Is it possible to get US odometer to work in a Canadian FR-S?
 

Hi all,


I recently bought a second FR-S, a 2015 Canadian example purchased from a dealer in NY who imported it. As a courtesy before delivering it to me, they had the Canadian instrument cluster reprogrammed to display the odometer in miles rather than km's.

They did not notice, however, that the odometer stopped working. It's stuck at the mileage it was programmed to display. I noticed this on my first test drive after the car was shipped to me. The trip odometers tick up by a few tenths of a mile but then reset themselves. They do this repeatedly.

The dealer was very apologetic and agreed to pay for what's necessary to fix this. I got in touch with a local speedometer shop, who suggested that the easiest thing to do would be to get a US cluster and program it with the correct mileage.

So I had them do that and installed the US cluster. Unfortunately, it behaves just like the reprogrammed Canadian cluster did: the odometer is stuck, and the trip odometers repeatedly tick up by a few tenths and then reset themselves. And like the reprogrammed Canadian cluster, the non-odometer-related functions work: the speedometer, thermometer, fuel and coolant gauges, in-gear indicator, and rev alarm all work. Remote locking/unlocking work as well.

The next thing I did was take it to a Toyota dealer to see if they could find out what the issue is. They kept the car for much of a day, and determined that it's not a hardware issue. The ABS sensors, from which both the speedometer and odometer get their signal, are fine, and the entire CAN BUS network is sending signals just fine. There are no DTC codes.

There was a Techstream initialization procedure that's supposed to be done when a new instrument cluster is installed, to pair it to the key transponder, so they did that. But the remote locking/unlocking worked before the initialization in any case, and this initialization procedure did not get the odometer to work.

After discussing with the dealer's master tech, who worked on the car, we decided that the next steps to try are:

1) Get a US ECU and see if that gets the US odometer to work;
2) If that doesn't work, get an un-modified Canadian instrument cluster and pair that with the Canadian ECU.

The tech was not optimistic about 1) working. He said he's seen other instances of Canadian Toyota models (not FR-S's though) whose installed US odometers were never able to be made to work, even after installing a US ECU.

I have a US ECU on the way and will try that first, since I'd prefer to have an odometer that displays in miles.

Has anyone here had experience with getting a US instrument cluster to work in a Canadian car, or vice versa, or know whether this is even possible? And if it is possible, what steps are needed?

Thanks for reading this long post and for any suggestions!

The issue is in the cluster wiring I'd bet...if you swapped two clusters and getting the same result...I'd get a wiring diagram and check each pin at the cluster plug....

The master tech did that -- he said the plug for the cluster is ok. He put an oscilloscope on various parts of the CAN BUS network and he said the relevant sensors and ECUs are sending signals correctly.


Given that the CAL IDs for US and Canadian cars are the same, he surmised that there's some firmware or other difference between the US and Canadian ECUs that codes the signals from the ABS sensors into miles and kms respectively. He thinks that the US and reprogrammed Canadian clusters just can't process the odometer message that the Canadian ECU is sending.

Pretty sure they use the same cluster....
Is there are part number on the (Canadian) cluster that was taken out? I could cross reference it to the US part number.

Also, am pretty sure that what the cluster displays is determined by the region/country setting setting in the BIU or ECU, not actual cluster programming...

I'd almost bet that whatever they tried to "program" caused the issue and what ever holds the odometer info and gives it to the cluster to display got boogered up....

Yes, I knew it....it the Main Body ECM customizable settings is where you select the destination (market) for the car, this changes the cluster to display mph or kph and miles or kilometers based on the region. There is no programming necessary...

This is all the original dealer should've changed. I'd bet they shorted something in the unit attempting to reprogram it that is causing the issue.

The used car dealer in the Buffalo region that I got the car from seems to do a decent volume in imported Canadian vehicles. They have a speedometer shop that they use on the regular to do the km > miles conversions for them. They did mention that certain brands can be problematic, Toyota among them.

Canadian cluster for 2015/2016 MT: 85002CA450
US cluster for 2015/2016 MT: 85002CA430


I believe that the US and Canadian ECMs have different part numbers as well.

I can see how programming the Canadian cluster could have shorted something in it, but the fact that the US replacement cluster behaves exactly the same way makes me think that the issue is external to the cluster hardware. Unless programming the US cluster with the correct mileage damaged it in the same way as the km > miles conversion programming hypothetically damaged the Canadian cluster.

