tryan24

I am currently looking at a 1998 Z28 with only 23,000 miles on it at a local dealership. They accepted my offer of $11,000 cash, and I think the price is extremely fair considering blue book is $12,200; car is fully loaded; and the interior and exterior are in perfect condition. After consulting with my mom before buying it to get her advice(terrible idea), she swears that the odometer must have been rolled back for a car of that year to have that low of miles and makes it clear that I shouldn't get it. I have been looking for a Z for the past 3 months and finally found one with all of the options I want, low miles, and in my price range. Plus it's my hard earned money and I am going to do whatever I want with it. I guess my question is can an LS1 even possibly have its miles rolled back considering it is a digital display? Thanks for the help guys and yes, I will most likely be purchasing this particular Z and finally be able to enjoy the LS1!!!!!

Z28Venom

iTrader: (13)

Just have the dealer provide you with a CARFAX.. they're required to give you one upon request. About rolling back the odometer, I think that would be pretty difficult considering we have digital odometers.

Just get a CARFAX..

tight2000ss

i'm pretty sure the digital odometer can be replaced resulting in an actual mileage unknown report on a car fax. correct me if i'm wrong but i've heard of this before. just get the car fax.

GM Muscle

iTrader: (9)

Yes you can simply buy a used cluster with lower mileage on it and put it in another car. Takes 15 minutes to swap. Your mom is probrably wrong though. I bought my 2000 in 2002 with 1,500 miles on it for $16,500, so there are good deals out there.

Rhysamedrae

Rolling back a digital odometer would probably be easier than an analog one, with the right software.

That said, 23,000 miles on a '98 is far, far from unheard of. It could have been a weekend/fair weather car, could have belonged to a serviceman who left the country for a couple years, could be anything. If the car belonged to an enthusiast/collector, it's rather likely to have a full (or at least rather complete) service history - recipts and invoices from everything that's been done. Also easy to see is the condition of the vehicle. A weekend car with 20,000 miles has noticebly nicer paint than a daily driver with 80,000 and a rollback. Does the car feel and look new?

In the end, can you be sure? No, you really can't ever be sure if it doesn't have a FSH. But does it matter? If this is the car for you, buy it and don't look back. If this is a serious concern of yours, find a car with a FSH (and preferably one owner).

A truely low milage 1998 car would only have a couple thousand miles on it. A show car, probably even less. Garage queens do exist. 20K is perfectly reasonable.

Danny2tek

iTrader: (1)

When I bought my 99 in 02 it had 26,000

ricethis98

i bought a 98 in 03, had 17k miles on it, mint. Your mom is crazy LS1s if tampered with, like removing the odometer, the computer gets messed up. i had a friend who tried..............

Nice4thgenZ

iTrader: (10)

my buddy has a 98 with 19k on it, and mine has about 50k so thats too crazy... but like Rhysamedrae, look for all that stuff... my buddies with 19k looks like its off the show room



btw my neighbor has one with 8k on it... but cars are made to be drivin

itchygomey98

iTrader: (2)

98Z with 32000 on the clock right here!

99huggerorangeZ

iTrader: (2)

when i bought my 1999 hugger orange Z28 in 03 it had 11,xxx miles on it but it was only a garage stored summer car and it only has 18,xxx on it now

Tiger2o69

iTrader: (16)

Like everyone said i think its ok. before i bought mine i found a lot of them with lows miles. a lot of people use them as weekend cars. However i know someone who rigged their car so that they had a button which turned off the fuse for the odometer and the guages. He didnt know how fast he was going be it didnt record miles either and a carfax wouldnt pick it up. It just looked like a car that wasnt driven much. It wouldnt start tho unless he had the switch turned on.

slow

iTrader: (7)

get the dealer service records, it will have dates and miles on it for any warranty work, I bought a low miles 98 car, with average of 8K a year on it. Not unheard of, but it was low miles for the year.

my 1998 bought 2 years ago had 31K on it. 2.5 years ago it has 21K on it. Dealer service records, as well as oil change receipts found behind the glovebox all confirmed the miles on the vehicle to be legit.

If your worried, and its a GM dealer have them check the miles on the BCM with their tech 2 or other scan tool.

1998's use only 1998 clusters, and its harder to find a low miles 98 cluster, than it is for a newer car, for "swapping"

Ryan

unit213

To answer your question, yes...the odometer can be altered in several ways.

badpewter-z

iTrader: (4)

it can be changed very easily but highley unlikely
its digital so all you have to do is find a radio/cluster repair shop and the can burn in what ever milage you want. but i doubt theyd go that far if its a legot dealer

viper1

iTrader: (1)

Just got my 2000 NBM Formula about a month ago with 43K for $10,000.00 with the following options:
Leather
a4 w/ 3:23s
power seat,windows,locks,mirrors
t-tops
chrome wheels
monsoon stereo w/steering wheel controls

I had them run a carfax, but the car definitely appeared to have an accurate odometer as it is pristine without a ding or scratch. The deals on these cars only seem to be getting better. I just hawked Autotrader online for a few months to find mine. I say look it over good and maybe take it to a mechanic for a quick check then snag it up!

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (70)

i bought my 00 in 03 with 25k miles on it

RahuL

iTrader: (10)

Yes, it is possible to show a *different* odometer reading. I believe the easiest way would be changing the Odo cluster and the PCM. However, I seriously doubt a legit dealership would risk its business and reputation over a used/6yr old car [actually 7 yrs lol]..

Like the majority have already said, go for it. The probability of your mom's doubt being true is next to nil!!

$11k for that mileage LS1 is a sweeeeeeet deal!! Enjoy it!!

gchandler

I upgraded my instrument cluster on my 2000 silverado to the escalade unit, I thought that I would be able to go to the dealership and have the mileage from the pcm flashed to the cluster, but when I did so I was told that is not possible and that the pcm contains no mileage information. If anyone knows of a possible way to correct this problem drop me a line as I would really like to get this mileage fixed as I want to sell the truck.

Geoff

locosteelersfan

The question is what area to do live in?
Even if Texas if isnt necasarily a daily driver but
if you live up north in the snow you can bet it doesn't
move much in the winter. Mine is my primary car but
I still only drive it 5-6K a year do to shitty weather.

Bottomline is there is ALOT better chance of it
not being driven that much than being tampered with.
Its the nature of the beast.

ynkssws6

iTrader: (1)

bought my 01 with 7400 on the clock in march of this year....they're still out there, just gotta know where to look