I am very excited because today I picked up and installed a new instrument cluster for my Avalanche. The light on the odometer went out on my original one, so I have not been able to tell my mileage. But no more! It took a whopping five minutes to install the new cluster and I did it right in the parking lot of the dealer where I bought the new one. You may be wondering how I can get my mileage transferred to my new cluster if I can't see it on the old one. Does the mileage stay in an on board computer somewhere in the truck, not dependent on the cluster? Surprisingly, no. I had to figure out what my mileage should be. Fortunately that is not difficult for a geek like me. I track my gas mileage using a Google Docs spreadsheet that I can access via the browser on my Blackberry and enter the mileage and fuel data right at the gas station. So I have records going back quite some time. I was able to use that data to approximate what mileage I typically drive in a month and then added that amount to my last recorded mileage and the dealer used that to program my new cluster.
Only $359 later I am a happy man and can say that there are times when a cluster is a good thing.