Is that image from the BRZ service manual? I will definitely bring up the main body ECM customizable settings when I go back to the Toyota dealer with the US ECM. Thank you for that.


Edit: I'm looking in Techstream for the 2015 FR-S and can't find documentation about main body ECU customizable settings, unfortunately. This might be something that only Subaru's dealer software can do.

I had a similar issue when I reprogrammed my cluster myself. The issue is the cluster does not like the first/single digit modified for some reason. Don't know why. So what I did was added all the miles drove, made sure it was similar to the original first digit, then change the rest of it.


Example: My mileage was at 56053 on original cluster (2013). The 2017 cluster mileage was at 25069. What I had to do was drive til the original cluster (2013) hit 56059 (so the mileage is accurate in terms of the single digit), then reprogrammed the 2017 to 56059 miles. It has not had an issue til this day. I am at almost 100k miles.

Thanks for the info, you all made my day.

This is very interesting, but I don't think it's the issue with my car. The US cluster's mileage was 93,913 when it came out of the donor car. The mileage that I had programmed into it was 66,133, so the final digit stayed the same on the donor cluster.


But I'm glad to know that the cluster is able to be programmed by someone other than Subaru or Toyota and not have the odometer be frozen as some sort of built-in tamper-proofing fail-safe.


I had the engine ECU and main body ECU from the same donor car installed today at the local Toyota dealer. The odometer is still frozen. The dealer's master tech called Toyota USA's technical department and explained the situation and asked for their advice. They told him that the last thing to try is install what they call the ABS actuator/ABS ECU from a US car.



If that doesn't work, I'll have to get an unmodified Canadian cluster, program the correct mileage in km's, and re-install the Canadian ECUs and ABS actuator.

You can always contact GeraldJustProjects and ask him more about it. He was one of the first to get a 17+ cluster into a 13-16 model and would probably know more.

Thanks -- found his website and reached out to him. Hopefully he'll know how to get the odometer working!

GeraldJustProjects also suggested to put in a US ABS controller. He said the engine and main body ECUs have nothing to do with the odometer calculation.


He's right. I just found out that the Canadian engine and main body ECUs that were taken off the car have the same part numbers as the US ones that were put on.


So that leaves the ABS controller as the remaining possibility as to where the distance traveled calculation is being made, in km or miles. I'm feeling optimistic that it'll fix the issue. I ordered the one from the same donor car as the cluster and ECUs, and will have it installed next week. Fingers crossed.

Well, this turned into a longer and more expensive project than I was hoping.


I had the ABS controller installed, which involves cutting hard brake lines and flushing the brake system. $798 for 3 hours of labor by the dealer's master tech.


The odometer was still frozen. Brought it back to the local shop that programmed the mileage. They insisted that there was still some hardware incompatibility, though they could not point to which hardware, specifically, since I'd already replaced every ECU that could possibly affect the odometer.


So I ran an experiment. I bought a second used cluster and had the dealer install it. It ticked up! This proved that there are no remaining hardware incompatibilities between this Canadian FR-S and a US cluster.


I got a refund from the local speedometer shop and sent this second US cluster to GeraldJustProjects to program the correct mileage. Unfortunately, the dealer could not get it to complete the Techstream registration procedure that pairs it to the main body ECU's immobilizer after it came back from Gerald. The master tech tried everything he could think of for two hours, but it just would not complete the registration procedure this time.


So the cluster is now back with Gerald, who can hopefully figure out what went wrong when he programmed the mileage that's causing the cluster not to be able to communicate with the main body ECU.



It seems that these first-gen clusters are tricky to program the mileage for. This is now three experienced cluster shops that have not been able to do it. So far; hopefully Gerald can figure it out.

I thought I'd give an update on how this turned out, in the chance that someone else tries to import a Canadian twin into the US, or a US twin into Canada.


My takeaway: don't try to reprogram the gauge cluster to change the display from km to miles or vice versa. Reprogramming even the mileage on these 1st-gen cars' clusters corrupts them somehow. I suspect it has to do with the non-OEM software that the cluster shops use to program the clusters. These applications don't have the chips for the gauge cluster for every make and model mapped out correctly.


GeraldJustProjects wound up ghosting me. Tried reaching out to him a few times after sending the cluster that he programmed back to him, but never heard back. He never sent the cluster back to me either.


I resolved my issue by sheer dumb luck. I happened to find the one used US instrument cluster on eBay that had close to the correct mileage that the car came with. It was within a few hundred miles of the reported mileage when the used car dealer sold me the car.


