rolling back mileage

[schwarzII325is]

These cars are impossible to roll back. And if you throw a cluster in that doesnt match the miles the car has backed up in the ZKW, and it will trip an orange light next to the miles.

And it is not uncommon for our cars to need a coolant refresh at 60-80k

jijacob(awesome bfc user), stated that quote.
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anyways, after my radiator busted, my aunt (who has driven bmw's her whole life but hasn't actually touched the engine ever :)) mom, and dad think that the mileage on my computer has been altered. Jijacob stated that its impossible to change the mileage cluster. The BMW dealership said that if it was changed, a light would be tripped indicated it was tampered? So, whats the deal with the mileage on my car?

Would it be possible for the PO to take the fuse out that powers the cluster, and just reattach the fuse after using the cluster for a long time? Thats what my dad thinks happened? IS that even possible?

please don't insult my relatives and parents...they dont know much about cars but are good people...hahha

thanks for the help

[mrkbik]

What's the story on the mileage of your car??

[schwarzII325is]

its 746xx, but my rents think it was rolled back cause my radiator busted so early..and they think that is indicative that the car has been used more than the cluster indicates.

[Mr. White]

its 746xx, but my rents think it was rolled back cause my radiator busted so early..and they think that is indicative that the car has been used more than the cluster indicates.

It's not THAT uncommon for a radiator to go bad at 74K. I wouldn't use that as an indicator that your odometer was altered.

[BMDubs]

There is an electronic trick, by pushing the odo reset and turning the key in a sequence. Do a search on the forum that will show up the last 5 or 6 digits of your VIN number on the digital display of your instrument cluster that will tell you if it is an original cluster or not... recoding of the cluster can only be done by the dealer or a well equiped independant shop. Dealer should have records of the change if one was ever performed...

[schwarzII325is]

There is an electronic trick, by pushing the odo reset and turning the key in a sequence. Do a search on the forum that will show up the last 5 or 6 digits of your VIN number on the digital display of your instrument cluster that will tell you if it is an original cluster or not

i searched but couldn't find this...can anyone help out



also, is it possible for someone to just unplug the fuse that runs the cluster...drive 30k, and plug it back rendering the same mileage before driving 30k??? lemme know!

[synthply]

on a car that is at least 12 years old, having an orig rad give out is pretty likely

[schwarzII325is]

i dont dispute what you guys say about the radiator...but my question is:is it possible for someone to just unplug the fuse that runs the cluster...drive 30k, and plug it back rendering the same mileage before driving 30k?

thanks

[mrkbik]

i searched but couldn't find this...can anyone help out



also, is it possible for someone to just unplug the fuse that runs the cluster...drive 30k, and plug it back rendering the same mileage before driving 30k??? lemme know!

Though I don't know for sure, I really doubt the BMW engineers would make it so easy for someone to do this.

[schwarzII325is]

Though I don't know for sure, I really doubt the BMW engineers would make it so easy for someone to do this

thanks for you opinion

anyone else with knowledge?

[Mr. White]

also, is it possible for someone to just unplug the fuse that runs the cluster...drive 30k, and plug it back rendering the same mileage before driving 30k??? lemme know!

I'm not sure if there is a fuse, but hell, you can take the cluster out completely and drive for as long as you want. Or you could just unplug it.

I don't want to sound like an ass, but I think you're waaaay too worried. Car parts fail, on every make and model. Just because a part fails before you think it should, doesn't mean the mileage was adjusted. Especially if that part is an E36 radiator, which is a very common failure.

[BMDubs]

Heres the link... As for the fuse or cluster being removed, I am not too sure of those answers... http://www.bmw-m.net/techproc/test.htm

[schwarzII325is]

don't want to sound like an ass, but I think you're waaaay too worried. Car parts fail, on every make and model. Just because a part fails before you think it should, doesn't mean the mileage was adjusted. Especially if that part is an E36 radiator, which is a very common failure.

its not so much that...its moreso questioning the mileage of the vehicle of the mileage. I know that the radiator fails.

