I put my parts car dash in my swap due to the v6 tach/120 speedo. Odometer says 240k, car only has 120 on it, so I wouldnt mind setting that back.

Here are the instructions that jscott1 gave me to roll the odometer back. Works real good too!!

It's easy to do, but kind of hard to describe. You can't just roll all the circles around at once, it's kind of like a rubic's cube, if you remember that. You have to do them one at a time.

Take the odometer apart. The odometer wheels are only held in by a clip on the end of the shaft, remove that. Then underneath is a thin strip than has a bunch of slots in it. This strip is designed to break if the wheels are forcibly moved. Carefully remove that strip. Sometimes it just crumbles due to age, if so then you have to get another one from somewhere.

Anyway to reset the odometer, what I do is start from the left, so for example if the reading is 012,345 miles, put your hand holding the 2,345, and rotate the 01 backwards, (opposite way it would normally turn) after it goes all the way around it should read 002,345. Now put your hand on the 345, and rotate the 002 backwards two times around, it should read 000,345. Keep doing this until it reads, 000,000. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. Put it all back together and Bob is your uncle.

you can also move the odometer from your old cluster to the new cluster

FWIW, there are federal and state laws dealing with replacing, repairing or rolling back odometers. If you ever plan to sell the car you MUST disclose the fact you rolled back the odometer to the buyer. Below is a link showing the US law.. There are Canadian laws too.

http://www.lemonlawclaims.com/federal_odometer_statute%20and%20law.htm

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1988 Fiero Coupe 2.5L (Written Off in an accident in 2006)
1990 Trans Am GTA 5.7L

It's not really rolling back, since he's replacing the odometer. He's just setting it to the correct mileage reading.

quote Originally posted by Xanth: It's not really rolling back, since he's replacing the odometer. He's just setting it to the correct mileage reading.

I suppose if the judge was a car guy............?

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Ol' Paint, 88 Base coupe auto.
Turning white on top, like owner.
Leaks a little, like owner.
Doesn't smoke, unlike owner

Which is why putting the original odometer mech in the new dash the best thing. no matter what they ask you can say.. "nope that is the original odometer reading" with full truth.

In many states they don't even track OD reading on titles any more. In NE it's anthing over something like 10 or 15 years is not tracked so is does not matter. I know many other states are starting to do that also.

I don`t think they bother with that in MI. when a cars over a certain age, it`s not rocket science as to how it works--but in order to keep everyone happy --you may want to inform the person or buyer when you sell the car that you set the odometer to match the conversion...

quote Originally posted by 3800superfast: I don`t think they bother with that in MI. when a cars over a certain age, it`s not rocket science as to how it works--but in order to keep everyone happy --you may want to inform the person or buyer when you sell the car that you set the odometer to match the conversion...

Yeah I just had my title transfer from IL to MI last year, they couldnt care less about mileage anymore on older cars.

quote Originally posted by Poncho Jim: FWIW, there are federal and state laws dealing with replacing, repairing or rolling back odometers. If you ever plan to sell the car you MUST disclose the fact you rolled back the odometer to the buyer. Below is a link showing the US law.. There are Canadian laws too. http://www.lemonlawclaims.com/federal_odometer_statute%20and%20law.htm

Well, unless you sell it to one of the 50 people on this thread, the only way anyone would ever know would be if you were dumb enough to say anything, and even then, the only way anyone would care would be if you were selling it to a very, very anal judge or lawyer (im not saying cop, because none of the cops I know would give a crap) and even then, they would have to be the analest of the pricks to care.

So yea, go ahead, no one is ever going to care.

I am sure a lot of Fiero's have rollbacks. It is hard to tell what is real and what is not with these cars sometimes.

The law says you can't CHANGE the odometer reading. So whatever you do, replacing the odometer with the old one or re-adusting the new one to the same reading - as long as it's showing the actual mileage you're in compliance with the law.

Those who point out state laws are correct in their states - but there's also a federal law regarding auto odometers. No worries as long as you don't do something that makes it read less than truthfully...

quote Originally posted by Whuffo: The law says you can't CHANGE the odometer reading. So whatever you do, replacing the odometer with the old one or re-adusting the new one to the same reading - as long as it's showing the actual mileage you're in compliance with the law. ..

That's close...if you can't set it to actual then you are allowed to set it to all zeros, with a label recording the actual miles.

As long as you are honest and disclose the true mileage it really doesn't matter. Odometer rollback is a felony if you do it with intent to defraud someone, or misrepresent a false reading as actual.

If you swap clusters and for some reason can't adjust it, (like on a digital odometer) just write down the conversion on a label and put it on the driver's side door and you will be fine.

i have one that is set back to 000000.0 i im going to put it in my car when i get the swap done. this way i know how many miles are on the new motor + just about everything will be new at that time

It looks like everyone has a little bit of the actual facts here,

as for "is it an offence"

there are two things that the crown must prove in order to obtain a conviction

Actus riea, and mens riea

the first is the offense of committing the offense, the actual changing of the odometer
the second is the knowledge or intent of committing the offense with "intent" to cause some sort of harm, or obtain additional value by doing so

the changing of the unit is the commission of the offense, however this is negated by the return of the mileage to it's original setting.

as for the requirement of switching a defective odometer, this is permitted as long as an "approved" decal is placed on the driver's door indicating the actual reading and the replacement reading along with the date and person who did the transformation.

the reason for "approved decal" is that some people would simply just tape a piece of paper claiming that they followed the regulations and it must have fallen off.

this decal is quite simular to the modification of pollution equipment as performed by gm etc., or when you have your vehicle changed from r-12 to r-134a etc.

As for the comment on "anal cops" wouldn't bother to do anything about it, I wouldn't say that they cannot be bothered however are overworked and too busy to take enforcement action, this would be the same as them writing tickets for 2-3 miles over the limit, although they could they do not, they use a lot of discression and focus on more important things.

The only problem you could possibly get into is if you sold the vehicle, and the buyer claimed that it was not clearly displayed and could then sue you in small claims court for a reduction or refund of the purchase price.

tim

On #020 I asked Dakata Digital to set the the gauges to read the same as the original. I think it was a extra $10. No need for headaches in the future.

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"Anyone can make a copy of something, it may look good but it ever is the real car. Make something from your imagination, something unique, something nobody has, anything is possible and, ideas can be a reality."

I recently upgraded my GT to the 150 mph gauges and in the interest of odometer integrity it took me a while to locate one with less miles than my car, then electrically advance it up to the proper mileage.

I don't have the tools to roll back an electronic odometer so if anything it would display more miles than actual. I'm pretty sure that's not a crime.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 11-05-2006).]

I doubt anyone buying my car would ever care about mileage, as I have just about everything that has anything to do with wear replaced on it. I think setting it to 0 is what I am going to do.

I rolled one of my cars back to zero after a major overhaul, and I just found it to be annoying after awhile. In the back of your mind you know the actual mileage, but it's recorded as something else. I eventually advanced it back to the actual mileage.

If you have safety inspections in your area it might trigger a Rollback alert on Carfax. Your prospective buyer might not care, but then again he or she might.

When it`s all said and done--its your car--do what you would like to do--if your happy with that--then thats all that matters...