Just got a beautiful black 97' Flareside and I love it however, I noticed when I got it home that the little panel along the driver's side of the dash (butts to door) had been painted. I could see the overspray. Does anyone know what can be accessed by opening that panel?
I did the CarFax check and everything checked out, although I didn't notice any odometer info.

 

Does your truck have the digital odometer or the anolog one? If its anolog you can tell if it has been reset by looking at the numbers, do they have a white line through the middle of them? If so, its been set back, otherwise you are fine. Dont know about digital myself, would seem it would be very hard to set back though. Hope this helps!

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Jeff Randol
2000 Ford F150
Ext. Cab 4x4 Lariat
5.4 Auto, Off Road Package, Fully Loaded
& lovin it!!
MODS: KN Air Filter
Glasspack exhaust

Upcoming: AMSOIL Dual Oil filter system, FIPK, Fiberglass Topper, Spray-In Bedliner, Wood Dash Kit

 

that plastic trim is painted from the factory, its just so happened that some of the paint has worn or been scraped off, its not uncommon to see that. I wouldnt worry a bit about it.

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2001 F150 Lariat 4x4 Supcab
www.fordtruckforums.com

 

I'not sure about the later models, but on some of the earlier ones you could pull a fuse and any miles driven without the fuse wouldn't register. I don't think there is any way to find out if that has been done though.

 

ive also seen the ole fuse trick, but it only worked in manuals. auto it does not shift right

 

It's also pretty easy to put in a switch that breaks the circut. I know my cousins done it on every one of his cars. That Jacka$$

 

The digital odometers can be replaced with one from an auto wrecker. When my speedo on my 95 went the dealer offered to replace it with a new one ($400) or a used one ($75). I went with the used and lost 50,000 kms. I asked the mechanic if there was a way to tell the original miles/kms from the on board computer and he told me there wouldn't be any trace. So beware of exceptionaly low milage digital odometers.

 

Carfax isn't always gospel. I had 100,000 miles disappear from a 1988 well maintained trade in to a local dealer.

I notified Carfax and was faxed forms to submit an error, but was informed the reporting party would be notified. Since odometer fraud may involve organized crime, I elected to drop my complaint (the trade-in papers and odometer statment reflected the correct mileage.) I think most Carfax users probably don't follow their trade ins.

After researching on the internet, it seems that it is fairly easy to make 100,000 miles disappear. I bought the truck with 30,000 miles, sold it with 180,000 miles, but it did have the appearance of an 80,000 mile vehicle.

 

Yeah,Carfax does have its limitations.

Before I bought out the lease on my truck I was looking into some of the mid to late 80's BMW's and found a beautiful '84 733i that looked new inside and out and drove perfect. The dealer advertised it as a 1 owner, local trade-in with 62,000 original miles. I checked it with carfax and found that it had 68,000 back in '92 as well as 3 different owners, all from Michigan, according to the maintenance records. Who knows how many miles it really had but I didn't care to buy it if the dealer was making such outrageous claims.

I also informed carfax of the error and of course they expected me to do all the leg work stating that they are not responsible for the information they gather.

I think in the end the best way to judge any used vehicle is to simply take it to a good mechanic and pay for the hour or 2 of labor to get it checked out including the all important leak-down test. There are plenty of engines out there with 100,000 miles that perform perfect as well as new engines that never should have left the factory.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jeffrandol
If its anolog you can tell if it has been reset by looking at the numbers, do they have a white line through the middle of them? If so, its been set back, otherwise you are fine.




Jeff,

Don't ever assume because you don't see the white lines going through the numbers it's not been tampered with. People make huge sums of money turning back Odometers and you would never know it to look at it or even taken apart.

Ed