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Odometer Shows more then Title

rmtsteve

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 28, 2005
Messages
48
Location
Sidney, Ohio
Corvette
1988 Charcaol Metallic Coupe
I look at a corvette the other day that showed 62,000 on the title and the carfax , but the odometer read 580,756. Is there some way that the odometer could have had a mechanical failure or is this a sign of someone messing with it?
 
Gotta agree with Junkie. I think I'd want to see some service records with the milage on them before I touched it. Someone was messin' with the odometer and anyone who would do that isn't someone "I" would want to do business with, not to mention the fact that you'll have a problem reconciling the records when and if you want to sell it.

Does the title specify that the milage stated is estimated or is it mute on the subject?

What year car are we talking about?
 
You can't completely trust Carfax to report true and accurate information. Their records are taken from the various DMV's and if somebody enters data incorrectly into some state odometer database, that's what Carfax picks up.

Prior to the digital odometer display, the odomoter was a typical set of rotating wheels that could be replaced. The later digital display gets data from the CCM and to change mileage on that unit, you have to install a new CCM and have it programmed within 100 miles of the install or it will lock out any mileage input. The CCM also the car's VIN number so it can be verified with a GM scan tool.

What year was the car you looked at?? It's possible that a Vette may have travelled over a half-million miles in it's lifetime, :eek but somebody would have been talking about it on any number of forums.

Any dealership should be able to get some service history information with the VIN number.
 
What does your title state next to miles? On mine it says 49,000 ACTUAL. If yours says exempt or something it really doesn't matter what the odometer shows since it already says exempt. So in other words if it says that it wont really matter when you go to sell it, but would be nice to get it close to what the title says, but then the mileage still isn't actual in that sense. Definetly someone has messed with the odometer.
 
title and carfax both match

stating the last reading was 62,346 on 11/19/2002. The car is a 1986 model. If I am understanding everyone correctly, the only way the odometer could be reading 580,756 is if it is the actual miles(highly unlikely) or someone tried to mess with the odometer and went the wrong way with it. Is there any legal way of fixing this? or should this be a black mark on the car and be avoided at all cost.
 
I've got a '79 K5 Blazer with close to that number of miles from the info I got from the previous owner. I'm the third owner and "rolled" the odo once. The previous owner "rolled" it once. The first owner was an Army Colonel from San Antonio, TX stationed at the Pentagon. He used to drive back and forth twice a month for almost four years. (Yea this was when gas was less than a buck a gallon, good thing with the 31 gallon tank) The second owner told me that the Colonel "rolled" the odo three times, and replaced the engine once. I replaced the engine once. The odometer only has five digits so who really knows, but from what i've been told and witnessed it's got over 500K. My title shows 28,447* (the asterik has a footnote "Exceeds Mechanical Limits") so its a moot point really. With it being a '79 I can't do a CARFAX (they only go back to '81.)

I like to think its got half a million miles. Not too bad for one frame, tranny, transfer case, two differentials (front and rear), and three motors.

I would guess that somebody has messed with your odometer though.

:w
 
rmtsteve said:
stating the last reading was 62,346 on 11/19/2002. The car is a 1986 model. If I am understanding everyone correctly, the only way the odometer could be reading 580,756 is if it is the actual miles(highly unlikely) or someone tried to mess with the odometer and went the wrong way with it. Is there any legal way of fixing this? or should this be a black mark on the car and be avoided at all cost.

If that is correct, then for the mileage to be correct the car would have had to been driven 568 miles per day for the last two and a half years. Yea it can be done but not very likely.

I don't know if there is a legal way to fix it. It would have to be estimated at best. I think the '86 Vette has a digital dash. If thats the case then something went wrong with the CCM as c4cruiser stated. He has a good point about a dealership being able to track the mileage via the VIN ... IF it was serviced at a dealership.

:w
 
Less than 10% of the 84-89 clusters that we see have original miles on the odo. Your odo can be easily reset by removing it, however it sounds like like an amatuer has worked on it and it is probably broken and "freewheeling".
 
I think I will get the Vin # and see if I can get Somekind of service record and if I can get a close estimate from that. Now if this is done can the odometer be fix or would I need to replace it? If nothing else about this car is wrong at least it would make for a good daily driver right? With the odometer being broke it would make it hard to re-sale though.
 
rmtsteve said:
stating the last reading was 62,346 on 11/19/2002. The car is a 1986 model. If I am understanding everyone correctly, the only way the odometer could be reading 580,756 is if it is the actual miles(highly unlikely) or someone tried to mess with the odometer and went the wrong way with it. Is there any legal way of fixing this? or should this be a black mark on the car and be avoided at all cost.

If it actually had 62,346 on 11/19/2002, it's quite possible that the current actual reading could be 80,756. Is it possible that the dispaly has a problem that is causing the 5 to light up in the sixth position?
 
jester said:
If it actually had 62,346 on 11/19/2002, it's quite possible that the current actual reading could be 80,756. Is it possible that the dispaly has a problem that is causing the 5 to light up in the sixth position?

I think he's on to something here. That would make more sense. The math even works ... roughly 600 miles per month or 20 miles a day for the past two and a half years. Maybe a dealer could check the operation of the CCM ... or drive another 20K miles and see if it goes to 600K.

:w
 

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