mmm odometer tampering...

[Wixy]

hi there,

im just wondering, how hard is it to tamper with an odo? esp electronic ones.

the real reason i guess im asking is because just kinda purchased my camry, and i have trust in the seller/dealers i believe it has not been tampered with,

but just wanna reassure myself?

my camry is an 02 csi advantage (last ones b4 the new shape) which has an electronic odo, like most of us do.

thanks in advance. cheers!

[Zeus]

I don't really know, but I'd say it's much harder to tamper with the electronic one's. I'm not sure if they have any kind of 'anti-tamper' system, or if it's just a case of them being too hard to tamper with. Why do you ask? Are you worried about yours? How many km's?

[Wixy]

well yea a tad worried. i know i shouldnt be but never say never? haha more like extremely paranoid

my 5year old sxv20r has 55,000 when purchased. it was from a country toyota dealer too

[negatron]

You don't need to tamper with the ODO, just get a new dash cluster and pop it in and BAM! Your ODO numbers have changed.

Tried and tested people, If you want to test this, try do it with a friend with the same camry, just swop the clusters and see what happens

[qkslvr]

You don't need to tamper with the ODO, just get a new dash cluster and pop it in and BAM! Your ODO numbers have changed.

Tried and tested people, If you want to test this, try do it with a friend with the same camry, just swop the clusters and see what happens

that's kind of a "given" as the numbers are stored in the dash cluster itself.

[selyaT]

Yeah you can just buy a new one with 0km on the clock and set up a pulse generator to tick it over to whatever reading you want

[Wixy]

fantastic to know that my paranioa meter just went upto 15 outta 10 lol!

hate buying used cars.....

[selyaT]

It is illegal to fiddle with the odometer and claim that the car has done less km than it actually has for purposes of sale. I guess you can take comfort in that... But I'm sure dealerships would have gotten away with it in the past and is there any way you can be sure it hasn't been tampered with?

[MT]

Hang on hang on... dont go assuming anything yet.

Has anyone here actually tested this theory with the model in question? cos i know for a fact if you do it with a zze-12x corolla it wont work at all - older model cars have the odometer information held in the cluster itself. The newer zze-12x rollas have the odometer information held inside the ecu - plug a different gauge cluster in, and the same kilometers will come up.

You will need to find someone with a similar model Camry and swap dashes and see what the result is.

[CHA54]

Hang on hang on... dont go assuming anything yet.

Has anyone here actually tested this theory with the model in question? cos i know for a fact if you do it with a zze-12x corolla it wont work at all - older model cars have the odometer information held in the cluster itself. The newer zze-12x rollas have the odometer information held inside the ecu - plug a different gauge cluster in, and the same kilometers will come up.

You will need to find someone with a similar model Camry and swap dashes and see what the result is.

On a ZZE122 if you plug a different ECU in the K's stay the same on the cluster...

Toyota is able to alter the odometer.

[MT]

Hang on hang on... dont go assuming anything yet.

Has anyone here actually tested this theory with the model in question? cos i know for a fact if you do it with a zze-12x corolla it wont work at all - older model cars have the odometer information held in the cluster itself. The newer zze-12x rollas have the odometer information held inside the ecu - plug a different gauge cluster in, and the same kilometers will come up.

You will need to find someone with a similar model Camry and swap dashes and see what the result is.

On a ZZE122 if you plug a different ECU in the K's stay the same on the cluster...

Toyota is able to alter the odometer.

hmmm so, i guess that means the odo information is stored someone else that isnt the ecu and isnt the cluster.

I just assumed that if it wasnt held in the cluster it must have been held in the ecu. but, thinking about it now we have changed an ecu and yes the odo stayed the same. Cheers Jase.

[SuperDave]

It is illegal to fiddle with the odometer and claim that the car has done less km than it actually has for purposes of sale. I guess you can take comfort in that... But I'm sure dealerships would have gotten away with it in the past and is there any way you can be sure it hasn't been tampered with?

A Brisbane Holden stealership got in trouble for doing this a few years back. They were winding back the demo car mileage I think.

[selyaT]

stealership

[BigBum]

Another way to tamper with them is by freezing them altogether.

Many people have found different ways of doing this on several types of cars. Consequences are either speedmeter and rpm gauge also not working or fuel gauge and engine temp not working.

Either way, it stops the odometer and the car you're buying would not have an accurate odometer clock at all.

Scary huh?

[Nogusta123]

It's too damn hard to wind it back unless you know a dodgy mechanic that will give you a written order saying the engines been changed cause it looks funny to the RTA when your re-registering your car that has 50,000 LESS kms than it previously had...so unless they can prove they changed the engined the RTA will refuse to reregister the car.

[wormfood]

If you have a certain device it is actually easier to alter a digital odo than a mech one.

There is no way of telling if it's been done.

I used to do it at a previous job (legally with stat dec's etc).

Took maybe 1 minute.

Plug it in, tell it what you want, unplug it.

