How difficult is to “wind back” a car speedo these days? I was of the belief that it was now extremely difficult, but a recent experience leads me to think otherwise. Any thoughts?
Oh, happy new year, by the way! :))
pesce.del.giorno said:
Yeah, it is difficult, as I understand it. But it’s relatively easy to get a low odometer dash from a wreckers and install that.
How difficult is to “wind back” a car speedo these days? I was of the belief that it was now extremely difficult, but a recent experience leads me to think otherwise. Any thoughts?
What happened?
pesce.del.giorno said:
How difficult is to “wind back” a car speedo these days? I was of the belief that it was now extremely difficult, but a recent experience leads me to think otherwise. Any thoughts?
Yes and no… it is apparently not all that difficult to change the display, but the correct (and easily available) tools will reveal the ‘true’ odometer reading stored in the ECU.
If the car is an import, assume the odometer has been wound back.
pesce.del.giorno said:
How difficult is to “wind back” a car speedo these days? I was of the belief that it was now extremely difficult, but a recent experience leads me to think otherwise. Any thoughts?
There’s two ways.
You can change over the instrument panel from one with a car that has fewer km’s on it.
Or get a device that electronically digs into the ECU & dash and changes the odometer reading. They’re about $300 or so.
Michael V said:
pesce.del.giorno said:Yeah, it is difficult, as I understand it. But it’s relatively easy to get a low odometer dash from a wreckers and install that.
How difficult is to “wind back” a car speedo these days? I was of the belief that it was now extremely difficult, but a recent experience leads me to think otherwise. Any thoughts?
What happened?
depends how old the car is. as MV said, it’s not too hard to install a new dash cluster, butin the last 5-10 years, the inbuilt computer of the car stores the info and you can get an adapter for your smartphone from stupidcheap for about $150 that can read that info
I’m currently trying to sell my car. This guy came around to look at it. He seemed to know what he was about. He told me that he wanted to check the mileage. I said I thought it was virtually impossible to falsify the odometer these days. He told me it was in fact very easy though electronic means and the practice was rife among used car salesmen. He then took out an electronic device about the size of a cigarette carton and plugged it into a jack under the dash. He says he was accessing the engine management system to check the mileage. As it happens, the reading his black box gave him was identical to the odometer.
Is this check something that would routinely be done with an RACV check? Is it easy enough to have this check done through a mechanic or auto electrician?
Yes, what Spiny Norman said. SN – do you know if this practice is widespread?
pesce.del.giorno said:
I’m currently trying to sell my car. This guy came around to look at it. He seemed to know what he was about. He told me that he wanted to check the mileage. I said I thought it was virtually impossible to falsify the odometer these days. He told me it was in fact very easy though electronic means and the practice was rife among used car salesmen. He then took out an electronic device about the size of a cigarette carton and plugged it into a jack under the dash. He says he was accessing the engine management system to check the mileage. As it happens, the reading his black box gave him was identical to the odometer.Is this check something that would routinely be done with an RACV check? Is it easy enough to have this check done through a mechanic or auto electrician?
if you take your car in for a service, the mechanic should do as this guy did to check for error cods. That’s the device i was talking about from supercheap, costs about $150 and you use it with an app on your phone to translate what the codes mean
stumpy_seahorse said:
pesce.del.giorno said:
I’m currently trying to sell my car. This guy came around to look at it. He seemed to know what he was about. He told me that he wanted to check the mileage. I said I thought it was virtually impossible to falsify the odometer these days. He told me it was in fact very easy though electronic means and the practice was rife among used car salesmen. He then took out an electronic device about the size of a cigarette carton and plugged it into a jack under the dash. He says he was accessing the engine management system to check the mileage. As it happens, the reading his black box gave him was identical to the odometer.Is this check something that would routinely be done with an RACV check? Is it easy enough to have this check done through a mechanic or auto electrician?
if you take your car in for a service, the mechanic should do as this guy did to check for error cods. That’s the device i was talking about from supercheap, costs about $150 and you use it with an app on your phone to translate what the codes mean
Where do you plug it in Stumpy? Is this technically difficult for a doofus such as myself?
That’s the device i was talking about from supercheap, costs about $150 and you use it with an app on your phone to translate what the codes mean
what could possibly go wrong?
;-)
pesce.del.giorno said:
stumpy_seahorse said:
pesce.del.giorno said:
I’m currently trying to sell my car. This guy came around to look at it. He seemed to know what he was about. He told me that he wanted to check the mileage. I said I thought it was virtually impossible to falsify the odometer these days. He told me it was in fact very easy though electronic means and the practice was rife among used car salesmen. He then took out an electronic device about the size of a cigarette carton and plugged it into a jack under the dash. He says he was accessing the engine management system to check the mileage. As it happens, the reading his black box gave him was identical to the odometer.Is this check something that would routinely be done with an RACV check? Is it easy enough to have this check done through a mechanic or auto electrician?
if you take your car in for a service, the mechanic should do as this guy did to check for error cods. That’s the device i was talking about from supercheap, costs about $150 and you use it with an app on your phone to translate what the codes mean
Where do you plug it in Stumpy? Is this technically difficult for a doofus such as myself?
Most cars have a plug in the under dash fuse panel, some have one in the engine bay.
It’s really just plug and play.
It’s on my list of stuff to get from SC so I can service the car at home
pesce.del.giorno said:
Yes, what Spiny Norman said. SN – do you know if this practice is widespread?
It can be, though the fines are pretty substantial if caught – But not so for import (grey) cars I believe.
guy on Matilda just used a reverse screw driver attached to a hose attached to the speedo
Arts said:
guy on Matilda just used a reverse screw driver attached to a hose attached to the speedo
power drill
seems to work well
Arts said:
Arts said:
guy on Matilda just used a reverse screw driver attached to a hose attached to the speedo
power drill
seems to work well
on pre 1980s cars… yes
Arts said:
Arts said:
guy on Matilda just used a reverse screw driver attached to a hose attached to the speedo
power drill
seems to work well
Sounds like he wanted to screw the speedo.
>They’re about $300 or so.
……. that’d be good to increase the indicated mileage, so you can have a brag about how reliable your vehicle is, reduces the resale value of course, but then you’re in it til death do us part, and it’s not an offence to have an over-reading odometer.
pesce.del.giorno said:
How difficult is to “wind back” a car speedo these days? I was of the belief that it was now extremely difficult, but a recent experience leads me to think otherwise. Any thoughts?
There’s a web video showing how to do it, very easily, using an off-the-shelf device.
By the way, I strongly suspect that most car odometers read high, because most car speedometers read high and the speedometer and odometer are read using the same sensor on the gearbox.