is.

I wish we had Nissan Dealer mechanic around here that could answer this question on if they have a computer at the dealer that can check original miles on either the transmission or central computer in the car or something.

What do you guys think?

 

You are all wrong fellas, sorry.

The ORIGINAL mileage of the car is stored in the ECU. If a cluster is found on the car with the mileage that doesnt match the ECU, the ECU will throw a incorrect mileage code when the dealer hooks it up to the diag. computer.

 

i think this thread should be locked so no one gets any ideas..

 

they can get all the ideas they want, when they get caught they won't be able to visit the org from jail anyways

 

Check the condition of the car and then you still might not know!

 

not that i know of.... maybe on the 2k3 but they changed a bunch of stuff for that year.

 

Then I guess you don't know

On my 2000 GXE, I upgraded to a SE cluster. I had a problem with my tranny and when they plugged in the diag computer a code came up of incorrect mileage.

I am speaking from experience...either u listen to me or listen to your cell mate in jail.

 

well then, answer me this! after i switched from a GLE to a SE cluster, i took it to the dealer for an oil change and had them check to make sure the mileage was correct even though it was showing it was correct on the display. WHAT DO YOU KNOW! the correct mileage was showing and everything was ok!!

if you unscrew each individual cluster, when i say each individual cluster i mean the fuel gauge, speed gauge, tach gauge, temp gauge, all you have to do is use the back of your orginal cluster where the mileage is stored and switch over the white faces to your cluster along with each computer behind the face. thats it and your done.

when i hooked the SE cluster up to my car to see what the mileage was on it before making any switches, it read 72K. after i made all the correct changes it read the correct mileage of 29K. again, i took it to the dealer and they said everything was fine because i did not want an issue later down the road.

well gotta get back to painting my calipers!

 

"i took it to the dealer for an oil change and had them check to make sure the mileage was correct even though it was showing it was correct on the display. WHAT DO YOU KNOW! the correct mileage was showing and everything was ok!!"

Did you mean to say it wasn't showing correct on the display?

 

no, just like i said. it was showing correct on the display but if i ever sell the car i didnt want an issue to rise up and have them question the mileage.

 

redstradic: I think that he understands that you can swap out the electronic board on the backside of the clusters. That'll give you your existing board (with your correct milage) with the "face" of the other guages. In doing this, you retain your original circuit board, thereby keeping your original mileage.

But what I/we believe he is trying to say is....

"If I buy a cluster off E-Bay with 20k miles, and I currently have 45k miles, will anyone ever know that I've swapped the cluster for one with fewer miles?"

And the answer to that question is YES. Like it was previously posted above....

"The ORIGINAL mileage of the car is stored in the ECU. If a cluster is found on the car with the mileage that doesnt match the ECU, the ECU will throw a incorrect mileage code when the dealer hooks it up to the diagnostic computer."

So... if anyone is getting any bright ideas about doing this, know that the change can be traced back to the mileage where it was changed. And secondly, as stated above, intentionally changing your odometer to reflect mileage other than what is the true correct mileage IS A CRIME.

 

You are correct, you guys should take Igors advice, my tech verified it and he claimed the busted a guy last year. He tried to trade in his 2001 Exterra on a 2003 Max the cluster had 13,000, when they hooked it up to the computer it showed 32,000. It shows an error code, BTW they pressed charges against him for fraud!

 

therefore all the people who have changed their ECU due to failure or whatever reason, should have that error code show up as well, right?

 

Technically, no. Nissan uses a CAN system in the car. This basically allows multiple units in the car to communicate with each other. Each unit attached to the CAN system (with the exception of 1 - I think) stores the mileage as well. Only a Nissan Consult-II can read/reset the data on the CAN system. When you replace the ECU, but the odometer hasn't been replaced, the ECU will receive the new signal from the other CAN units, as well as the board computer (which is NOT a CAN unit). This has happened to basically anyone who has the TS ECU. The new/upgraded ECU will see that the other units and the odometer/board computer all match, and will update the mileage in the ECU to reflect the correct mileage.

Now, if you replace the board computer and the ECU at the same time, the other CAN units will still know the mileage. The CAN system components have priority over the odometer itself, so they'll throw an error code in the ECU.

Nissan doesn't like to document this issue very well (if at all), but I know that this is a non-technical explanation of the way it works in the car. There's alot more to it than just what is mentioned, but they keep it under wraps because of fraud. They even make the dealer send the odometer off to have the correct mileage stored in it. And they have to give you a loaner car to drive so that your car isn't driven/turned-on while the odometer is missing.

Note to fraud-wanna-be's: If you are even thinking about this, know that this type of fraud is a FEDERAL felony. If you do this, you could face up to 10 years in prision for fraud. I don't recommend that you take the risk, as it can be traced back to the owner of the car (you/your parents/etc) and eventually you. You have been warned.

 

awesome. now it makes sense, and it awfully reminds of the windows XP security feature.. you can only change x components without triggering it.

since it just hit me that people had the ECU changed and it got me thinking "uhm.. ok so if by what i just read, if you change the ECU .."

 

Thanks for explaining my theory in detail