Change odometer from miles to km

fjon · 03-08-2010 8:08am #1

Wondering if it's a big job to get an odometer changed from miles to km, and if it's a big job?
I would assume it's just a matter of someone hooking up a computer and switching some settings?
I don't really care about the speedometer as much, and I would imagine changing that is a bigger task as the dash would have to come out.
Car is an 08 Seat Leon.

Neilw · 03-08-2010 8:25am

The odometer can be changed from miles to km with vcds.

If you wanted the speedometer changed it would mean changing the entire clocks, new ones would have to be coded to the ecu and key. Saying that, on some cars you can change the foils on the clock fronts to km, that would be easier.

fjon · 03-08-2010 8:35am

That's great to know, I assumed that would be the case.
I guess once the odometer is changed that would also change the trip computer, trip time, mpg etc as well?

I can live with the speedo being in Miles, so that's not an issue.
Anyone know of somewhere I can get it changed in around Dublin instead of having to get the software myself?

Neilw · 03-08-2010 8:58am

fjon wrote: »

That's great to know, I assumed that would be the case.
I guess once the odometer is changed that would also change the trip computer, trip time, mpg etc as well?

I can live with the speedo being in Miles, so that's not an issue.
Anyone know of somewhere I can get it changed in around Dublin instead of having to get the software myself?

Yes the rest of the related info should change too.

If you can find what needs to be changed with vcds I can do it for you. I have a full licensed version of vcds.

Pkiernan · 03-08-2010 11:03am

Just playing Devils Advocate here, but I think I would find it strange when buying a car that the speedo reads miles, but the odo reads in kilometres.

It might be an issue for you in the future if you decide to sell.

Neilw · 03-08-2010 11:06am

Pkiernan wrote: »

Just playing Devils Advocate here, but I think I would find it strange when buying a car that the speedo reads miles, but the odo reads in kilometres.

It might be an issue for you in the future if you decide to sell.

It could be changed back to miles before selling. The only change is to the soft coding of the clocks.

EPM · 03-08-2010 11:15am

I priced changing from KM's to Miles on my Leon a few months ago and it came back north of €800. Just for info if you ever did want to consider the full job...not worth it anyway:pac:

fjon · 03-08-2010 11:30am

Pkiernan wrote: »

Just playing Devils Advocate here, but I think I would find it strange when buying a car that the speedo reads miles, but the odo reads in kilometres.

It might be an issue for you in the future if you decide to sell.

You're absolutely right, I thought about this after making this post. Even though it could be changed back to miles before selling, I still think the servicebook would look odd with the first two services done in miles, and the ones after that in km.
€800 is really not worth it, that's a ridiculous sum of money!

Thanks for the info guys, but I think I'll have to put up with imperial measurements until my next car

Neilw · 03-08-2010 11:32am

EPM wrote: »

I priced changing from KM's to Miles on my Leon a few months ago and it came back north of €800. Just for info if you ever did want to consider the full job...not worth it anyway:pac:

Clocks are expensive but that's the only part that needs to be replaced. Everything else is coding.

You could in theory buy a second hand set of clocks from Germany (km) and code them to suit your cars ecu and key. You would need the skc code from vw to do this but it can be hard to get this code from the garage.

djimi · 03-08-2010 12:18pm

Its hardly worth it for the cost; just learn to convert in your head on the fly :P

kazul · 03-08-2010 12:36pm

Is it a UK import?
A '08 Irish car should have clocks in KMs.
Have you asked a SEAT dealer about changing the Odometer readout? Might be more beneficial than asking strangers to guess on here.

fjon · 03-08-2010 12:45pm

Yes, it's a UK car.

I'm just going to live with it - if there was an easy solution I was contemplating doing it. If it's going to have any effect on reselling it it's not worth it though.

Neilw · 03-08-2010 12:46pm

kazul wrote: »

Is it a UK import?
A '08 Irish car should have clocks in KMs.
Have you asked a SEAT dealer about changing the Odometer readout? Might be more beneficial than asking strangers to guess on here.

Been reading up on this. Simple enough to do. I would estimate VW would charge at least 90euro's to do it, an hours labor on the diag machine.

Can be done this way with vcds.

-Encoding to Europe or UK will allow for certain options like parking lights, flash to
pass, coming home, and leaving home. To do this, change the 5th digit to either “1” or
“4”. The instruments shown below are encoded to the UK. Note that you may have to go
into the MFD setup (controlled by the steering wheel buttons) to change the units to US
customary units, if so desired. Changing the cluster to a different country may change
the seat belt chime.
-To change the speedometer readout, change the last digit. The VW TSB says to change it
to "7", so try that or any value between 1-7, and be sure to verify with a GPS.

dahamsta · 03-08-2010 12:52pm

Seriously, divide by 5 and multiply by 8...

fjon · 03-08-2010 2:41pm

dahamsta wrote: »

Seriously, divide by 5 and multiply by 8...

Yeah, any eejit could do that in their head

I would have liked a way to change mpg too.

Andrew33 · 03-08-2010 2:55pm

fjon wrote: »

Wondering if it's a big job to get an odometer changed from miles to km, and if it's a big job?
I would assume it's just a matter of someone hooking up a computer and switching some settings?
I don't really care about the speedometer as much, and I would imagine changing that is a bigger task as the dash would have to come out.
Car is an 08 Seat Leon.

I drive an Octavia (I would think a lot of similarities with Leon) and you can switch the odo and fuel consumption, range etc between miles and kms just by fiddling around with the display settings. No big deal.
If your car has a rocker switch set into end of wiper stalk, press and hold the bottom of it until your dash display changes, this all depends on if you have the maxidot display of course. If it does, you then get into a settings menu where you can change fuel consumption between L/KM to KM/L to MPG to (US)MPG, this will also change the ODO to the relevant setting.

EPM · 03-08-2010 2:58pm

It's not possible to do this on a Leon without VAGCOM or the like

Kate253 · 05-02-2014 10:18pm

can it be manually done in an avensis?

Noccy_Mondy · 05-02-2014 11:39pm

The Resurection!

biko · 06-02-2014 2:20am

Start a fresh thread please if you're not updating existing information in thread.

Change odometer from miles to km

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