How to tell if ks have been clocked back....

[anfz]

Hey guys been looking at a few cars lately and have a feeling the ks on the clock are taken back ? now i know this is illegal and people do it,but is there any way for sure I can know if it has been clocked back in any way ? plz guys some help as im intrested in a afew, but dont wana get stuffed thanks

[EuroDude]

I think you can ring the RTA or REVS and ask them how many km's it had during the last rego check.

[Jnr_Mint]

Generally 20k approx ks a year is a good indicator, the age of the car, whether u purchuse it from somebody whos lives in the country or city.
And look out for ppl that might use an excuse like:
I changed the cluster because the speedo was ready out or in an accident.

[anfz]

yea but how can you tell if the cluster has been changed ? is there anything vic roads or me doing a revs check can help out or thats pointless ? cause i never recall having to show the vicroads on my current car , how many ks it got before i can register it ?

[Slow96GSR]

I know on my car the ECU stores how many miles (kms) I have gone. It's OBD2 and I am not 100% sure OBD1 does it too. So that's one way to check. Any good scan tool that hooks in to the ECU should be able to bring that up. I know Snap-on does. If you can't do that there is always carfax if you have that down there. You can also go look at the previous titles and see what they wrote down on it. Man come to think of it we have it easy with carfax, the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, and other means of looking all that up.

[civiceg9]

yea but how can you tell if the cluster has been changed ? is there anything vic roads or me doing a revs check can help out or thats pointless ? cause i never recall having to show the vicroads on my current car , how many ks it got before i can register it ?

Vicroad may not be able to do much, they might be able to tell the last kms when they did a transfer.
Other then that ask them if they have service history, as usually service history have the kms on it.
If kms is important to you should buy a car with full service history and receipts.
if not important then just get car which is in good condition, ask RACV or mechanic to get the car check out.

[anfz]

so if i was to get it mechanically inspected say by vicroads or stateroads they do full mechanial and interior and exterior inspections head to toe,would they be able to tell if anything has been tampered with ? or is it something only total professionals can tell ? thx again guys

[SiReal]

well from the time they take to inspect, say an hour, they can only find out so much. I.e. mechanicals, whether it has been in a big crash, cut and weld..i dont think they would be able to track whether a cluster has been removed etc..without taking apart the car.

[quangsta]

well on the transfer papers there amount of kms on it...pretty sure anyway so vicroads should know how much it did the last time it changed hands...and u can work out how many kms he did a yr from there and decide whether it was feasible or not

[anfz]

yea but say he bought the car 4 yrs ago that was when he changed papers last in those 4 yrs he could have done 120ks on it and due to the high ks clocked up he took it down to a point where he thinks he could sell the car much easier ,and how do they normally clock back the ks do they put it on some machine and make the odometer clock back or do they take the cluster out and change the numbers by hand then pop it back in ?

[civiceg9]

sensitive topics, ask your mechanic, he will be able to tell you how hehe :D
is Illegal to clock back, how ever if it breaks u can replace the whole cluster.

[xtercii]

Ok people, if you are in VIC, I am not too sure, but if you are in NSW I can tell you now that RTA does not keep a record of how many KM each car travels. How do I know? Because I have personally gone into a NSW RTA and asked the lady if they can verified the KM on my newly bought civic, and she told me that they don’t keep a record of it, then I said what if someone clocked K back. Guess what she said, she said, “ummm I am not too sure, it’s pretty hard to turn the clock back”. Basically they don’t have the record and they can’t verify how genuine the K is. So it is some sort of loophole and the NSW government is not doing anything about it.

As for how do u tell if the K has been wind back, the only trick I use is look closely at the speedo, usually there is some sort of minor scratch on the numbers if they have been wind back, but you have to look very closely and carefully. I am telling this from experience because I got done on my last car, I didn’t notice when I bought it but after few weeks I somehow noticed there are few hair line scratches on the speedo numbers, so I know for sure it’s been wind back because factory ones look perfect.

Still it’s kinda sad that all you have to do is to change the whole speedo and no one can tell how many genuine Ks are there.

[kerim]

from what i have heard, if the numbers dont line up properly, then its clocked back.
Also if you want to know if the cluster has been changed, take it out and have a look at back of it to see if it has writing on it, like of the car model, like wat they do at wrekers so they know what car it for. ( i hope you guys understand that)

[anfz]

yea but how long does it take to take a cluster out and which owner or seller would let you start ripping apart their car because of your doubts ? thats the problem with that avenue ,you guys also mentioned about the crack on the speedo and if they dont line up properly what if they do line up properly ? i mean from what ive heard the only way to change the clock is to change the cluster is that right you cant use your original it must be changed ? thanks again guys

[Zdster]

One good way of telling (as I always also lead to believe), if the car has relatively low km's according to the gauges - check out the interior and exterior for signs of wear. For example a 150,000km car as a generally rule will not have as clean an interior (ie side bolsters wearing on seats, carpet, trim etc) compared to car that has done 20,000km's.


As I stated it is just a general rule (some cars never get looked after so they will start to look poor).

Re the numbers not lining up - I have seen friends cars whose numbers dont line up and they bought the vehicle new!

[[XsCaPe]]

usually you can find clues. if it doesnt have a service history, look at the kms written on the sticker that says when the timing belt was changed.. ask when the clutch was last changed (they should last about 70k kms on average).. how does the gearbox feel?

ask some questions of the owner - how long have they owned it, what kms was it on when they bought it.. use a little bit of logic to see if it all works out. remember the average person puts on approx 14,000 - 20,000 kms per year...

Edit –I don’t know if it is easy to find a cluster for a Honda, but a few years ago I tried to get one for my old car (mx6) as I had crappy white faced dials and wanted to go back to the stock look. I was advised by my local wrecker that it was extremely hard to find a cluster for the mx6 as they were high in demand (and fetch pretty high prices!) – as the cars age and get over the phsychological barrier of 200,000kms, people are swapping the clusters for those with lower kms before they sell them. He confessed that he sold most clusters to dealerships…. I would be more careful when buying from a dealer – remember, its their job to get the most they can for their cars. Private sellers are just trying to get rid of their car.

[civiceg9]

Some analog speedo kms don't line up at all, one up one down.
With scratches on speedo, there are quite alot of ppl pulling there speedo apart
to put EL dials or ppl swaping them in and out with the JDM speedos etc.
some Honda original parts does have some marker writing. I buy new parts all the time
as sometimes the parts are not that much difference to 2nd hand parts price.

hint: there is a tool to which wind the speedo back on the analog ones.
This will not affect the speedo alignment and u can't push it one by one as u will snap it, as some are driven by a small chain. enough said. :zip:

Best is like what Zdster saids, check the car conditon with the kms.
or just buy a car with service history so you know you getting the right kms.