[schwarzII325is]

Heres the link... As for the fuse or cluster being removed, I am not too sure of those answers... http://www.bmw-m.net/techproc/test.htm

thanks

[Kickery262]

you can unhook the rear speed sensor and it wont read miliage and its not uncomon to see a radiator go at 74000 miles

[mrkbik]

its not so much that...its moreso questioning the mileage of the vehicle of the mileage. I know that the radiator fails.

Oh, the age old question of the mileage of the vehicle of the mileage...

[schwarzII325is]

Oh, the age old question of the mileage of the vehicle of the mileage...

haha

[jijacob]

The thing is that the milage is tracked in two seperate locations on the car. So just unplugging your odo or whatever is not going to stop the count. Now you could unplug the sensor on your diff to stop the count, but that will also stop your speedo.

Like it has been said, unless there are a doz. or so different things on your car showing a lot of age, your probably has the right number of miles.

[motoracr22]

Now you could unplug the sensor on your diff to stop the count, but that will also stop your speedo.

It's also highly illegal.

[jasontn]

Pull a carfax....that should also give you an indicator.

[ParadigmGuy]

The mileage is only tracked on your cluster. There is no fuse that can be removed to prevent it from showing mileage. It is easy to disconnected the connectors on the back of the cluster (10 minute job), but not likely.

[schwarzII325is]

carfax indicates nothing - no rollback

another car site i checked indicated a rollback of like 20 miles. But it said that it wasn't counted in the rollback data. IDK WHY?

car fax left that out completely. It seems that it was negligible...and occurred during a title reissue, so most likely the owner reported the wrong mileage by accident or my car was tampered with :(

[Quailane]

Sounds like you need to get off the paranoia train.

[zx7rhitch]

It is what it is.Personally millage is not important to me in a car that is 12 years old.Its how its been taken care of and how it drives out.BMWs always seem to have a cooling issue to some degree, not all but the mass majority of them do and have easy solution to take care of the problem.Its not a big deal at all.Im not sure about bmws but there are companys that sell devices/tools to roll back miles.If you have a good bmw that runs strongs,doesnt smoke and handles better then most new cars just be thankfull

[328iJunkie]

check the vin like others have stated. I installed a Euro cluster in my car which is at ~100 right now when my car really has ~145 and i have no 'light' which indicates the mileage has been altered. I also didnt get the light when swapping to my old cluster for a week when i was working on the Euro one. So its Possible but yeah idk. And yes your original rad shoulda gone long ago (age/mileage wise)

[tophermack]

my bad, guess i was told wrong.:(

[ParadigmGuy]

not true the mileage is recorded in two locations the cluster and the dme. so if you replace your cluster or your dme the shown mileage will automatically default the the HIGHEST mileage.
I've replaced my cluster with stock DME, the mileage is only stored in the cluster. To get the cluster to show the same mileage you need to use the coding plug from the original cluster.

[328iJunkie]

I've replaced my cluster with stock DME, the mileage is only stored in the cluster. To get the cluster to show the same mileage you need to use the coding plug from the original cluster.

exactly. And my car doesnt display the light in cluster i believe because i dont have the original ECU either...

[zx7rhitch]

http://www.tradekey.com/product_view/id/71342.htm
http://www.dashboardprogramming.com/english.php
http://home.jtan.com/~joe/speedo.htm

Some info I found on odemeters

[schwarzII325is]

good links... but they just point to the fact that its easy to tweak the mileage count...eek..not good

[Mr. White]

I've replaced my cluster with stock DME, the mileage is only stored in the cluster. To get the cluster to show the same mileage you need to use the coding plug from the original cluster.

Exactly. I've replaced my cluster also AND the new (used) cluster's mileage was adjusted to my car's actual mileage. If a shop knows what they're doing, it can be done easily...

http://www.paspeedo.com/