Can 84-96 odometers be rolled back??

[nookbrooke]

Got a good friend of mine looking at a few vettes for sale ( He and his wife just recently saw mine and it gave them a little bit of the Vette Fever!!!)
He ran a Carfax on 1 and it stated to watch for possible odometer rollback of like 2500-3000 miles??
Can 84-96 odometer be rolled back?? I told him that didn't think so but remembered someone saying on this forum or another that they can disconnect some odometer wire or fuse or cable??? Thanks everyone for any and all responses!!

 

[Ken]

It is very easy to remove and replace the odometer in some C4s, like my '87. It is an item that is inside the digital cluster, but it's a stand-alone item, separate from the digital display.

 

[c4cruiser]

The 90 dash was the first to use a digital odometer display. It's located right under the digital speedometer and the display is shared with a variety of engine gauge displays like volts, water temp, oil temp and trans temp on 95-96 cars

The CCM takes input from the tranny speedometer gear sensor and calculates the number of miles driven. A data signal is then passed to the digital odometer which displays the miles and also to the trip odometer (also in the same spot) which displays miles and tenths from the point of the last trip odometer reset.

The CCM retains that data so when the car is turned off or even when the battery is disconected, the correct value will be displayed the next time the ignition switch is turned on.

Replacement CCM's have 0 miles recorded on them so a dealer has to "flash" the correct mileage to the new CCM so that the display will be correct. I recall reading that if this is not done within a certain number of miles, the replacement CCM can no longer be flashed with the true vehicle mileage. There is no way to reduce or "roll back" mileage on C4 with CCM's that record and digitally display miles driven.

I also recall reading that dealers are supposed to be the only ones with the necessary computer equipment to enter correct mileage into a replacement CCM. I also believe that CCM's have the vehicle VIN number entered into non-volatile memory so a code scanner can determine whether or not the CCM is the correct one for the car.

 

[slashnick]

I have taken my digital dash apart several times and each time I think about how easy it would be to change the odometer, or just unplug it for the next couple of thousand of miles. I'm a better person than that, I'm sure there are many out there that aren't...

So to answer your question, yes it is very easy to change or unplug the odometer in C4s with digital dashes. I'm not sure about newer ones.

 

[kingman]

Ebay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi

Around May/June l was looking at the parts section on Ebay Motors and there was a device being sold in Canada for l believe $1000 that was meant for dealers that is supposed to be able to change the odometer. There was active bidding on it, so if you ask me, the answer is yes.

I would not buy a vette or any other car without a carfax listing mileage from dealers at least twice a year. And even then it is questionable.


Alan

 

[stu]

I took about 2 years to find the car I eventually bought. During that time I saw quite a few 86/87 coupes out there that were showing 30k on the odometer but had all the signs of a high milage car (worn ball joints,u-joints clicking,etc).

For some reason it seems like 30k is the number everyone picks. It might be a result of new cars having 36k mile warranties and the guys doing it just got used to the number ;-)

 

[Lucky]

He ran a Carfax on 1 and it stated to watch for possible odometer rollback of like 2500-3000 miles??

The CARFAX on my Vette also showed a descrepancy of about
2000 miles. It apprears it was just an error by a previous seller when he wrote down the mileage on the Title Transfer.

 

[Edmond]

I took about 2 years to find the car I eventually bought. During that time I saw quite a few 86/87 coupes out there that were showing 30k on the odometer but had all the signs of a high milage car (worn ball joints,u-joints clicking,etc).

For some reason it seems like 30k is the number everyone picks. It might be a result of new cars having 36k mile warranties and the guys doing it just got used to the number ;-)

Stu,

Welcome to the CAC!

What you brought up was a very good point. There would be inconsistencies between the stated mileage and the wear and tear on the vehicle if odometer rollback was by a lot.

I remember watching a news report about people cheating on their taxes and how certain combinations of numbers were commonly used and therefore raised a red flag with the IRS.

Not all sellers out there are honest and it's great to have the massive resources of the CAC to make sure we don't get cheated.

What are the penalties for odometer rollback?

 

[drcorvette]

A few years ago I had a problem with my digital dash. The dash fuse kept shorting out. (I believe the fuse was labeled LCD)

When the fuse blew or was removed the odometer stopped rolling. Drove it like this for about 500 miles.

I don't know about actually rolling it back but it can very easily be disconnected.

Gary

 

[geekinavette]

I know the '84 odomoter is driven with a basic off-the-shelf stepper motor (I have no idea how long that design was used). No power to the cluster means no stepper motor means no odometer. It would be very easy to build up a simple stepper motor driver circuit to turn the motor in the opposite direction.

Bill

 

[69MyWay]

I gotta do this.....

Did you hear about the blonde with the Corvette?

There was this blonde that wanted to sell her vette, but it had like 150,000 miles on it. She talked to a girl at work that told her a place out in the country that could roll it back to like 50,000 and make it easier to sell.

So....a couple of weeks go by, and the blonde shows up at work with the same old Corvette. Her co-worker walks up to her and says.

"Hey, I thought you were going to sell that old Vette..."

Of which the blonde replied.......

"Are you crazy! It only has like 50,000 miles on it!"


Okay....bad joke.

 

[Vettelt193]

I know the '84 odomoter is driven with a basic off-the-shelf stepper motor (I have no idea how long that design was used). No power to the cluster means no stepper motor means no odometer. It would be very easy to build up a simple stepper motor driver circuit to turn the motor in the opposite direction.

Bill

Rolling back the odometer on earlier C4's (with the non digital odometer) makes silver lines come up between each number. I know they had this in '87, and I am pretty sure I saw an '85 with the silver lines when I was searching for a car... so I am guessing that the silver lines would appear on any C4 84-89. It is much easier to stop the miles from coming on than rolling the miles back because of the silver lines.

 

[drcorvette]

Rolling back the odometer on earlier C4's (with the non digital odometer) makes silver lines come up between each number. I know they had this in '87, and I am pretty sure I saw an '85 with the silver lines when I was searching for a car... so I am guessing that the silver lines would appear on any C4 84-89. It is much easier to stop the miles from coming on than rolling the miles back because of the silver lines.

Bang-o!!! Yes you are correct. I have heard this before. If the odometer has been tampered with or a rollback attempted then silver lines appear between the numbers.

Thanks

 

[Edmond]

Bang-o!!! Yes you are correct. I have heard this before. If the odometer has been tampered with or a rollback attempted then silver lines appear between the numbers.

Thanks

What if they tried to roll it forward and kept rolling until it was less. Would the silver lines show up?

 

[geekinavette]

Silver lines eh. Very interesting...I did not know that. I learn something every time I log on.

Edmond...good question, I'd guess no. You think of everything dontcha. :L

Bill

 

[Edmond]

Silver lines eh. Very interesting...I did not know that. I learn something every time I log on.

Edmond...good question, I'd guess no. You think of everything dontcha. :L

Bill

Bill,

Gotta think of every possibility to protect our members here!

 

[UE19]

This is great info. I too learn something everytime I log on.

L8R

 

[trackitman]

I have the digital odometer in my '92. When the vehicle reaches 100K miles, does the odometer read 100,000 or 0?

 

[69MyWay]

I have the digital odometer in my '92. When the vehicle reaches 100K miles, does the odometer read 100,000 or 0?

It will read 100,001 and counting.....

 

[Hava89]

Great info here in this post


FYI.....found out on my 89 that the digital "trip meter" rolls over at 4,000miles....this is after the Caravan trek over to the 50th in BG and back:s :s