Worried about Odometer fraud on TTA...

[CombatComProg]

Question, how hard is it to disconnect the odometer on a TTA? I've heard that some cars drive extremely poorly when the odometer is disconnected, so would this be the case with the TTA? Will accurate mileage still be recorded on the chip even if the odometer is disconnected? I'm looking to buy a very low mileage TTA, but the seats seem to have a lot of wear for the mileage, and the gauge faces have been replaced...should I be worried?

 

[suicide six]

What kinda mileage? Worn seats,armrests,steering wheel,control pedals.etc..are harder and more expensive to replace and often overlooked when a speedo fraud has occured.Do a carfax,If buying off owner check other cars mileage if possible.Ask if you can have your mechanic look at it.Putting a car on a lift might show other wear vs mileage. Your gut feeling told you something,see it thru.

 

[TTA850]

Very easy to disconnect the odometer on TTA's(or any thridgen f-body for that matter). Just disconnecting the speed sensor on the trans is the easy way, wont affect driveability but will eventually set a check engine light. It can also be disconnected by taking the instrument cluster out and unplugging the odometer motor, this way the speedo still works and the ECM still gets a speed signal but the odomenter doesnt move. There's nothing else in these cars that records mileage like newer OBDII cars.

Whats the mileage of the car your looking at? Is there anything aside from the seats that worry you? Have you run a carfax?

HTH,
Steve

 

[Lee_Burough]

Question, how hard is it to disconnect the odometer on a TTA? I've heard that some cars drive extremely poorly when the odometer is disconnected, so would this be the case with the TTA? Will accurate mileage still be recorded on the chip even if the odometer is disconnected? I'm looking to buy a very low mileage TTA, but the seats seem to have a lot of wear for the mileage, and the gauge faces have been replaced...should I be worried?

The older I get, the more I listen to my intuition And, when I overrule my gut feelings, I usually regret it. suicide six is right about your gut feelings, listen to them.

A carfax is likely to tell you a lot. It can reveal reason to raise or lower your index of suspicion about odometer fraud. If you don't uncover evidence of actual miles....Does the seller have an explaination of the interior wear? If he blinks a lot while he explains it, he's prolly lying. If you're not satisfied with his explainations, walk away unless its a give away.

Good Luck.

 

[72firebird]

the interior tends to wear in these cars easily. If the car was driven in town and has like 30k miles I would expect some wear on the bolsters, enough that the color is starting to come off a little if they didn't take care of it. If the seats aren't properly conditioned on a regular basis it's easy for them to crack and the color to rub off. Heck my car only has 23k miles on it and has some wear on the drivers seat but it's not very bad at all.

How do you know the gauge faces have been replaced? I don't know why you would need to replace anything on the gauges because I don't think I have ever heard of anyone having problems with them.

Look underneath the car around wear the sheetmetal meets. Also the K-member will start to get a lot of noticeable wear if the car has more than like 10k miles on it. I found a comon place people don't clean on the engine bays is the passenger side frame rail, you should be able to see it all the way back to the firewall. Look at the front bumper a lot of people scrape it at some time going over speed bumps, up driveways, etc. Also check to make sure it has the original spoiler, most of them now you can see the supports starting to stick through and cracks around the edges. I've always though floormats show the wear fairly well like where people rest their feet or pivot their foot from gas to brake. That only works if they're the original floormats though.

 

[CombatComProg]

Ran a carfax and everything checks out. The gauge faces were replaced with aftermarket of a different kind. I don't think the owner is lying, but I was just wondering if it is something that would worry you guys and if this type of fraud has been common with these cars. The

 

[bison]

Check for error codes. If the vss didnt receive signal it will throw a code. The code will be stored for a while even after the problem has been remedied. Only way to clear the codes would be to disconnect the battery or do a certain number of startups. Theres a chance if someone disconnected the the cable they werent smart enough to clear the code. If you get a code for vss forget about that deal.

 

[2QUIK6]

Check for wear on the steering wheel leather, its about as cheap as the seat leather which wears very easily. Mines driven about 500 miles a year, and the driver side seat is starting to show a lot of wear with only 14k miles on the clock, but then again, I get in and out of the car many times just to move it around in the garage to get a car on my lift. So for every mile put on the car, I may have gotten in and out 25 times.

 

[davege]

Check for wear on the steering wheel leather, its about as cheap as the seat leather which wears very easily. Mines driven about 500 miles a year, and the driver side seat is starting to show a lot of wear with only 14k miles on the clock, but then again, I get in and out of the car many times just to move it around in the garage to get a car on my lift. So for every mile put on the car, I may have gotten in and out 25 times.

The leather on the bolsters being so cheap is why I like the cloth interior cars. :biggrin:

- Dave

 

[3.8TransAM]

The wheels wear a little better than the leather seats lol just not by much.

I have seen many of these cars with low mileage have crappy looking driver seats and bolsters.

Leather in 80's-90's GM products is about akin to newspaper dipped in cowfat.

I've also met a lot of low mileage TTA owners who get po'ed when I go "Hey your seats are cracked and worn too and you only hav xxxx miles on your car"

Not doing it to be mean, just in shock when u see 4 digit mileage cars with cracking or wear spots on bolsters.

Looks like u did your homework on the car. Just make sure someone who is familiar with them(if your not) checks it out and go from there.

Other than that, please drive away sideways after u purchase it, just too let him know your gonna drive it

later
Jeremy

 

[Lee_Burough]

If you're thinking about repairing that driver's seat, This is how I handled the repair. If I had it to do over again, I'd have him replace a couple additional adjacent panels too....When the repaired seat got back home, the new panels made the old panels look worse by comparison.