heres my question, i noticed that my thermostat gauge wasnt working the other day, and also when i open the door to get into my car i hear a grinding noise coming from the cluster. so i took it in to the dealership cause it should have been under warranty but those douchebags said it wasnt. anyways they want to charge me over $700 for a new cluster. however my buddy can get me one for free cause he owns a wrecking yard. does anyone know how to or know of places that could reprogram the odometer of a new (but used) cluster to match the mileage of my car's mileage? the dealership said they could do it to a brand new cluster but not with one i buy and bring in. i dont see the difference. or does anyone know whats going on with my cluster?? i checked the fuses and they're all fine

 

now wait, have you done any modifications to the gauge cluster? (LEDS, painting needles, vinyl changing the color of the LEDS) If so, then they might be right to want to charge you, if not, they should warranty it (and if they wont, take it to a different dealership) also how many miles are on your tC? if its under 36,000 and under 3 years then they should warranty it! If its over 36,000 or more than 3 years, I think that it would not be covered and you'd have to pay.

 

i have 45000. so i guess its out of the warranty. but i have not done ANYTHING to the car. never messed with the cluster or even the dash! haha. any ideas?

 

wouldnt all 05's be out of warranty

 

Sadly if its out of warranty they are right to charge you for the cluster.

as far as reprogramming, I have heard it can be done, but I don't have much information beyond that.

 

Almost if not already yeah, but there is a slim chance an 05 could still be under warranty though lol I just wanted to be sure

 

so do you think its possible to get that used cluster my friend could get through his wrecking yard and somehow get it to match my current mileage?

 

do you HAVE to program the guage cluster? or could you just throw in any old cluster and just ignore the mileage? I heard that it has to come programmed from over seas.

 

That is called ILLEGAL. Not sure how much info you are going to find on this issue here. From what I understand it is pretty much impossible to do it yourself as you basically have to reverse engineer it.

I'm pretty sure the mileage is stored on a chip (could be multiple chips) and you'd have to pull it out and somehow reprogram it. One of my professors used to work at Ford and he said the computer stores the mileage in different areas and performs checks to verify everything matches.

 

well yeah, but so? my HIDs and tails are illegal too lol. if you can manage to find a odo with comparable mileage, no ones gonna notice. sure beats spending 700 bucks to get a new one.

 

Mileage isn't stored in the gauge cluster. It is stored in the ECU. No matter who's cluster you throw in there, it will read the same mileage as the vehicle it is placed in.

 

^^ I dont think so.

 

no it isnt, it is stored in the cluster. Trust us, we know this.

 

^^^^^
Agreed, just put a new cluster in and it will show the exact same millage as the one you took out.

 

K, no it wont, the mileage is stored in the cluster NOT the ECU

 

mileage is stored in the guage cluster, not the ecu.

 

Then get a cluster from a junkyard, take it to the dealer, and ask them to program it.

 

^^ you can't. That's the problem. Its pretty retarded but the dealership can't reprogram the guage cluster. They have to order a new odo programed to the approx mileage, and then the real mileage is noted when the clusters are swapped.

 

lol you need to read. Dealers will only program NEW clusters.

 

Hmmm...I brought this up around a friend he his dad actually had to do this on one of their old Ford's. It is legal to just stick a new cluster in with wrong mileage as long as you get an Odometer change sticker and put it in the door jam. The sticker shows the mileage of the car before you put the new cluster in. Of course if you traded the car in or sold it you'd have to state the odometer is not the correct mileage.