Surface mount soldering is tricky. Maybe just removing the chip would work.
Sounds like the Service Advisor doesn't know that the HHR stores the odo in the BCM, many other vehicles store it in the I/P.
$275 sounds like doing the physical install. The usual charge for programming is 1 hour labor.

 

The service advisor said to bring it in with the original IP to legally verify the car's mileage (sounds like a CYA plan to me) and they would install the dash and program it. They are literally the only dealer in a 100 mile radius that will touch it.
I don't mind, because in the end there will be at least one definitive answer to how this is done.

 

The guy thinks you have an Impala. With that kind you have to send your original in to transfer the mileage stored in the I/P to get a new or rebuilt one.
$275 installed sounds ok.

 

It is what it is.
Do I think $275 is ridiculous for the actual work done? Yes.
Do I realize that to do it myself would require me to buy a tool that costs 4 times that and will probably never use again? Also yes.
Do I understand that having a work order that shows an authorized technician matched the odometer to the actual vehicle miles may be good to have when I sell the car years down the road? Most definitely yes.

 

Or keep the original and put it back in when you sell the car and don’t worry about the odometer .

 

If the SS panel's odometer would advance, I probably would. I have some mild OCD about things not working.

 

Just returned from the dealer, the operation was unsuccessful.

Now, mind you, when I made the service appointment, I understood that there was a good chance it wouldn't work, but I wanted a definitive answer.

A few attempts were made, and the technician came to the conclusion that the SS cluster was locked and would need to be sent out to be unlocked. This would be a minimum of another $100.00

My opinion, based on programming industial controls and HMIs is that GM made the SS panel incompatible with a non-SS BCM in order to discourage 'cloning' of a higher end vehicle. It's fairly common in industrial controls. Allen Bradley makes it impossible to use premium features in their hardware if you do not purchase the premium software to unlock them.

All told, this set me back $337.50 to find out it cannot be done. Am I angry? No. I was seeking knowledge, and that doesn't always come cheap or free. But now there is an answer to swapping an SS panel into a LT so anyone else looking to do so now knows GM made it extremely unlikely that it can be done.

This leaves chip swapping. I am not certain if I am going to attempt that, but who knows? Once I get my full workshop set up in my new garage I may take a stab at it.

I also tried getting a cheap Amazon keyfob programmed on this trip, I'll make a thread about that so it is searchable.

 

So they quoted you $275, then charged you $337.50, then asked for more?

 

I call BS. "Uninformed" technician. Much like the one that told me there was no RCDLR in my 2008 or the one that could not find the SDM in my 2011 and had to call Techline to program it, after I pointed to it for him.

 

I agree, Don. Pretty sure SS IPs have been put in LS/LTs before.