Forum Discussion

prstlk's avatar
prstlk
Explorer
Aug 20, 2016

Odometer in MH weirded out

We have a 2007 Holiday Rambler Ambassador motorhome. We have been full time on the road since May 2014.

Every time we change locations we religiously write down the beginning and ending mileage. We also keep track of things like fuel fill-ups, oil changes, etc.

Last week we left the Atlanta area and the odometer read 52264. When we arrived outside of Asheville NC it read 000347. No, this is not the trip meter this is the odometer. Not sure what had happened we zeroed out the trip meters (neither of which we really used) and went on about our business.

Today when we moved from Asheville to Concord NC it read 000495 - exactly the number of miles we drove according to trip meter 1 (and 2 for that matter).

We have zeroed out trip meter 1 and will use this for our driving mileage and use trip meter 2 for the accumulated mileage BUT...

does anyone have any idea what the hell happened!

We didn't have any issues on our trip from Atlanta to Asheville, no really heavy rain, no electrical issues.

We're not sure if it happened while we were driving or when we got in the rv park and turned off the coach. Just that when we turned the key on to put down the jacks is when we noticed the weird mileage.

Any help is greatly appreciated folks!

Thanks!
Class A
  • TripleE's avatar
    TripleE
    Explorer
    Aug 21, 2016
    We had it happen last year on our Winnebago (Freightliner). Like you we write down the mileage when stopping and I also do it when fueling up. Pulled into a station for fuel and when we started back up again the mileage was wrong. It didn't go to zero but to but to 1341. Nothing you can do about it. It is illegal to change it back and you can get the real miles from your onboard computer. The only problem we have is with our extended warranty people. Even though all of this has been reported to them with authentication by a repair shop they still question the mileage every time we have work done.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Aug 21, 2016
    msmith1199 wrote:
    Now that it has reset, there is nothing you can do about it other than to determine the real miles and just add those on to what the odometer shows. But here is something to keep in mind. I took my RV to Speedco for an oil change and they asked for the mileage. I told the girl the miles on the odometer isn't right so don't bother. She said she needed to enter something so she said she would just put down 100,000. Well I know it's only about 40,000 but I almost let her do that. Then I changed my mind and told her to put down 40,000 if she had to list something.

    I later learned about Carfax. These oil change places and even the dealers report all this info to Carfax. So if I would have let her put down 100,000 that would have got reported and then when it came time to sell my motorhome it would be problem if somebody ran a Carfax report.


    At least in Vermont (and I think it's the same in most or all states), when you sell it you're required to fill out an odometer statement and, in this case, indicate that the odometer reading is not the correct milage. Anybody who would otherwise accept a vehicle with an odometer statement that says the odometer milage is incorrect but then reject it because the Carfax report indicates odd mileage reports is not thinking too clearly.
  • msmith1199's avatar
    msmith1199
    Explorer II
    Aug 21, 2016
    RichNewcome wrote:
    You might want to checkout this thread.


    I see I replied to you in that thread. And just a couple of weeks ago mine reset for the third time. I still haven't called Freightliner yet to figure out the real miles.
  • msmith1199's avatar
    msmith1199
    Explorer II
    Aug 21, 2016
    Now that it has reset, there is nothing you can do about it other than to determine the real miles and just add those on to what the odometer shows. But here is something to keep in mind. I took my RV to Speedco for an oil change and they asked for the mileage. I told the girl the miles on the odometer isn't right so don't bother. She said she needed to enter something so she said she would just put down 100,000. Well I know it's only about 40,000 but I almost let her do that. Then I changed my mind and told her to put down 40,000 if she had to list something.

    I later learned about Carfax. These oil change places and even the dealers report all this info to Carfax. So if I would have let her put down 100,000 that would have got reported and then when it came time to sell my motorhome it would be problem if somebody ran a Carfax report.
  • 2chiefsRus's avatar
    2chiefsRus
    Explorer
    Aug 20, 2016
    We had the same problem back in December 2012. We posted about it at that time. Same way that you describe your situation. We are still adding 52,103 to our mileage log to account for the "lost" mileage. We ended up adding a new ground wire to the dash and the problem has not reoccurred in all this time.

    Shortly after the odometer changed itself, we started to experience flickering with the a couple of the other gauges on the dash. That is when we decided to add another ground wire. Knock on wood, neither the problem with the odometer or the other gauges has returned since adding the new ground wire. The odometer is continuing to accumulate mileage correctly from the new odometer reading from that date forward.

    For what it is worth, when we were researching the problem back in 2012, we were told that bad ground and flickering gauges were a known problem with Monaco Dashes and since Holiday Rambler was manufactured by Monaco in 2007, stands to reason you might have the same problem for the same reason.
  • prstlk's avatar
    prstlk
    Explorer
    Aug 20, 2016
    msmith1199 wrote:
    Is that on a Freightliner chassis? My odometer currently shows under 50 miles after resetting a couple of days ago for the third time. Mine does it when the battery gets low and I have to use the boost switch to start it.


    Thanks, but we didn't have any issue like this.
  • prstlk's avatar
    prstlk
    Explorer
    Aug 20, 2016
    Our chassis is an R8 from Monaco/Holiday Rambler. It is their own chassis.
  • msmith1199's avatar
    msmith1199
    Explorer II
    Aug 20, 2016
    Is that on a Freightliner chassis? My odometer currently shows under 50 miles after resetting a couple of days ago for the third time. Mine does it when the battery gets low and I have to use the boost switch to start it.

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