New Combination Meter Wrong Mileage

This is NOT a huge problem, especially since the difference isn't that much.

They are designed on purpose to be difficult (or almost impossible) to reset, so you are seeing the mileage from the "donor" car.

It is not a problem because there is a place on the title to mark an item that says: The displayed mileage is NOT the true mileage.

 

was the place you bought it from supposed to set it to the mileage of your old odometer, like texas hybrids and auto be yours does?

 

Don't worry about 4k in lost mileage, unless you have some kind of outstanding factory warranty in effect.

Definitely wouldn't screw up a 'title' over such a trivial loss.

 

Plus in all honesty a gen 2 Prius is so old a 4 thousand mile difference in mileage will not affect the resale value. Just remember to note the mileage is not correct if you sell the car. Most crooks today would kill to buy a combo meter with that low mileage. Craigslist is full of dirtbags trying to pull off mileage swaps with other instrument clusters.

 

That was the existing mileage on the core,

You must have never discussed mileage concerns with the seller before you bought the combo.
Some sellers can install your exact mileage. Most can’t and the combo has the existing mileage.

I bought one that was 4 thousand miles less.

 

did you/he think the new one would pick up the old mileage?

 

That's kind of the point of ALL of these responses.
The mileage is stored IN the odometer, regardless of what kind it is.
When you move the ODO to a different vehicle, the reading will not change.......without some (illegal) manual intervention at least.

 

oh, now i see, thank you

 

It's too bad there's not some permanent memory (bullet-proof flash drive?) in the car, and dealership are not able to sync a new (or salvage) meter, after install.

 

The mileage is stored in the combo meter, so the one you bought displays the mileage from the car it came from. Since the difference is not that big, I would not worry about it. There are services that can program whatever number you want into that meter, if you are willing to remove it and send it to them and then re-install.

 

Save your money. Just write down the 2 mileages and if you sell the car mark the mileage not correct on the title and note the difference.

 

I personally would not worry about it and consider myself lucky that I got a replacement meter with such a close match in mileage.

 

Craigslist scammers would love to get either of those low mileage displays to swap out on an older clean car. Job is quite a bit more work than other cars though.

 

If you can just plunk in a meter with whatever mileage you request, this makes a mockery out of the odometer. This is not progress.

 

Old fashioned mechanical odometers were even easier to temper with. Just turn the cable with an electric drill in the appropriate direction and you are done

Of course, most of those were 5 digit meters in days when exceeding 100K miles was big deal.

Also, I wonder how legal is the service that puts whatever is requested into the combo meter. Probably perfectly legal.

 

I suspect that there is a special WORO counting chip in the combination meter. W-O-R-O would mean write-once-read-only. On that account, Toyota dealers must send the complete unit to the sub-contractor's service facility in Texas. Likely, the old chip needs to be removed and a new one installed on the new circuit board, if it needs to be replaced.

 

I just learned that the combo meter also stores the vehicle's VIN, which may be more of an issue to the OP than 4K miles disparity on the odometer.

 

I would keep whatever documentation about the new one for future reference if needed. When I get my car pollution inspected they always ask for the mileage and I think there is a notation on the title about if the mileage is correct. As long as you are honest I wouldn't worry about it.