instructables

DIY: Odometer Reprogramming

by speedkar9

Here’s how to reprogram your odometer after an correct mileage information. While it is not illegal to
instrument change your odometer reading, it is illegal to falsify or
cluster swap. The vehicle this was demonstrated on misrepresent the actual mileage of the vehicle.
is a 2004 Honda Accord.
2. The odometer display can be just as easily
YouTube Video: DIY Honda Odometer changed by swapping clusters to one of a lower
Reprogramming mileage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmyERHeDlTw 3. This procedure requires disassembly of the cluster,

and de-soldering of SMD components. Use care and
Disclaimer: caution when dealing with delicate components, and
practice first on a spare cluster.
1. The information provided should only be used to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmyERHeDlTw

DIY: Odometer Reprogramming: Page 1

Step 1: Introduction

Let’s say you swapped an instrument cluster from a The odometer information can be copied over from
coupe to the old cluster to the new cluster using Honda HDS,
a sedan to change the look or color of the needles, or assuming the original cluster is operable. What
you’re replacing a defective cluster. The mileage on follows is a hack-around to using HDS, by
most (Japanese) cars is stored on the instrument programming the mileage directly to the chip. You
cluster itself, and not in the ECU. Therefore the can also opt to merely swap the chips, or copy and
mileage of the original vehicle that the cluster was paste the program, rather than decode.''
from will be displayed on the dash.
Tools and Parts Required:
Odometer information is stored on a small EEPROM
chip on the circuit board. The chip can be read and • Screwdrivers
written to using a serial programmer. The information
is coded in HEX characters. • Soldering iron, solder and a de-soldering pump

• Computer with Windows XP and serial port - 4.7K ohm resistors

• 8 pin DIP socket - 5V Zener diodes

• Serial programmer o Wire strippers

- Breadboard • Serial programming software (PonyProg freeware)

- Hookup wire • A spare instrument cluster in case you screw up

- Female serial port header Here's the original instrument cluster from my LX
sedan, 314,622 km, and here’s my new cluster. It’s
- 5V from computer power supply from an EX-L sedan with 211,150km.

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Step 2: Disassemble the Instrument Cluster

Once the cluster is out of the vehicle, pull up on a few gloves and don’t touch the black face of the gauges,
tabs to remove the front plastic cover and fascia. it’s a fingerprint magnet.

The needles will need to come off next. Pull up on Once the gauge face is removed, remove the white
them carefully and they’ll come out. Take a photo of backing plate revealing the circuit board, with the L56
their home position before taking this apart so you EEPROM chip.
know where to realign it upon reassembly. Use

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Step 3: Solder Hookup Wires

According to the datasheet, pins 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 then solder some hookup wire.
will need to be connected for programming. To read
the information off the chip, while it’s still in the Now before you can properly read from the chip, on
cluster, we need to solder some hookup wires to the board, you have to short the crystal, located to the top
leads. If you use a multimeter you can trace the leads left of the EEPROM chip.
to the pads on the other side of the circuit board, and

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Step 4: Programming Hardware Setup

This is the EEPROM programmer I built to connect And SNAP!!! The leads broke off the chip. This is why
the chip to my desktop computer. It interfaces through you should use a hot air station so it heats all the
the RS232 serial port. All it is are three 5V zener pads evenly and you can just pick the chip off the
diodes ($1) and three 4.7K ohm resistors ($1). The board instead of prying it.
rest is some 22 AWG hookup wire and a breadboard
($5). That’s it! Luckily, I had saved the EEPROM information I
downloaded earlier. I found another replacement chip,
And here’s my programmer connected to the PC. the Microwire 93C56 chip from a car’s ECU I had
laying around. The 93C56 chip is identical
And the breadboard with the resistors and diodes. electronically to the L56 chip.

Now here’s where it got tricky. Using the PonyProg So I soldered wires to the “new” chip, and was able to
software, connect it to the programmer directly, without having
I was able to read and save the information from the the board hamper the write function. The additional
odometer chip. But I wasn’t able to write to the chip. advantage is I could now quickly disconnect and
The EEPROM must be removed from the board if you reconnect my chip to the odometer board, and then
want to write to it, as it can’t be programmed in circuit. test my new program out on the car as I decoded the
odometer program.
So off we went trying to desolder an SMD chip…

1. The entire hardware setup with the computer connected to the

breadboard (EEPROM circuit) and instrument cluster.

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 1
1

1. Broke the leads off the chip trying to remove it from the board. 1. Here's the replacement EEPROM, from another ECU. Its a 93C56
Microwire EEPROM, which is compatible with the L56 chip on the Honda
cluster.

Step 5: Programming: Reading From the EEPROM

I used PonyProg software, which is a free serial and SI Prog I/O. You can then Probe the port to make
device programmer. It reads and writes to the COM sure it detects your serial programmer.
port, which in my case is directly to the chip. If you
don’t have a serial port on your computer, you can Next head over to the device menu and select
purchase an EEPROM programmer that connects via Microwire 93C56, which is compatible with the L56
USB and emulates a serial port. EEPROM chip.

