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I recently had a garage do work on my 95 Mazda B2300 during which they replaced the faulty instrument cluster. When I dropped it off at the shop, it had approximately 170k miles on it. After they installed the refurbished instrument cluster, my truck has magically gone back in time to read 120k miles.

Should the garage have advanced the refurbished odometer to the correct mileage, or do I just need to keep track of the difference? I currently have the exact difference documented, so do I just need to report it to whoever I eventually sell the truck to?

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You shouldn't have any worry about it, necessarily. Keep the documentation as you suggested and pass it along to a new owner if that ever occurs. If you drive it until the tires fall off, this will never be a worry. You aren't trying to get over on someone and you didn't cause the discrepancy yourself. It is what it is and should be treated as such.

If you are truly worried about it, there are devices on the internet (eBay) which you can plug into your ALDL port and update the mileage (NOTE: Device I found at the time of this writ was: XTOOL PS300 CAR REMOTE ECU PROGRAMMER & MILES CORRECTION TOOL PS 300 ... I'm deign to a link to it on eBay because as an auction, the listing will be gone very soon). Personally I wouldn't go through the expense and trouble of it myself.

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  • Be careful with those shady devices that claim to be able to set odometers or reset immobilizers/program keys. It's just like software downloaded from a pirate website, it may very well be compromised and do damage or unwanted side effects (render your ECU unusable in this case).
    – user5106
    Commented Sep 18, 2014 at 15:49
  • I think I'll take your advice and just leave it - I was planning on driving it until the tires fell off anyway. As for the ECU programming devices, I don't think they'd work on a mechanical odometer like my truck has, but I can see them being a good solution for a newer car.
    – Doresoom
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 13:32
  • @Doresoom ... you are right, they will not work on a mechanical odometer, lol! I couldn't remember when Mazda switched over. Since it is mechanical, there is no easy way to roll forward the mileage on them, anyway. Like I said, if you do ever sell it, just be straight forward with the buyer and there should be no problem legally. In the state of Virginia, they will put a "mileage unknown" on the title, or something like that. Not a big deal.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 20:14
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Yes, the odometer reading should have been placed at the correct value when the "new" cluster was installed.

You should return to the garage and have them correct the difference, as they should have done in the first place.

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Altering the mileage reading on a motor vehicle (causing fraud) is a felony. Selling the car without notifying the buyer of the odometer change would be illegal. If you notify the buyer of the change, there is nothing illegal about it. No need to fix it. Just keep in mind that its behind for service intervals.

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