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A Real Head Scratcher

we_have_liftoff

SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2003
Messages
42
Location
NW MN
My Av is possessed >:D. Here is the scoop, I have had several issues with my Av (purchased on 8-09-03 1163miles) that have caused me to make trips to the dealer. My last visit was on 9-22-03 for frt diff housing, bearings, seals, new tires and full alignment. I had checked my mileage on 9-19-03 it was at 1884miles today it is just shy of 3k. I have no idea how an extra 1k has showed up. The dealer only had it for 3/4 of a day on 9-22 and I only have about a 18mile round trip for work and maybe throw another 50 for misc. running a round. I called, then went to dealer and the only mileage they recorded was from 8-20-03 1545miles they never took another mileage reading on 9-22-03 since they had left the repair order open waiting for parts...yea it took 30+ days to get the parts. The dealer admits the Av had low miles but has no idea what if anything could cause this (other than me). I was pretty PO'd that no one had taken my mileage on 9-22 and tried to explain to them that there is NO WAY the mileage is correct. I even went so far as to show them my purch. agreement that states my 03 Silverado purch. in Dec. 03 only had 6800k when traded so I average about 854 per month...and that includes some longer trips which I have yet to do with my Av. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? I swear this is driving me crazy :E: I have checked the obvious stuff but am wondering if they can use some type of scan tool and check the mileage.
 
are the engine hours up a bunch, too? This would be a new one to me. Strange.
 
84 hrs, 2968miles DIC says Avg MPH 33.
It? is mine, can't miss the Av mtn logos. I never paid attention to the hrs prior to this.
 
Go see the Dealerships GM! If someone "road tripped" my Av without me or my knowledge...a head or two may roll....or the dealership just bought me some goodies (Av tent/other stuff you want)

Do not let it slide. This is pretty common. A jackhole once drove my 02 vette from the dealership to his house at lunch to show off....I tracked the engine hours and mileage...

I got free oil changes for life from that dealer.
 
I don't know how I would prove that someone took it for an extended road trip. But if they did I'll go !*%$!&* ballistic.
 
I thought they HAD to take milage down for the work order to be filed?? If not then something sounds fishy to me.
 
Dos AVvezas said:
84 hrs, 2968miles DIC says Avg MPH 33.
It? is mine, can't miss the Av mtn logos. I never paid attention to the hrs prior to this.
as from our hourmeter thread this is within normal...so the miles and hours increased accordingly...

Either you have driven it that far and not noticed becaude maybe the odometer has been on some DIC screen option or someone else drove it without your consent....

I hear the mileage is tored in several places i nthe vehicle...ask dealer to check them out...

Good luck
 
Just a thought. Are you sure that it is reading miles, and not kilometers? I'm not sure if it is switchable, but the numbers you reference are close to what you would get if it was switched!
 
For what it is worth it is switchable. It is a selection in the menu.
 
page 3-56 of the manual shows how to switch from eng to metric. 1884 miles equals 3038 kilometers, so I'm guessing that your reading kilometers. If not, your in the twilight zone!
 
Mileage 8/9 to 8/20 (first recorded reading) shows 382 miles recorded in 11 days, or about 34.7 miles per day.

Mileage from 8/20 to 9/25 (todays reading) shows 1423 miles recorded in 36 days, or about 39.5 miles per day.

Mileage from 8/20 to 9/19 (you read mileage at 1884) shows 339 miles recorded in 29 days, or about 11.7 miles per day.

Mileage recorded from 8/9 to 9/25 shows 1805 miles recorded in 47 days, or 38.4 miles per day.

Mileage from 9/19 to 9/25 shows 1084 miles recorded in 6 days. Using the averages above, the owner would have put an additional 127 miles on the vehicle which leaves 957 miles unaccounted for.

With the front end requiring those parts to be replaced, would it be logical for someone to increase their driving,.... NO.

Logically, someone would decrease thier driving knowing there is a problem with the front drive train. So it would seem reasonable that the miles per day would drop.

Could the dealer have replaced all those parts and road-tripped the car in one day,... NO. 957 miles equates to 9.6 hours of driving at the vehicles limited top speed of 99 mph.

The only thing to be concluded here is that the system added 1000 miles, or that the odometer was misread on 9/19.
 
I'm hoping the DIC has been set to metric and that is the confusion... but I'm doubting it as that would then give you a reading of over 3K... not just under as you stated.

I thought that the only place the mileage was stored was in the IPC, so I don't know how you would check it.

As a really off the wall thought.... supposing they changed the tyre size settings during the service? Would the computer then recalc the odometer reading?? Sorry just an odd thought.
 
