Odometer Reset back to Zero!!!

AZ98TDI

Active member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Location
Mesa, Arizona
TDI
2001 Golf TDI
My 1998 Jetta was approaching 300000 miles so I wanted to take a picture to capture the glorious moment. So I snapped a shot at 299999 and then waited for 300000 but instead of 300 it went to 0!!! So I took a picture of 0 instead.

Has anybody seen this before? I am talking about the cars' odometer not the trip.
It's like it reset back when it was a new car.

Do these digital odometers only count so far to then reset or what?

Any feedback would be nice to hear:)
 

blind

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Location
KY
TDI
MK3 Golf
Total will also disappear when it changes to zero. This is normal.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Yup... the first time they roll over to 300,000 the word "Total" disappears, the second time I believe the odo just stays at 0 permanently.

A couple times a year I'll see someone advertising a "low mileage MK3.. only 50K miles on her!" but sadly the word "total" is missing. ;-)

If you want to re-live it vicariously Youtube has several videos of people rolling their MK3s to 0.
 

Stealth TDI

Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 13, 1998
Location
Newport News, VA
TDI
2017 GTI APR Stage 3 (395 hp/376 lb-ft)
Hmmm,

Yup... the first time they roll over to 300,000 the word "Total" disappears, the second time I believe the odo just stays at 0 permanently.
I didn't know about what happens at the second rollover. Has it actually happened to anyone? At my pace and if the car holds up, I should roll over the second time when the car's 22 years old. :p

Scott
 

rdkern

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 21, 2004
Location
Humboldt Co CA
TDI
Passat 1997 silver (sold after 11 years), Jetta 2000 atlantic blue
Hmmm,



I didn't know about what happens at the second rollover. Has it actually happened to anyone? At my pace and if the car holds up, I should roll over the second time when the car's 22 years old. :p

Scott
I just placed my 67 bug with an owner that might have it for a while - it was only 43 years old. Not unusual with a VW that is somewhat taken care of. It didn't have 600K, but the body could have taken it.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Yeah... don't remember where I read it... but someone had reverse-engineering the cluster programming enough to figure out that 600K was the max it was designed to read.
 

OxyBolzen

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI Wagon
My odometer says over 291 000 km, with the 'total' too, but the car history says the first owner sold the car with 329 000 km on it. Is it possible to reprogram the odometer to display a lower number, or was the cluster replaced?

Another interesting fact from the car history, there were some funky numbers going on, including an increase of 121 000 km in one month, which is only possible if you drive 168 km/h for a month STRAIGHT, no stopping.

Someone has been messing with my odometer, eh? :)
 

ChippedNotBroken

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Location
Pocono\'s, NYC
TDI
Jetta A4 1999.5 Green
I don't think so ...

Km ain't miles.


Must be a swapped cluster.
My odometer says over 291 000 km, with the 'total' too, but the car history says the first owner sold the car with 329 000 km on it. Is it possible to reprogram the odometer to display a lower number, or was the cluster replaced?

Another interesting fact from the car history, there were some funky numbers going on, including an increase of 121 000 km in one month, which is only possible if you drive 168 km/h for a month STRAIGHT, no stopping.

Someone has been messing with my odometer, eh? :)
 

BigMike85

Member
Joined
May 28, 2007
Location
St. Louis
TDI
1998 Jetta
My 1998 Jetta was approaching 300000 miles so I wanted to take a picture to capture the glorious moment. So I snapped a shot at 299999 and then waited for 300000 but instead of 300 it went to 0!!! So I took a picture of 0 instead.
Has anybody seen this before? I am talking about the cars' odometer not the trip.
It's like it reset back when it was a new car.
Do these digital odometers only count so far to then reset or what?
Any feedback would be nice to hear:)
This literally happened to me two days ago! I have pictures of it as well. Is it a glitch in the system, or what?

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1TKXKgVOuWk/TRGqRz1SLCI/AAAAAAAABDk/xN6jj7KSw28/s400/299999miles.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1TKXKgVOuWk/TRGqSN5lGgI/AAAAAAAABDo/3FRFaLWy5_c/s400/300000miles.jpg
 

rdkern

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 21, 2004
Location
Humboldt Co CA
TDI
Passat 1997 silver (sold after 11 years), Jetta 2000 atlantic blue
First digit doesn't have the proper lines to make the "4" - upper left is missing. Why? Who knows.
 

nm57

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Location
Ontario
I just turned over 300.000km and the "TOTAL" is gone.The odometer is gone back to "0" and going back up again.

Nebojsa
 

okanTDI

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2004
Location
ontario canada
TDI
97 Jetta TD
i can confirm that the second time you roll over 300,000 that it doesn't go to 0... the second time it does all dashes. in canada they roll at 300,000 kilometers instead of miles. my mom caught a video of it..

found this thread trying to figure out how to make it show the odometer again.. because as of now it just stays at "------" and we have to use the trip to keep track.. but it's only a matter of time before we reset that..
 

ymz

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 12, 2003
Location
Between Toronto & Montreal
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI Wagon, 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon
Anyone know what happens with the MkIVs at 999,999 km?? (We're up over 713,000...) One of the dealers where I was picking up parts said I should come see them when we get there...

Y.
 

Sweeps

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Location
Orillia, Ontario, Canada
TDI
None currently. MK4/5/6 Jetta's in the past.
Anyone know what happens with the MkIVs at 999,999 km?? (We're up over 713,000...) One of the dealers where I was picking up parts said I should come see them when we get there...

Y.
You're racking them up quick! I seem to remember you were around 600,000km not that long ago!

(Well, it probably wasn't that long ago, maybe a bit over a year :))
 

ymz

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 12, 2003
Location
Between Toronto & Montreal
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI Wagon, 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon
You're racking them up quick! I seem to remember you were around 600,000km not that long ago! (Well, it probably wasn't that long ago, maybe a bit over a year :))
17 months... to be precise...

Too much driving... this is getting tiresome...

Cheers,

Yuri
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
so does anyone know how we can get the odometer working again? need to know when to change the oil and what not..
I researched this a while ago and determined that it's not possible, at least for the average person. The cluster is behaving as designed.

Member "a3clusters" on vwvortex is the go-to guy in terms of repairing MK3 clusters when they break... he may know of a way to bypass this issue.

Or, grab a replacement cluster at a junkyard and motor on.
 

Mr_Deezy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Location
New York
TDI
1997 Passat 1.9 TDI
I almost hate to put this up on the forum, but when I bought my Passat a few months ago the PO told me that the instrument cluster failed. No fuel gage, temp, ect but the odometer still worked. He got tire of not having the other stuff so he had the cluster replaced. The new cluster started at zero and when I bought it it was up to 54 miles. On the drivers door jam is a sticker stating the cluster was replaced and the original mileage was 167,xxx.

All that being said, the interior is in awesome condition, it starts easily and quickly every time even in cold weather. And despite a few minor problems that he didn't mention to me (windows, radio, door hadles stuff) the car seems to be in very good condition. BUT it does not say "TOTAL" on the odometer. Does this mean the car rolled past 400,000 before I bought it? I have a hard time believing it considering the condition of the car.

what do you guys think?
 

Rig

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2010
Location
New Mexico
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI, 210k miles
Apparently, "3" is as far as it goes, and then the word "TOTAL" disappears.

The computer apparently doesn't keep trackon its own?

The computer on my 2006 calculates what the instrument cluster SHOULD be reading. There is a difference when you scan it, by a few miles, but you can tell whether the instrument cluster has been swapped or tampered with (and not the computer memory). I guess it would be possible to re-set the computer memory as well.
 
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