km to miles quandary

km to miles quandary

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Discussion

Nicki_bee

Original Poster:

4 posts

2 months

Sunday 23rd February
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Hi everyone,

I’m new to the forum, so I apologise if this question has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything after searching. I recently brought a Nissan Serena Hybrid, a Japanese import, to the UK. I didn’t realize the full extent of the process needed to get it through the IVA test, which led to quite a few challenges, but it finally passed and is now on the road.

As part of the modifications, I used a company to convert the speedometer and odometer from km to miles. However, I didn’t realise that the rest of the multimedia display would still show kms. It seems that only the values are being converted, but the display unit wasn’t updated, and it’s now quite confusing. The mileage is shown without a unit (it doesn’t display "km" anymore, but also doesn’t show "miles"), and other things like the remaining fuel distance are still in kilometers. Additionally, the cruise control no longer works.

Is there any way to update the display unit to show miles and ensure everything is synchronised, or is this not possible?

I’d really appreciate any advice! Thanks!

Simon_GH

629 posts

92 months

Sunday 23rd February
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Daft question but have you checked with the company who converted the speedo? What should have happened vs what has happened? Is it possible to convert the entire display? And lastly why doesn’t the cruise work - I can understand if you’re setting it to a speed outside its range but that doesn’t sound right.

Nicki_bee

Original Poster:

4 posts

2 months

Sunday 23rd February
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No, I haven't actually. It wasn't me who got the company to do the conversion, it was done through the guy at the garage who was doing the other work on the car. I've tried asking him but I never seem to get a straight answer. I will see if I can contact the company directly instead, thanks

swampy442

1,578 posts

223 months

Monday 24th February
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Personally, and this is my opinion, is remove the converter and just use KMs, from experience converters can cause a lot of problems such as your cruise not working, You only need to learn 5 numbers

There will be no way to convert the media other than possible software updates I would wager.


swampy442

1,578 posts

223 months

Monday 24th February
quotequote all
Simon_GH said:
Daft question but have you checked with the company who converted the speedo? What should have happened vs what has happened? Is it possible to convert the entire display? And lastly why doesn’t the cruise work - I can understand if you’re setting it to a speed outside its range but that doesn’t sound right.
The cruise doesn't work because all the converter does is changes the frequency of the speed signal to the dash to mimic mph, the ECU will have multiple speed sources for other stuff like traction etc so it can't correlate the signal, it kicks cruise out

Simon_GH

629 posts

92 months

Monday 24th February
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Every day’s a school day!

Nicki_bee

Original Poster:

4 posts

2 months

Monday 24th February
quotequote all
swampy442 said:
Personally, and this is my opinion, is remove the converter and just use KMs, from experience converters can cause a lot of problems such as your cruise not working, You only need to learn 5 numbers

There will be no way to convert the media other than possible software updates I would wager.
Is this allowed? We had to convert it to MPH to pass the IVA test, if we removed it now would it not fail future MOTs?

samoht

6,530 posts

158 months

Monday 24th February
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Nicki_bee said:
swampy442 said:
Personally, and this is my opinion, is remove the converter and just use KMs, from experience converters can cause a lot of problems such as your cruise not working, You only need to learn 5 numbers

There will be no way to convert the media other than possible software updates I would wager.
Is this allowed? We had to convert it to MPH to pass the IVA test, if we removed it now would it not fail future MOTs?
I'm 99% sure that a km/h only speedo is fine for the MoT test. IVA covers more than MoT.

ChocolateFrog

30,651 posts

185 months

Monday 24th February
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swampy442 said:
Personally, and this is my opinion, is remove the converter and just use KMs, from experience converters can cause a lot of problems such as your cruise not working, You only need to learn 5 numbers

There will be no way to convert the media other than possible software updates I would wager.
Agreed.

That's what I've always done. On my Insight I'm sure the conversion also confused the hybrid system.

swampy442

1,578 posts

223 months

Tuesday 25th February
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Nicki_bee said:
Is this allowed? We had to convert it to MPH to pass the IVA test, if we removed it now would it not fail future MOTs?
They don't drive your car on an MOT to check the speedo, so no effect, the conversion is purely to tick a compliance box. Its fine and this is from a guy who's had an import car of some soft for the last 20 years

swampy442

1,578 posts

223 months

Tuesday 25th February
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Simon_GH said:
Every day’s a school day!
Older Toyotas have 2 speed sensors on the gearbox, one for speed and some other stuff, and another dedicated to the ECU

Nicki_bee

Original Poster:

4 posts

2 months

Wednesday 5th March
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Okay cool, thanks for all the advice ☺️