bcd is right yea it sucks . but that's the way it is. I would guess that old had snap to gether lids. new is poured have not seen 1 fail. failures on old ones was usually self inflicted as in low batt vots. or moistureGo new and have a dealer install in. Yes it needs the s/n and all options programmed. Also the hours need to be set as that is where the reading is stored. Putting a used controller in and the machine will show those hours. Also once the hour meter goes over 1 hour, it is locked, a dealer can't reset it.