Hello All: I just bought a 2005 1/2 ton Silverado 4x4. It is equipted with the digital odometer with a push button near it. When you push the button the odometer display changes to the trip odometer, another push it changes to an engine hour meter. The truck has 18,400 miles on it, but the engine hour count is 2496. This comes out to 7 miles per hour run. This seems like a lot of hours for the miles. Could others comment on the ratios of their readings. Are these readings normal or is there a chance the hour meter is nor recording accurately. Also, does the engine have to run to advance the meter, or only the switch being turned on?

Regards,
Randy, Las Vegas

 

Hello:
there must be some of you with this digital odometer, could you please post your readings of odometer vs hourmemter so I have something to go by.
Thanks,
Randy, Las Vegas

 

OK, You asked for it.

In all my years of messing with cars, trucks, tractor trailers and heavy equipment, I always said it would be great to have hour meters on small vehics. just like large trucks and heavy equipment.

GM did it but unfortunately most people don't realize the value of it.

Let's say that every day you drive 15 miles each way to work during peak rush hour and it takes you on average 1 hr each way. Doing this in anything but absolute perfect outside temp puts a lot of wear and tear on an engine. Maybe you don't drive your vechic. on weekends or long distance vacations so at the end of a year you have driven about 10500 miles in 522 hrs., but those are some of the harshest miles you can put a vehic. through, no matter how well maintained it is. In my opinion these miles would be the equivalent of 40,000 to 50,000, if not more, highway miles in terms of wear and tear.

I have actually seen engines with relatively few miles but high engine run times that on the inside look like they were driven a couple hundred thousand miles. Stop and go traffic is the worst thing you can do to an engine, not to mention the whole drive train.

That's why everyone is always eager to tell you the 150,000 miles on their used vehic. are all highway miles.

If they were all city miles you would have a car that couldn't get out of its own way.

So, as its name implies, the hour meter tells you how many hours the engine has been running to generate the miles on the ODO. I'm 99.9% certain GM's is tied to actual engine operation unlike most boats that are tied to the key being switched to the on position.

Obviously the best ratio is one where you have the most miles in the fewest hours...the only exception to this being really high MPH for long distances, but then this isn't a race truck.

Hope this helps!

 

Hey, I have an 03 Silverado, I have had it since it was new and it has 37500mi and 945hr I drive about 50mi a day round trip to work, in and around town and the occasional out of state trip (of course I was out of the country for 1 1/2 years so I still have low miles). Hope that helps, good luck.

 

Thanks for responding, your ratio comes out to 39.5 mph. Mine with 18,400 miles with 2496 hours comes out to 7 mph. My truck looks brand new in every way, hardly a scratch or scuff in the interior. I guess security guards could have been sitting in it hour after hour eating donuts with the engine running, but I see no evidence of such use, even the seats don't have 2500 hours of donut eaters butt gouging, collapsed spring wear and tear! I was wondering if there was a chance that the hour meter was recording improperly. If others could respond with their readings, I would appreciate the input. It just seems like such a high number of engine hours for the mileage.

 

Hey, I have an '02 Silverado that I have had since new also. My mileage is 51,047 with 1375 hours. Which is 37.1 mph if you take an average. Most of my miles probally 80% or so is highway miles traveling back and forth to work averaging around 70 mph on the trip. It doesn't take long to bring the average down when going by the miles vs. hours, if you think about all of those red lights, stop signs, traffic jams and ect. Although, I do think that is alot of hours for the low miles. I have almost 3 times the miles with almost half the hours. If the vehicle is in such good shape then it probally wasn't used for a farm or work vehicle and I don't see why security gaurds would have a 4X4 anyways??? Maybe it is just me. Do you live in or near a city? That is the only reason that I can think of for the high hours. Unless someone knew what they were doing and tampered with the odometer and not the hour meter. Could be worth investigating in my opinion.

Hope this helps,
Corey

 

Have you driven it for an hour and checked it that way?

 

That's a good idea. I haven't had the opportunity for a 1 hour trip yet, I've only had the truck two weeks or so. I could take my stop watch and check and see if one hour on the hour meter is truly one hour on the clock. Thanks again. Seems unlikely such a device could be tampered with, but hackers like a challenge! Thanks.

Randy, Las Vegas

 

Randy
Unfortunately, it's not vary difficult to stop your digital odo from registering miles. A simple switch wired into your dash can kill all power to your speedometer so your truck thinks it's traveling at 0 mph, thus, not increasing the miles registered on your odo. Even though the miles are not registering, your hour meter is dutifully doing it's job by racking up the hours while the engine is running. I think if you ask your nearest chevy dealer they will tell you they estimate (for lease purposes) miles should equal 15 - 20 miles per hour. My guess is your new silverado has more like 40,000 miles on it and not 18,400 like the odo says. Good luck.

 

Thanks for responding, is it really that easy to "doctor" a modern digital speedometer? This speedo is a single line display that switches to the trip odo and then the hour meter in turn. It also displays warning messages such as no seatbelts, door ajar etc. Seems to me this diplay gets all these inputs from the same pair of wires and the source of all this info is a black box somewhere. I would be surprised if there were separate speedo only wires that could be switched, but I certainly don't know. If the truck has 40 thousand on it, that's still not too much considering all the other high mileage used trucks I looked at where the sellers were asking plenty for rides with 90-100 thousand miles on them. As I've stated before, this thing looks brand new, not a mark in the interior except where the seatbelt buckle hits the door panel when you unlatch it and forget to hold it as the recoil spring rolls up the seatbelt and allows the buckle to hit the door. There is a little wear on the drivers side cloth seat in the lumbar area where a little "fuzz" is raised, but that's it. Thanks again for the comments.

Randy, Las Vegas