How to best tell true mileage if the car

1

12lepler

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Hey guys I was just wondering if there were any great ways to see if the car really is a low miles car or if the odometer has rolled over already. I already know to just look at the wear and tear on the seat, steering wheel, shifter, and brake pedal, but are there any other things? Say like stampings on original brake rotors that other ones don't have.. If you guys can post pictures of low mile example parts, then please do so. I would like to see what a low mileage shifter or brake pedal should look like, and vice-versa for anyone with a over 100k Buick. Any help would be great. Thanks :D

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Here's a quote from John Spina of Casper's on odometer rollback:

"The odometers are easily rolled back. The white lines between the digits only tells you that the odometer has been tampered with, breaking the seal. But, you can easily remove the odometer numeric assembly, carefully take the seal off, then set the odometer to whatever you want. Replace the seal, place it back in, and you're all set to go. That's the downside to the old mechanical odometers.

Here is some info regarding the odometer movement. The article refers to the odometer in the digital dash, but the analog is very similar":
http://www.installationinstructions.com/FYI/odometer FYI.pdf


IMO, condition is more important than miles. Brake pedal pads can be easily changed so they are not a good indicator.
 
In Missouri we have annual inspections mileage is recorded every time the car is licensed plus every time the car is sold the mileage is also recorded car fax will tell how many times car was licensed and changed hands but sometime information is incomplete


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In the 70's and 80's you never saw a high mileage car at a auto auction it was common practice to roll the odometer back in the day or was called (knock it in the head) don't see it as much these days because of the digital odometers plus mileage is stored on the ecm's


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Remove the dash bezel frame (the gray part that surrounds the headlight switches, telltales and dash cluster) and look carefully at the very top horizontal top edge of the black filler that surrounds the dash lens. Don't touch it. You will find a very fine layer of dust on it, from years of driving. IF the speedometer had been removed for any reason, there will be fingerprints on that dust layer, indicating that it has been tampered with. Dead giveaway.

The gray bezel frame pulls right out (you will probably lose a couple of those spring clips - but they'll usually fall onto the floor so you can put them back on), so it'd take a minute or two to check for this. Remember, if there is anything besides a smooth film of dust there, it's been taken out. And you really can't remove the speedometer without handling that black plastic piece. And every Regal ever built has this film of dust on the top edge.
 
hiboom said:
In the 70's and 80's you never saw a high mileage car at a auto auction it was common practice to roll the odometer back in the day or was called (knock it in the head) don't see it as much these days because of the digital odometers plus mileage is stored on the ecm's


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Click to expand...

On gm vehicles the mileage is stored in the instrument cluster, not the ecm. Mileage and engine hours must be programmed when replacing a cluster. I don't know of any vehicles that store the mileage in the ecm. The ecm sends the vehicle speed signal to the cluster. Other newer vehicles may be different.
 
I have Carfax history to document my low mileage GN.
Plus emission tests, dealer recall records etc.
Looking at my GN, I think you could just tell.
An original car should have the original tires
that indicate the mileage even if they are off the car.
I have mine with about 12k on them.
 
HouTX87 said:
On gm vehicles the mileage is stored in the instrument cluster, not the ecm. Mileage and engine hours must be programmed when replacing a cluster. I don't know of any vehicles that store the mileage in the ecm. The ecm sends the vehicle speed signal to the cluster. Other newer vehicles may be different.
Click to expand...
On late model car if you hook a scanner up to it reads information from the computer and the mileage is stored if a odometer cluster has been replaced the ecm will still have the original mileage stored at auctions it is noted on cars that have been altered also different replacement computer from a salvage car will show up different then what the digital odometer shows.how is the information stored in the instrument cluster without memory? power loss would wipe it out just curious?
 