First thing, head over to the setup menu under Then click Device –> Read to read from the chip. The
options; information from the chip will be downloaded in HEX
format in a 16 by 16 bit array.
Make sure its set to read from the serial port, COM1,

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DIY: Odometer Reprogramming: Page 7
Step 6: Decoding the Odometer Dump

At this point you can merely save the odometer to determine the inverse of each character.
dump, and
write it to your new cluster. Or if the engineer inside For example, a “3” will be inverted as “C”, and 8”
you is itching to make sense of 256 HEX characters, inverted as “7” and “5” inverted as “A”.
you can attempt to decode it.
Therefore the only characters that store actual
Here’s a look at the HEX dump. Through a lot of trial information are the first two HEX digits, 33 and 85.
and error, back and forth in the vehicle, and a few
hours of hair pulling, calculating and note-taking, I To decode, simply convert the number to decimal
was able to come up with a rough idea of how the using a hex to decimal converter, and then multiply by
odometer program works. 16 to give you the odometer reading in kilometers. I
got 211,024km.
The odometer has a major value in addition to a
minor value that increments. Trip A and B are also Using this method of calculation, I need the new
stored in the EEPROM. The major value is what I’ll cluster to read 314K, so I can divide it by 16 and
be focusing on, since that controls the thousands of convert it to HEX to give me the base value in the
kilometers which is more important. odometer dump. This value, 4C CF will then have a
checksum of B3 30, which I will write to the chip.
Knowing this, if we focus on the last few lines in the
EEPROM dump, you’ll notice the characters 33 85 Now I know it’s not exactly accurate but close
CC 7A repeated 8 times. This is the major odometer enough, because there is a minor incremental value
value in HEX. The numbers are actually the HEX that I haven’t decoded. I made an excel sheet to help
invert of each other, and act like a checksum. A HEX me convert the numbers.
lookup table, which is 0-F and F-0 backward is used

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Step 7: Writing Information to the EEPROM Chip

Now that we’ve got the corrected mileage value, head Here’s what my modified odometer dump looks like
back to the PonyProg software and click Edit – Edit with the bottom two rows edited for 314K.
Buffer Enabled to enable writing to the HEX bits.
And that’s it, you can now disconnect the EEPROM
Click on the bit you want to edit and type in the new from the programmer and hook it up to the odometer
value. In my case I replaced all “33 85 CC 7A” with board to test it out.
“4C CF B3 30”.

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 1

1. The modified 314K odometer dump written to the chip.

Step 8: Prototyping

Since I still had the hookup wire attached to the And start it up and it reads 314,543km, which is close
original odometer board, I use it to temporarily enough to what I had on the old cluster.
connect the EEPROM chip with the 314K program on
it and test it in the car to see if it works. I’ve also gained the outside temperature display
option on the EX-L cluster.
I used alligator clips to connect the six hookup wires
to the EEPROM. It looks ghetto, but this is only a test
before re-soldering the chip!

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Step 9: Closing Everything Back Up

Next, we can transfer the new programmed chip back compensate for the lack of conductivity with the board
onto the odometer board. In my case it was already beneath the lead.
soldered onto an ECU board, and it needed to be de-
soldered. A hot air station is highly recommend here, Now its time to reassemble the instrument cluster.
as we broke more pins taking this one off too! Reinstall the needles, in the position that they
originally
Then solder the new chip back onto the board. came off in. They have a stopper that has to be
adjusted. Good idea to refer to a photo of the cluster
When removing the original chip, a few of the pads before you took things apart to get it aligned.
got damaged. Thus a patch wire was soldered in to

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Step 10: Results

Once everything is back together, connect it to the vehicle and start it up!

Now of course you can program anything you want. Just for fun I programmed 999,999km. The odometer dump for
that looks like this.

Now you can take your million-kilometer car to the dealership and trade it in for a free brand new car!

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Step 11: Additional Notes

Gauges can be calibrated by hand when the cluster is Once all the gauges are closed up, it’s interesting that
turned off. Use an OBDII scanner to determine Honda left a hole in the back of the cluster exactly
vehicle and engine speed and coolant temperature. behind where the EEPROM sits, where we soldered
Calibrate the gas gauge when the gas light turns on. the hookup wire. Remember though, even if you were
able to solder hookup wire without taking apart the
The odometer does not roll over to 1 million circuit board, you wouldn’t be able to write to the chip
kilometers. But the trip computer still works, as you in circuit, just read from it. Just a thought.
can see here, I drove just over a kilometer to see
what would happen. Fin.

I like the idea of recording 'exact' mileage of vehicle. It's always interesting to see just how far you
can go. One day I'll open up truck instrument panel as I know it's about 13% 'slow' since I fitted
different wheels and tyres and shows 'only' 106,000 miles at present when it should be showing
around 110~112,000 (I didn't fit 'new' wheels until 50~60,000 (will have to check, I have it in truck
records)
Nice write up on reading, decoding, and writing the odometer. I'm planning on doing the same thing
to, but to a different make and model vehicle. Thanks for showing me some of the issues I'll
encounter.

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