As for swapping clusters, some cars have the cluster coded to the rest of the car.

Swapping the cluster may stop you from starting the car altogether.

There's a rumor that some dealers can reset new cars to 0 prior to delivery.

Although I think it's only possible if the car only has a few (<20 ??) K's on it.

Just have a look at the interior and general condition of the car in question.

Jap imports are a perfect example.

Cars with 50,000k and have no markings left on the ind/wiper stalks and other worn switch labels and trim.

Dead give away.

[perthcamry]

Does the service book make sense / dates within reason, who owned the car previous might be able to ask them, see if it all adds up,

Check the service sticker dates as well and look for any inconsistencies like wear on brake peddle. Thing is it might have low kms on it. I think my mother’s corolla is about 7 and has less than 65,000kms on it.

[dimsim8]

may be you can unplug the cluster when you are driving out of town to the country side and use a GPS as a speedo and also to track down how many k's you've done for refueling

[Wixy]

yea the service books and stickers do add up, havent checked the brake paddle but yea, i think i have a genuine 55,000 car.

but it a question that has always got me wondering.

is there an international standard on odo change-age? i think there should be an ISO setup, or some of anti tampering seal.

There's a rumor that some dealers can reset new cars to 0 prior to delivery.

Although I think it's only possible if the car only has a few (<20 ??) K's on it.

from wormfood

yea they used to reset the odo prior to actual customer delivery, so i heard, but they stopped doing it recently. i mean, the car has to be driven on the ship, off the ship, in and out of the country factory/car yard, on to and off trucks, then to the dealers. its impossible to get "0km" on a new car.

[Wixy]

dimsim8

your lil danasoft ip/windows checkup signature got me tripping!!! lol

[Borg]

I wouldn't be concerned about the odometer reading. Just check the service manual to make sure the odometer reading at each service isn't suspicious.

If there are no books with the car, and no good explanation then it may be dodgy. A 5 year old car should still have all the books.

An average of 11K a year is within normal parameters. My partner bought a 5 year old car 10 years ago that only had around 20,000kms on it. Turns out the lady who sold it to her only ever drove it on Sundays to go to church. She had a company car that she drove to work during the week, but loved her Corolla so much she couldn't sell it. Eventually she could no longer afford it, so my partner got herself a great little car. It is still in A1 condition today.

[Zeus]

I really wouldn't worry about it, it would be such a costly thing to do and it's illegal, no one would bother doing it.

Speaking of wear on break pedals, my car's break pedal is making a clicking noise when I take my foot off it. Toyota can fix it?

[MT]

has anyone checked to see if it is possible to tamper with it yet?

Easy to check, come on Camry people ;)

[Mr Kluger]

In Theory... if a car had only 55,000km it shouldnt have used its spare wheel...

factory 2002 camrys as with mine came with bridgestone RE92 rubber,

look for stone chips on the bonnet (being a country car) check the brake fluid level and colour look at the hand brake lever... how worn is it and the steering wheel thumb grips... the more shiny the surface the more it has bein used...

u should still see the cross groves on the gear lever and steering wheel thumb grips, brake peddle rubber cover shouldnt be excessively worn and even check out the remote controll... how worn is the remote button its self...

if everything checks out relax and enjoy one great buy... just think... u probably have the lowest km 2002 camry around!

Cheers!

B)

[Wixy]

In Theory... if a car had only 55,000km it shouldnt have used its spare wheel...

factory 2002 camrys as with mine came with bridgestone RE92 rubber,

look for stone chips on the bonnet (being a country car) check the brake fluid level and colour look at the hand brake lever... how worn is it and the steering wheel thumb grips... the more shiny the surface the more it has bein used...

u should still see the cross groves on the gear lever and steering wheel thumb grips, brake peddle rubber cover shouldnt be excessively worn and even check out the remote controll... how worn is the remote button its self...

if everything checks out relax and enjoy one great buy... just think... u probably have the lowest km 2002 camry around!

Cheers!

B)

haha thanks djcamry. yea it still has the re92 rubber. there are some stone chips, and the interior is not shiny. so i guess i have nothing to worry about.

HOWEVER, just out of curiosity, how perfect does all think about the perfect-ness of paint jobs coming out of the toyota factories? i was giving my camry a meguiars pamper (meaning polishing and waxing lol) and i looked @ one door.

the finish on the paint is not like the 3 other doors. when u wax a door, its shinny, and u can see reflections when the sun shines. with this one door, the finish is some what shiny, but u can see that the paint did not dry properly.

im not contesting again that i got a dodgy door/car but im just asking is it possible for paint jobs @ toyota factories to be somewhat 2nd grade? can people make mistakes in these factories? cuz it SURE looks like the door was oversprayed in white.

im a showroom shine enthusiast. name any meguiars product and chances are it'd be in my garage. anyone here with me? hehe.

my friend though, as the exact sxv20r advantage, he's done 19,000km. im sure he's the lowest 02 camry owner in vic/aust. i'll be sure to post it up if he sells.

wilco.