HouTX87 said:
On gm vehicles the mileage is stored in the instrument cluster, not the ecm. Mileage and engine hours must be programmed when replacing a cluster. I don't know of any vehicles that store the mileage in the ecm. The ecm sends the vehicle speed signal to the cluster. Other newer vehicles may be different.
Click to expand...
you are correct about the gm's
 
GNVenom said:
Remove the dash bezel frame (the gray part that surrounds the headlight switches, telltales and dash cluster) and look carefully at the very top horizontal top edge of the black filler that surrounds the dash lens. Don't touch it. You will find a very fine layer of dust on it, from years of driving. IF the speedometer had been removed for any reason, there will be fingerprints on that dust layer, indicating that it has been tampered with. Dead giveaway.

The gray bezel frame pulls right out (you will probably lose a couple of those spring clips - but they'll usually fall onto the floor so you can put them back on), so it'd take a minute or two to check for this. Remember, if there is anything besides a smooth film of dust there, it's been taken out. And you really can't remove the speedometer without handling that black plastic piece. And every Regal ever built has this film of dust on the top edge.
Click to expand...
But what about us guys that have to lube the speedometer cable because it bounces everywhere? Great now my gn has been tampered with. Should probably just part it out. :)
 
I recently sold a 26k mile GN. The steering was tight, the power windows went up and down fast, the gear shifter had a tight feel to it when shifting into gear, and the transmission didn't slip into gears. Put it all together and the low mile car just seemed "new".
 
CarFax doesn't mean anything, its just a selling tool for dealers and they manipulate it to their advantage, CarFax is not accurate.
A car can be repaired "off the grid" and nobody is the wiser.
 
Buick Mark said:
CarFax doesn't mean anything, its just a selling tool for dealers and they manipulate it to their advantage, CarFax is not accurate.
A car can be repaired "off the grid" and nobody is the wiser.
Click to expand...
Yes it will most likely only show up if a insurance claim has been charged to the vin number
 
INEEDAGN said:
But what about us guys that have to lube the speedometer cable because it bounces everywhere? Great now my gn has been tampered with. Should probably just part it out. :)
Click to expand...
Hi thanks for the brake petal ! put my new vacuum brake booster on works great go figure (2-bad booster in a row=bad luck)) may never need the pedal but still will have it in case I have seen speedo heads bounce just because someone was trying to mess with and pulled to hard on the instrument panel trying to get to the release on the cable and damaging the head (i've seen a lot of crazy sh*t in 30 years of used cars LOL.Mainly I thing people use the wrong kind of lubricant in the cable and it dries or gets hard over time sometimes it's as easy as a new cable sometime not.Thanks Again for the brake pedal
 
Buick Mark said:
CarFax doesn't mean anything, its just a selling tool for dealers and they manipulate it to their advantage, CarFax is not accurate.
A car can be repaired "off the grid" and nobody is the wiser.
Click to expand...
This is true but if you look at it from a dealer perspective, they almost HAVE to offer it because if they don't, the customer is wondering what the dealer is trying to hide by not offering it. Every dealer knows its bullish!t but carfax/autocheck marketing is so good they have the public thinking its a scam if the dealer doesn't offer it. And good luck telling the customer that its bullshit that just makes it worse. I like how the commercials now say "nobody knows everything but a history report is a good place to start".

The place where it's most needed is the place where it's least accurate. 1-3 year old "program cars" that come from the auction that are off lease from private individuals, small businesses and rental car companies. Most are ex rental cars and rental car companies are self insured and don't report to police so it never shows up on carfax. If a 5 year old or older car has been in a fender bender it doesn't mean crap to the value but I've seen some shoddy repairs on rentals that show nothing on carfax.
 
INEEDAGN said:
But what about us guys that have to lube the speedometer cable because it bounces everywhere? Great now my gn has been tampered with. Should probably just part it out. :)
Click to expand...

You can lube that cable from under the hood. There's a connection near the firewall; wrench it apart, pull the drive shaft out a bit, then lube away. No need to remove the cluster for this procedure.
 
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