Cliff Notes: Miles stored in Odometer or Ecu?

A friend of mine recently just purchased and Evo, I told him a million times to make sure that I go with him to check it out because he is clueless when it comes to seeing if the car has been modified before.

Something doesnt seem right and I think he got pwnd but I dont know. The car seems like it has more miles on it that it shows.

My question is where is the milage stored? In the gauge cluster or in the ecu?

If its in the Odometer I think someone might have swapped it out.

 

I don't think it's stored anywhere in a Mitsu ECU

 

Maybee the car was just driven hard?

 

anyone know for sure rather than specualtion?

 

One way to find out is to call the stealership...

After a two minute phone call...Mitsu claims that in order to replace the cluster the legit way is that you have to take it to a verified dealer and they send it out. The new cluster then is programed, including with the current mileage. Swapping in a cluster from another vehicle may not work.

 

Yes, it is stored somewhere. Unfortunately I don't know where. When I totaled my Evo, they were able to recover something and retrieve mileage.

 

if you doubt the legitimacy of of the odometer. take it to a dealership to verify. I seriously doubt anyone would mess with that since that is a Felony big time.

 

just curious why you think it has more miles?

 

maybe it is stored in the body control module

 

+1

Miles are a huge factor, but the car is only as good as the person was to it.

 

It is only stored in the gauge cluster itself. Fact .... Mitsubishi Master Tech told me this. 2003 to 2006 Evo. With the new X , I have no idea.

 

You are very correct ^^

 

its only stored on the cluster. change the cluster = new mileage. although the cluster should have a vin number on it and you can try to match it up with the car... not sure if it does though

 

really waht the could have done is detach the original Odometer from the start.. and install another one.. and then when there ready to sell re-attach the original. this way you wouldn't be able to find out.
and its fairly easy to do since people on evom sell odometers all the time.

 

Not sure how it works with mitsu, but this is how it works with BMW. The mileage of the vehicle is stored in the cluster and the light module. You are only supposed to replace one at a time if both are needed to be replaced for some reason.

If you only replace one... lets say the cluster for this example. You have to program the vehicle afterwords and the light module will tell the cluster what it should display. You are told to never replace both of them at the same time, because it will set the mileage back to 0.

Another factor is the manipulation dot. that comes up if either the cluster or light module is replaced and the vehicle isnt programmed. again, not sure how it works with mitsu.

Oh yea... and ive heard(from a reliable source) in some cars if you just disconnect the cluster and drive, it doesnt rack up the miles, and when you plug it back in, no manipulation dot. but who knows...