Skidd said:
I thought that the only place the mileage was stored was in the IPC, so I don't know how you would check it.
The mileage is indeed stored in the instrument cluster, but it is also stored in six other locations within the vehicle in order to detect odometer fraud. For security reasons GM/Chevy does not reveal where those other locations may be.

EarthQuake said:
Are you sure that you got YOUR AV back? ???
Or how about a really off the wall conspiracy theory? Did they swap out the instrument cluster for one with higher miles? ???

-- SS
 
Please keep us posted on what happens, I for one would put nothing past the dealership. In my experience with them, they think we stupid or something. I took my DODGE van in for an oil change and got it back with the same color oil it had when it went in. So I looked under the van to see the FORD oil filter I had put on it on the last oil change. So I called them to let em know they didn't do the o/c . The tech got really smug and asked how I knew this, oil sometimes looks dirty but is really clean. So I asked are DODGE dealerships sometimes FORD dealers in hidding using gen FORD parts? (this made him stop and think a little) He says no, a DODGE dealer only uses DODGE parts. So I asked , then how did a FORD filter get on my van? He says we didn't put it there (real smug like). I did on the last oil change you dim wit! That how I know, so he changed the oil and gave me 2 free. I think I would of like the tent for the AV better lol! Don't trust the dealer, do the math, it still dont add up. I have 225 hrs on my AV and 4320 miles, cut that in half 112.5 hrs w/2160 miles for my AV and you have 89 hrs w/3000 miles, it dont add up ! GOOD LUCK! Try giving GM HQ a call, they'll love this one!
 
ShapeShifter said:
The mileage is indeed stored in the instrument cluster, but it is also stored in six other locations within the vehicle in order to detect odometer fraud. For security reasons GM/Chevy does not reveal where those other locations may be.

SS, now that is some good info... but it begs the question, if the only people who know about it are GM, then what's the point? I mean look at how many people on this forum have swapped clusters and more than a few of them have not had the cluster updated... so in effect the cluster is incorrect. Who is going to tell the next buyer of that vehicle? For it to be a good system the new IPC would read ERROR unless it was fitted by an authorised shop... doesn't it being plug & play mean it will be open to abuse?

You know that I'm not having a go at ya... I'm genuinely interested in the thinking (GM's) behind this.


Or how about a really off the wall conspiracy theory? Did they swap out the instrument cluster for one with higher miles? ???
If the cluster was swapped out... would that be varified by your point about the milage being stored in 6 other places.?
 
I just thought about something SS had said... Since the milage is stored in 6 different places, why don'tthey have it automatically update the new cluster, or incase of trouble automatically keep the odometer correct? Wouldn't that pretty much cut out fraud issues?

This would make sense, or at least in my thinking it does.
 
How could this info be stored in 6 places?? ???

It isn't like there are electronic chips located all over the vehicle, or am I uninformed? :2:
 
Thanks for all the input. As far as the english/metric theory...it was the first thing I checked before I got all bent out of shape...it is english. My question is if they have a scanner they should be able to check one or more of these black boxes...right? Dealer isn't sure this is possible since they have never done it. I talked with the service manager about this and he is very skeptical about my complaint and not very motivated to help figure this out. I told him I have proof that I put on very few miles and will show him the facts on the vehicle I traded...03 Silverado purch. 12/02 traded 8/03 with 6800+/- so I average about 850 a month and I drove my Av less than average due my service issues. Top mileage should only be 2438k if I drove it normally for a month and a half (includes the 1163 when pruch. on 8/9/03). If I take the 1584k from repair order dated 8/20/03 plus normal driving of 850 miles = 2434 using either method I have an extra 500+ miles that can't be accounted for. I state it this way because it is impossible for me to prove the 1k mileage gain I am claiming and when they do a scan if all the black boxes match then I can at least argue the real world numbers. A 500 mile road trip is much more plausible given the time frame. In fact I think I'll take a little trip to the dealer ASAP and see what the next step will be. I am a little fired up after writing this post. :8:
 
Skidd said:
SS, now that is some good info... but it begs the question, if the only people who know about it are GM, then what's the point?
If the cluster was swapped out... would that be varified by your point about the milage being stored in 6 other places.?

There are some pretty stiff penalties for odometer tampering depending on which state your in. I have been told that one way the state tracks this is if your mileage has decreased since your last years inspection. Also, I assume if you were to trade in on another GM they would verify the mileage first. As far as a private sale goes - I guess there really is no way for them to know unless they take it to a dealer to check before buying
 
Dos AVvezas said:
84 hrs, 2968miles DIC says Avg MPH 33.
It? is mine, can't miss the Av mtn logos. I never paid attention to the hrs prior to this.

Your MPH seems pretty low to me. This might be consistant with the Ave gaining a grand while remaining still. ???
 
Isnt it more likely that the prior mileage reading was written down wrong?

Or did you already discuss this?
 
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