Banshee365

Alright people, school me on the legalities involved with swapping instrument clusters (odometers) between two cars. I've got an on-going thread going over here. Long story short, I'm transferring a huge percentage of parts from a 165k mile car to a 235k mile car. I really don't care what the odometer say's and am planning to simply not mess with changing any of that. But, for educational purposes, is this even something that's legal to do at all? To me, if a certain percentage of parts were swapped the mileage could go with those parts. But another part of me thinks the odometer must stay with the VIN, period. I've seen a youtube video of a guy that owns a shop rebuilding a Ford Excursion with all brand new parts for the most part. Zero miles engine and trans and all new suspension components. He claimed that truck had enough new parts that it could have this zero'ed mileage cluster that he got installed in it. He claimed it was perfectly legal.

I'll probably just get a new timing belt sticker, adjust the mileage that it reads on the 165k mile car to the 235k mile car and call it good. I'm not planning to resell the car so what the odometer say's really doesn't matter to me.

dicer

One way to think about it is, there are a lot of cars with non working odometers that may say a way lesser amount of miles than are actually on the car. I say be honest and document the miles on the car at the change and make sure that stays with the car.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Legally speaking, it's a stupid idea.
Slightly stupid because most states have mileage tracking as part of vehicle registration, and the title will be flagged as having a mileage inconsistency or "mileage exceeds limits". This will significantly reduce mileage.

Very stupid because if you tried to sell the car to someone with the reduced odometer mileage and didn't disclose it in writing, you would be liable for odometer tampering, which is a federal crime.
http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/how-to...aud-1665598641

That all said, if you have the mileage on the new odometer matched to the old one, that's completely legal, and not necessary to disclose as the vehicle mileage is being accurately represented.

thoiboi

In CA there is a "Not Actual Mileage"tag tied to the registration now . If you're not selling them it's really a non-issue.

python

iTrader: (4)

i swapped a cluster with 6k more on the car than my car had...no mileage police came knocking on my door. if u plan on keeping ur car,then so what,if u plan on selling it then its up to ur morals to tell the buyer the truth or not.

jaaa

When I bought my 1996 a year and a half ago(while I was registering the car) the official asked how many miles upon which I answered-" I have no idea". He said no problem, "cars this old don't need to be tracked by mileage". Of course this was Colorado, so each state might be different.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Here in CA, the only concern is if you were to try to sell the vehicle and not disclose that the odometer does not reflect true mileage on the car. When you sell the car, you can enter the odometer mileage on the title transfer paperwork if you want (I believe it is required for cars less than 10 years old, optional for older car), and there is a check box to indicate if that mileage is not the true mileage on the car. So you've got plenty of opportunity to clearly disclose (or not) the issue.

Unlike a lot of the crazy stuff they do out here in the Peoples Republic of CA, this seems pretty normal and reasonable, so I'd expect similar things in other states.

It sounds like with what you're trying to do, there is nothing for you to worry about here. Just disclose things when you eventually sell the car and there will not be a problem.

Regarding, having incorrect mileage flagged, that actually happened to me once on an older vehicle due to an error by me. Here in CA, all smog checks are public info, so the mileage and result get into a database somewhere that CarFax, etc. can access. My odometer on that car only went up to 99,999.9 miles. So when I got a smog check at around 117k miles, the odo showed 17k. When I filled out the paperwork at the smog check station, I should have entered 17k as the mileage since that's what the odo showed, but I put down 117k. Seemed to make sense when I did it, but that was wrong. Next smog check, the technician filled out the paperwork and put down ~20k or whatever, as indicated on the odo, not caring what the actual mileage was. So my mileage went from 117k to 20k, which triggered the flag, whereas when the car went from 90k to 10k (or whatever) there was no flag since the system probably assumed it was a 5-digit odo.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Where did you get this? This is literally unenforceable anywhere in the united states as the Odometer on most every car isn't even tagged with the VIN.

Completely incorrect.

dicer

This state a car over a certain age you don't disclose the odometer at all. Like I said they break, and there is no way to know for sure the mileage. The smart move would be to have a place like Tanin fix or transfer your old odometer number to the replacement. And more food for thought, even if some one is selling a year old car there is no way to know for sure, (unless the ecu's now keep track of hours) how many hours are on the engine, the owner could have just let it sit and idle for long extended periods, especially if its a cold climate.

AandSC

Florida titles have a block you mark if the mileage shown on the odometer isn't the mileage on the vehicle. This only applies when you sell the car, which you state you aren't planning on doing. If it were me, I would swap the instrument panel and not look back, and then if I sold the vehicle I would just mark the title as "not original mileage."

Losiracer2

I've had this happen on my Odyssey I recently bought. The Cluster broke at 320,020 miles and neither the odometer or trip meter functioned anymore so I had no way of recording miles for oil changes or fuel tanks, really annoying.

I found a lower mileage, working cluster, with 233k miles that I put in and have no issues. I did title the car in my name with 320k though, so I'm sure when the new owner registers it, it'll have a Box C for mileage on the title instead of Box A. Oh well, this van's pretty old so its not like its worth a ton of money like a <5 year old car would be. And I'm pretty sure the cluster broke over 2 years ago, since i found an oil change sticker for 302k miles from 6/14 in the window, so who knows how many miles are on her.

TaninAuto

Thanks for the mention, Dicer.

We couldn't agree more, better to err on the side of caution and do it the right way from the start. Here is the link to our odometer correction page:

http://www.taninautoelectronix.com/S...do_correct.htm

Give us a call with any questions or PM us here. We are happy to help out.

dicer

In the end it is stupid to not keep correct track of true miles on a car. Its very dishonest if you do sell it, it messes up your own maintenance records, and you have no way to really know or keep track of the longevity of the components. Its just the right thing to do. And if you don't know for sure the miles I'd err with the higher miles, that is if it said 200 K when the odometer stopped, and you guess you have 10 more k since then, I'd add another 3 or 5k, too bad if it makes the car less appealing, its just more logical to have a bit more and it be actually a bit less, because going the other direction is not cool for anyone.

Banshee365

Good discussion. I will have to reiterate that I do not plan to sell the car. I also never planned to swap clusters. I was just wondering at what point are there no more original parts on the car. Which, in my mind, practically the cluster from the car donating the parts could be used. I understand the other argument as well though. Legally allowing what I'm talking about across the board would open a ton of grey area.

deanshark

Although most people are right here saying as long as you mark "true mileage unknown" on the title if you sell it, then it's legal. But that wasn't your question, but good info for people who don't know that. Whenever I sold a car I always checked unknown mileage just incase the person before me did something, that way I couldn't be held accountable for anything.
To answer the question, It doesn't matter how many parts you change from the 165k car to the 235k car, it will still be a 235k car.
The video you're talking about; I don't think it would be legal for him to claim it's a zero mileage vehicle if it's the same chassis.

I hope I'm right on that, I don't know all the laws of all the states.