But at first, the Toyota tech could not get this cluster to pair with the main body ECU either. He tried various things for a couple of hours but it just would not pair, so the car would not start. He recommended that I buy a new reprogrammed cluster from Toyota USA.


But I ran an experiment. I had him put the Canadian main body ECU that the car came with back in, which has the same part number as the US one, and asked him to try to install the eBay US cluster with the correct mileage, but this time without doing the pairing procedure.


It worked: he was able to install it, start the car, and the odometer ticked up correctly.


I had taken a guess that the main body ECU only has a certain number of pairing procedures that it can undergo, and after that it won't take any more, and that appears to be true. The US one that had been put in the car had undergone a couple of pairing procedures already, so it would not take any more.


This was a six month process involving multiple trips to the dealer, a couple of cluster shops and over $2500 in costs, but it was a learning experience.


It worked out in the end. The dealer who sold me the car reimbursed me for most of the cost to get the odometer to work. And the car has been running nearly flawlessly for a year since then.


Things learned:


US and Canadian engine ECUs have the same part number
US and Canadian main body ECUs have the same part number
US and Canadian gauge clusters have different part numbers
US and Canadian ABS controller ECUs have different part numbers


The ABS controller ECU and the gauge cluster seem to be the only parts that affect the odometer calculation

And to answer the question with which I started this thread: yes, it's possible to get a US gauge cluster to work in a Canadian FR-S, or a Canadian gauge cluster to work in a US FR-S.


But you'll have to get the ABS controller for your market installed in the car, and the gauge cluster for your market successfully programmed with the correct mileage. Or get lucky and find a used one with the correct mileage.


From my experience, I would bet that only Toyota or Subaru can successfully program the correct mileage in these 1st-gen gauge clusters.


Also, as an aside, the gauge cluster and main body ECU do not come 'paired' from the factory with that Techstream procedure to pair the remote key to the immobilizer. If for any reason you ever need to replace your gauge cluster, I would skip that procedure. It's not needed for the remote key to work. All it does is limit the number of times you can swap out your gauge cluster if you keep the same main body ECU.

I just checked, i replaced my ABS group with the STi version. The part number is the same for both US (mph) and JP (km), I can't compare with EU, as STi is not sold here.
But it's surely not affected by the localization. I'm actually using US on EU.
The cluster odometer can't be programmed by the dealership, I asked.
The only way is to desolder a chip.
In my opinion, the cluster has a standalone software, and the rest of the car is set up in the BCM.



I got a confirmation from a friend in Japan, he's using a US cluster on his JP car. Everything works normally, but the cluster keeps working in miles.

I believe you when it comes to BRZs. Toyota Techstream does not have a main body ECU procedure to localize the car for various markets however.


An experiment I would have liked to run is to try an un-reprogrammed US gauge cluster in my car before I had the US ABS controller installed. Maybe it would have worked.


Knowing what I know now, that's what I would try first.


The US and Canadian ABS controller ECUs definitely have different alphanumeric markings on them. Whether that means that they will work only with their local gauge clusters, I cannot say definitively.

Not even Subaru SSM has the procedure to flash the odometer, I have both softwares.
There are different part numbers for ABS groups, depending on the year and the level of the car, they are not related to MPH and KM.
If you want to use a US odometer on a Canadian car, you need to edit the software of the odometer.
Geraldjust can do this for you.

I guess you didn't see this post: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...3&postcount=14

Does your car have keyless entry?

Yes

So, the cluster is not paired with anything. I replaced mine with the GR version and I didn't need to pair anything. As I told you, the software of the cluster is not depending from any other electronic, and it can be both in miles or in km, LHD or RHD.
It will continue displaying the odometer it has, but it works.
You have another issue in your car or your cluster.

I guess you have not read any of my previous posts in this thread :)


I have a working US gauge cluster in a Canadian car; I got it working around a year ago.





All of the problems seem to have been caused by attempts to reprogram the odometer:


1. First time by the dealer who sold me the car -- they attempted to program a Canadian cluster to display odometer in miles rather than km;
2. Second time when I got my first US cluster. A local shop tried to correct the odometer; it didn't work;
3. Third time by Gerald. He tried to correct the odometer on the second US cluster that I bought. It couldn't be installed on the car. I returned it to him and never heard back from him.


I got lucky and found a US cluster that already had the correct mileage on it. I had it installed and it has worked just fine for the past year.