Odometer Calibration

[neo777]

There are places that calibrate\readjust the odometer. They charge something like 3500/= to do this for a digital odometer calibration. Does anybody know what are the tools use to do this, what kind of connectors, what kind of software do we need to do this?. And like to know what are the risks we have to consider of doing this by ourselves?

[heavyD]

There are places that calibrate\readjust the odometer. They charge something like 3500/= to do this for a digital odometer calibration. Does anybody know what are the tools use to do this, what kind of connectors, what kind of software do we need to do this?. And like to know what are the risks we have to consider of doing this by ourselves?

Isn't that illegal?

[Sifaan]

Isn't that illegal?

If it was to change the number (e.g. change 180000 to 80000) it would be illegal. But if someone has put tyres that are significantly (+/- 3% or more) different in circumference to the original, maybe the odometer should be recalibrated (adjust the number of tyre revolutions to display 1 kilometer)?

[SeanD]

Before that, do you really need to recalibrate a digital odometer? Never heard of such a thing before. In which case there must be literally millions of digital odometer cars running around with completely wrong mileage. Are you sure it's not a scam?

I'd say save the 3500/- for a nice polish for your car.

PS-Was the place located in an old house on Galle Road by any chance

[Elvis_Pil]

I really doubt there is law preventing this... if you cant adjust the meter- you can simply go out and buy a recon one with a lower number

Isn't that illegal?

[E L N I N O]

There are places that calibrate\readjust the odometer. They charge something like 3500/= to do this for a digital odometer calibration. Does anybody know what are the tools use to do this, what kind of connectors, what kind of software do we need to do this?. And like to know what are the risks we have to consider of doing this by ourselves?

get down one of these, do 25 cars 3k each and ur cost is covered.

[harshansenadhir]

get down one of these, do 25 cars 3k each and ur cost is covered.

This is a mileage/odo meter tampering tool which can be used to change the ODO meter mileage. Topic is all about calibrating speedometer, say after changing the size of the tires or final drive ratio.

[heavyD]

This is a mileage/odo meter tampering tool which can be used to change the ODO meter mileage. Topic is all about calibrating speedometer, say after changing the size of the tires or final drive ratio.

Ooooooh ok. Gotcha.

[Elvis_Pil]

Nope the topic is clear on it being the odometer..

This is a mileage/odo meter tampering tool which can be used to change the ODO meter mileage. Topic is all about calibrating speedometer, say after changing the size of the tires or final drive ratio.

[harshansenadhir]

Nope the topic is clear on it being the odometer..

Have to wait for the topic starter then, term he used is calibration, which requires to re-correct the odometer after a modification. If it's mileage tampering/changing the mileage reading, term calibration isn't suitable.

[Sifaan]

Before that, do you really need to recalibrate a digital odometer? Never heard of such a thing before. In which case there must be literally millions of digital odometer cars running around with completely wrong mileage. Are you sure it's not a scam?

Whether it's digital or analog, it still only measures rotations and has to multiply by tyre circumference to translate to distance.

In some guides on tyre plus sizing I read that you should get the odo calibrated if the variation in circumference is more than 3%.

But the idea that some johnny can do this without any kind of regulation for a few thousand bucks is a bit scary - e.g. what if I could recalibrate my meter to 50% of original? means car will be travelling at 60 km/h when it displays 30 km/h, and will have done 100,000km when it shows 50,000km on the meter! Buyers beware indeed!

Hopefully it's not possible to recalibrate to such wide variations. And doing so would likely play silly buggers with things like ABS...

[topgear]

reducing the mileage doesnt affect the speedo eter reading. if you want it done, I got a guy for it! but I've never done it and neither will I ever do it coz its cheating the buyer! the money you earn from cheating is unlawful! but it can be done!

[heavyD]

But the idea that some johnny can do this without any kind of regulation for a few thousand bucks is a bit scary - e.g. what if I could recalibrate my meter to 50% of original? means car will be travelling at 60 km/h when it displays 30 km/h, and will have done 100,000km when it shows 50,000km on the meter! Buyers beware indeed!

Hopefully it's not possible to recalibrate to such wide variations. And doing so would likely play silly buggers with things like ABS...

Judging by the amount of second hand vehicles around where their mileage doesn't really tally with their age.... I'd say it's a very, very common thing here.

[harshansenadhir]

Hopefully it's not possible to recalibrate to such wide variations. And doing so would likely play silly buggers with things like ABS...

ABS system has speed sensors on all 4 corners and takes input directly from them rather than relying on vehicle speed sensor which is in gearbox, final drive. Therefore this calibration will not have any impact on ABS.

Edited August 26, 2010 by harshansenadhir

[Sifaan]

Judging by the amount of second hand vehicles around where their mileage doesn't really tally with their age.... I'd say it's a very, very common thing here.

I think that would be the odometer fixing to reduce 100,000km or whatever, which at least can be verified (to some degree) with mileage on service histories (i.e. if they had knocked back the meter just before putting the car on the market). although there was one bugger who seemed to doing it once a year on his S40 cos the service records were showing ~2000km/year (why bother to even have the car??) but the car looked totally hacked.

OTOH if you adjusted the calibration it's all going to look OK on the paperwork (you would even look more benevelont in servicing earlier than it needed to be done!)