AMack

iTrader: (1)

Theres what appears to be a pretty nice 97 Z28 for sale relatively close to me. Its got supposedly 57,000 miles, and looks like its in great shape from the pictures. I just did a carfax and it said that it had an inconsistent odomter reading. I guess in 1999 it was inspected and the carfax said it had 30,000 miles exactly, and a few years later (dont remember what year, maybe 2000 or 2001) it had 19,063 miles. Carfax says that i should have a qualified mechanic take a look at it to determine whether it was a rollback or a clerical error. My dad used to be a mechanic for pontiac/chevy from like 85-91 and he can rollback a regular odometer with his eyes closed but said its like nearly impossible to do it on a digital odometer, such as the one that is in this 97 Camaro.

My question is, exactly how hard would it have been for someone to rollback the digital odometer on the car, or is it likely that its just a clerical error... I'd hate to drive about 45 minutes away to see that a car that supposedly has 57k miles looks and runs more like a car with 100k miles...

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

If you swapped the dash and BCM I think that's what it
takes. Though the LT1 years could have been different.
If the car is clean in the running gear then I'd just use
the report as a "bargaining tool". 10K miles at the time
is not a big deal. More important would be, "why?". Like
some bump damage, salvage title or "cut two and make
one" type of action? I'd be all under that car, looking for
anything to support the "discrepancy".

technical

When you replace an instrument cluster the odo is new and set to 0. You're supposed to report such changes. I don't know if they can modify them.

AMack

iTrader: (1)

Alright so either the dash was replaced or its a clerical error. If it did have a salvage title, that almost always shows up on a carfax, so im thinking this may be a clerical error...

12secSS

iTrader: (30)

Always suspect that the previous owner swapped the original gauge cluster on purpose for fraudulent reasons. It has happened that people want to sell their vehicle for more, but it has too many miles. So they swap the gauge cluster for one with less miles, then they can claim it has less then actual miles and get more money. Another reason why I don't go by mileage when purchasing a vehicle, it is not a good indicator of vehicle condition. Good luck!

AMack

iTrader: (1)

Good advice--Any way to tell if the gauge cluster has been replaced?

On a side note though; honestly who would be stupid enough to swap out a gauge with less miles than the old one had when it was last taken in and inspected?? Isnt it common knowledge that all of that info is recorded?


EDIT: heres the link for the carfax: http://www.carfax.com/phoenix/extern...DfpA6odA%3D%3D

Doc

iTrader: (9)

You can get the gage cluster "recalibrated." Essentially it is a special jig used to burn the prom in the cluster. Say if the car's cluster went bad and you wanted to replace it well that would be the only way to do it. In your case, criminals usually do stupid things.

Fire67

iTrader: (3)

I know several people around FL who have rolled back there odo... With early LT1 cars it was cake, but on the 97's it required changing the cluster out. The BCM can be left untouched.

If your not looking at a clerical error, then it was someone extremely dumb who swapped in an odometer with too low of mileage to not get noticed.

AMack

iTrader: (1)

I'm thinking it was a clerical error because when the car went in to get serviced in 1999 it was recorded that it had 30,000 even miles, then for whatever reason, the car came back to get inspected 4 days after that, and it had 19,063 miles. Just seems as if it was a clerical error. Worst case scenario and the cluster was swapped out, it'll have 11k miles more than it currently says, which puts the car at 68,000--which isnt too bad either. I guess i'll just have to use it as a bargining tool.

Rammer

Why was it inspected twice in 4 days? According to your report it passed BOTH times???????