If you put a new engine in a vehicle, is it then legal to reset the odometer? I need a new engine in one of my cars and just wondered if they do that when that happens. If not, when (if ever) is it legal to reset the odometer? I would assume fully restored vehicles are allowed this? I don’t need to reset the od, and dont care if it turns itself over 300,000 miles, Im just curious.
The engine isn’t that only thing that wears down with use. The odometer reading is also a good measure of the condition of every other part of the car, moving or not.
Keep every receipt from the engine swap. That should be enough to convince potential buyers that you really did have the engine replaced.
Out of curiousity:What kind of car is it?
When I’ve seen cars advertised that have new engines in them, they are usually described like “200,000 miles, 30,000 on new engine”. On the vehicle titles in my state, Indiana, there is a specific place on the title where you must write the number of miles that are on the car at time of sale. If the true number of miles is unknown, you must check a box on the title stating that the mile figure given is not correct. This will become part of the vehicle’s permanent record and may affect it’s trade-in or resale value. Personally, I’d rather know the actual number of miles on the vehicle rather than see a statment saying that the odometer is incorrect.
its illegal to reset the odometer for any reason. like was said, keep the receipts no matter what. I made the mistake of not doing that one time and couldnt convince ANYBODY that the engine had been replaced when I tried to sell it a year later. Not that I blaim them.
The answer is no, legally you can’t alter the odometer reading what-so-ever. Now illegally…
But what if you BUILD a car, from the frame up, all from salvaged & new parts?
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- Then you would get a new speedometer, that starts at zero. You wouldn’t have any problems, because the first title on the car would say the mileage was zero. You can get new zeroed speedometers from auto parts shops and dealers; the problem is not replacing the speedo, but the paper trail of titles, and even then it’s only when a title from last year says 200,000 and the new one says less than 200,000. I do know that speedometer shops can “re-set” the correct mileage to a new speedometer, should your present one croak of natural causes before the rest of the car does. I dunno what people do who build hot-rod type cars using antique frame rails; there may be a special class of registration for them. - MC
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I replaced the engine (one part among many,) in my old 89 Tempo. What a piece of rolling shit. You cannot reset the OD, but make a notation (a sticker, what have you) next to the OD what the current mileage is at when you replace the car. And get who ever is putting the engine in for you to put current mileage on all paperwork.
IIRC, most later model cars (talk about a vague conditional statement) have odometers which, if tampered with, will display a red flag near or across the numerical display. I think I stowed this little fact away in the memory banks from a piece Steve Kraft did for 60 minutes a few years back.
No, you cannot reset them legally in the US. You can’t roll them back either [but thats easier to do]…if you did, you’d know it cause the top of the numbers is not a straight line…haha!
‘But what if you BUILD a car, from the frame up, all from salvaged & new parts?’
Then you have to have it recertified, lights, weight, etc, plus, on your Ownership Papers, it says ‘salvage’ in big letters, in other words, no one would buy it.
handy said:
You sure there’s actually a law about this fella? When I bought a car over 10 years old vehicle registration said that the odometer no longer had to be recorded at the sale, so how could there be a law against turning it back or replacing it? Seems to me it would just fall under the truth-in-advertising laws rather than a specific anti-turnback/replace law. Where do you get this US law information? Sounds like something that might be true in California maybe, but I doubt every state forbids it, at least on old vehicles.
I had an odometer replaced on a year old car because it made a ticking sound. I expected some special paper work but there was none. It was up to me to tell the buyer it had been replaced. It took off about 8000 miles (big deal). I believe you have to sign an odometer verification whenever trading a vehicle anyway.
As far as the OP, the vehicle mileage should be recorded on the work order from whomever is doing the replacement. If it’s you, keep very good records.