Community Forums

gsf35099 · 03-15-2021, 06:15 AM

Got a really weird one here and hoping someone has seen it and knows how to get it back.

My 2005 Astoria is on the XC Freightliner chassis, 5.9 Cummins, and back at New Years I was starting the rig to head home when the key slipped out of my hand before the engine started as I turned the ignition. Meaning the spring of the ignition snapped the key back to the on position.
I then grabbed to key and started the rig. Everything running good and no problems.
Looked at the odometer and holy cow - it read ~7400 miles. Problem is our rig has ~60k miles on it and that’s what it showed right before the key slipped out of my hand.
Been on a few trips since and odometer incrementally increasing as it should, but only from the 7k. I even tried the quick slip out of my hand to see if it would go back to normal reading with no luck. Fortunately I just had the rig inspected the time the problem occurred and have documentation of the actual mileage and aligned the new mileage as to keep actual aligned as we use.
Anyone ever seen or heard of something like this?

Thanks,

Dutchstar411 · 03-15-2021, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsf35099

Got a really weird one here and hoping someone has seen it and knows how to get it back.

My 2005 Astoria is on the XC Freightliner chassis, 5.9 Cummins, and back at New Years I was starting the rig to head home when the key slipped out of my hand before the engine started as I turned the ignition. Meaning the spring of the ignition snapped the key back to the on position.
I then grabbed to key and started the rig. Everything running good and no problems.
Looked at the odometer and holy cow - it read ~7400 miles. Problem is our rig has ~60k miles on it and that’s what it showed right before the key slipped out of my hand.
Been on a few trips since and odometer incrementally increasing as it should, but only from the 7k. I even tried the quick slip out of my hand to see if it would go back to normal reading with no luck. Fortunately I just had the rig inspected the time the problem occurred and have documentation of the actual mileage and aligned the new mileage as to keep actual aligned as we use.
Anyone ever seen or heard of something like this?

Thanks,

The ECM somehow made the change. Call Freightliner and see what they can tell you, can they reset the ECM? Is the ECM controlled by Cummins? What ever the case, just keep documentation of everything so once you decide to sell or trade in your coach, the mileage can be accurately shown but most likely you'll have to sign a odometer statement that the mileage is TMU, True Miles Unknown, IF it cannot be reset by one of the manufacturers.

**Petro** · 03-15-2021, 08:17 AM

If you do a search on this forum you will likely find there are other Freightliner owners who have had similar problems. Below you will find the problem I had with my 2005 Itasca Horizon which I wrote up and placed in my manual bag for future reference. A Cummins dealer can also access the module which stores the engine miles.

When traveling home from Myrtle Beach between Indianapolis & Wenona, IL our odometer went back to 0.0. I checked the engine miles on the MMDC and it showed 52,198. So that is the miles lost on the odometer. I called Freightliner and I was told that the odometer can’t be reset to current miles due to Federal Law. If they were to install a new odometer it would have to start out at 0.0. I talked to Freightliner Tech a year later and was told unofficially that in those model years the memory in the ECM was not sufficient. When it gets overloaded it dumps the odometer miles to make additional room. I basically was told I would have to live with the difference. I have talked on the Internet to other Freightliner owners and have been told that they had a similar problem with odometer. I need to add 52,198 to the present odometer readings to get accurate chassis miles. The ECM holds the engine miles and that can be accessed at any time through the MMDC. (Multi Module Display Center)

Don

Pigman1 · 03-15-2021, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petro

If you do a search on this forum you will likely find there are other Freightliner owners who have had similar problems. Below you will find the problem I had with my 2005 Itasca Horizon which I wrote up and placed in my manual bag for future reference. A Cummins dealer can also access the module which stores the engine miles.

When traveling home from Myrtle Beach between Indianapolis & Wenona, IL our odometer went back to 0.0. I checked the engine miles on the MMDC and it showed 52,198. So that is the miles lost on the odometer. I called Freightliner and I was told that the odometer can’t be reset to current miles due to Federal Law. If they were to install a new odometer it would have to start out at 0.0. I talked to Freightliner Tech a year later and was told unofficially that in those model years the memory in the ECM was not sufficient. When it gets overloaded it dumps the odometer miles to make additional room. I basically was told I would have to live with the difference. I have talked on the Internet to other Freightliner owners and have been told that they had a similar problem with odometer. I need to add 52,198 to the present odometer readings to get accurate chassis miles. The ECM holds the engine miles and that can be accessed at any time through the MMDC. (Multi Module Display Center)

Don

Welcome to the wonderful world of Freightliner and digital odometers. Freightliner swears they are not allowed to reset the odometer that obviously has failed and Tiffin does it all the time on their Powerglide chassis. I've had to have mine done 3 times. First I was at home and when I called Tiffin they asked me if I knew the mileage. Since I had the problem in storage I knew exactly and they sent me a new gauge with the correct mileage set. Second time they asked me if I knew the mileage and when I told them I did, they sent me a new gauge with instructions on how to reset it. Third time it was in a bay at Red Bay (Tiffin Service Bay) and they replaced the gauge and reset it to the ECM mileage. Freightliner just needs to fire some idiot lawyers.

gsf35099 · 03-15-2021, 08:04 PM

Thanks gang. Really appreciate the info. I keep pretty good records so not concerned there.
It will be interesting when I go to have the RV inspected next December for the annual renewal to see how the system takes the mileage.
Got no plans to sell in the future at this time. We love the rig too much even after having it 12 years. 😉😎