I am looking at a 1992 on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1992-...QQcmdZViewItem

Seller claims the ODO reset itself to "0" when the car was not driven for 4 months by the original owner. I know you can lose your radio or even your trip info if the battery dies, but I thought the ODO was protected from that happening?
What do you think?
Thanks for your input.
Tom

 

Sounds fishy to me.

 

nice car. sounds like a scam

 

My '84 sat longer then that without it happening...

Mabey the trip ODO did...

 

I've never heard of that happening on any car!

If all you had to do was let your car sit for 4 months, there would be a lot of extremely low mileage vettes out there.

Oh wait, there are a lot of low mileage vettes..

But I sure don't think this is how they got that way

 

Isn't there some method for installing a new odometer that requires setting it within X amount of miles of install to match the CCM or it becomes inop?


I don't see a scam here. He says straight up it has 78,000 miles on it, and it looks like it, why the odo is off is obviously b.s. It looks better than most cars on here with 78K miles anyways. If he was trying to scam you, he'd say it was 20K, duh! You guys should quit calling scam every time, it's tiring.

 

If it's a digital odometer , it sounds to me like a big glitch hit the EEM/ECM unit (or perhaps a newly re-programmed unit installed?)

Usually if there's a catastrophic failure in the EEM, the car will not even start without re-programming the EEM. (This happened on my '97 Blazer (non-digital odometer), and it happened on the In-laws '02 Saturn in Fla. The Saturn baked in a garage for 6 months while the In-laws fled to Wi. for the summer, the battery died, and so did the car)

 

The odometer data is held by the CCM and displayed on the dash. If a new CCM is installed, it will need an number of things programmed into it. The VIN, the current odometer reading from the old CCM and information about certain options installed on the car (like FX3) where the CCM retains error and history codes.

If the new odometer is not programmed with the current vehicle mileage within 100 miles of the install, the CCM will not accept any new mileage programming.

The seller's description of the car sitting and no longer displaying the mileage is strange and I would think that there is either an issue with the CCM or a CCM from another car was installed. A GM Tech-1 scan tool would easily verify that by looking at the data and the VIN. This is one car where a potential buyer should definitely run a CARFAX to verify the mileage.

His statement about the CD player repair and the antenna repair as being inexpensive to fix is probably not right especially if a buyer does not have the expertise to remove the head unit to send it out for repair and/or repair the antenna himself.

He also says "ALL OPTIONS". There is no FX3 selector switch so the car has the base suspension. The tires are Goodyear GS-C's and the one pic looks like the tread is about gone. If they are the original tires (I can't imagine getting 78K out of the original set), they will be rock hard and probably show some cracking on the tread or sidewall.

But overall, the car doesn't look too bad and if they guy would take $9-10K for it, it may not be that bad of a deal.

 

Again a member is castigated for simply asking a question. Take your Geritol and give the guy a break.

 

I wouldn't mess with it, not because it's a bad deal or a bad car. There are too many of these cars out there to take this guys word for it that it has 78K rather than 120K which is what it is showing. It just makes selling the car a royal p.i.t.a. and who needs that ?

 

I was responding to posters #2 and #3. Take your beta carotine and leave me alone.

 

Guys, thanks for all of your replies. Having this knowledge base available to draw from is really helpful.
Thanks again,
Tom

 

If you install a used cluster what will it read? your current mileage or the one of the used cluster?

 

In addition to the odometer:

- I realize it's a georgia car, but that much tint can indicate a younger driver. Not to say that's always bad, but...
- The chrome exhaust tips are after market. Just the tips, or was the exhaust replaced?
- The interior looks great. I couldn't see any seat wear which would be common at that age. Very nice.
- The side panels have been replaced with the 95-96 models. That could have been a style preference, or an indication of an accident and replacement parts.
- The rims seem great as well. They don't look to have 75K of wear on them so I wonder if they are all original.

Just some observations.

 

that is one clean looking 92

 

One of the pics in the ad from the rear shows a ever so slight discoloration between the rear bumper and the rest of the body. Is this common?

The reason I ask is my 92 is red and definately was repainted by the previous owner (overspray). The paint on my rear bumper (and the front too for that matter) is a slightly different shade than the paint on the rest of the body. I just chalked it up to crappy macco type paint job.

 

Nice, slick, Ad. The odometer is electronically resident in the ccm or Body control module (same part, different name). It CANNOT be changed, unless you install a different one, or new one and have it reset by the dealer. So alert, and not a very good lie at that. The guage asm is just a read out on 90 up C-4's, like the monitor on you home computer. Sounds like someone got caught by carfax, and now is making excuses. In my opinion, when someone relies on so much hyperbole, BEWARE.

 

There are sooo many of these cars out there in nice shape, I would be inclined to keep looking. Good luck either way.

 

It's at 7,000 now. Reserve not met.

I'd give 7,000 for it.... If I went and looked at it in person I possibly would give more if I liked what I saw.

 

8900, reserve never met.