PCM Mileage does not match Odometer

ViperBrockway

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I have a friend that is looking at a 1997 Dodge Viper with 30,000 miles on it in Orlando Florida at a used car lot. He does not know anything about this dealership other then that they have the car priced to sell ($35,000). The dealer claims the guy who traded it in was only the second owner and only owned the car since last February. The Car Fax backs up what the dealer is saying and shows only two registered owners of the car. The Car Fax shows a mileage of 29,100 in February of 2007 when the last owner registered the car.

My friend had the car brought to a Dodge Dealer (he did not ask for a Viper certified tech) who claimed the car was in excellent shape with no issues other than that the PCM was showing a mileage of 47,597 and the Odometer showed 30,087. The dodge dealer said the PCM could of been replaced with one from another Viper and that he did not think the odometer had been messed with.

Does anyone have any advice on things to look for to tell if the odometer has been tampered with?
 

Asp Man

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Could be that the PCM was replaced, who knows when.
Could be that the guy had the speedo unplugged or on a switch. Look for an unexplained switch, may be well hidden.
Could be that the speedo was replaced somewhere along the line, there should be a sticker on the door jamb with the old mileage that should add to 47+. Could be it's fallen off.
Could be that your buddy should run the other way as fast as he can. There are plenty of fully certified mileage cars out there. Don't buy the cheapest one you see.

That's my opinion, anyway.
 

Tom Sessions

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The PCM will have the VIN in it as well as the mileage.I would make sure the VIN # matches.Once the VIN in programmed into the pcm its there for good.I have seen vipers that showed 300,000 miles in the pcm.I would not be scared of the car just because of this.
 

ViperTony

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At Tator's tech session did see DRB scans for the attendees. One PCM show 200,000 miles. Chuck said that he sees these once in a while but there's no explanation for it. If it concerns you, give him a call.
 

Viper Wizard

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Tom & Tony are right, I have seen over 500,000 miles on some PCM's!:omg: DO NOT go by this mileage on the PCM!! With a DRB you can re-set this mileage.
 
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ViperBrockway

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To reset the mileage on the PCM do you need a Dodge DRB or is there a cheap aftermarket scanner that will work? The concern here is for resale of the vehicle, don't want any questions coming up about mileage that might make a perspective buyer go else where. This is especially the case with this car since in Texas when you get a new Title on a car that is over ten years old they list the mileage on the title as being "EXEMPT". So basically an owner can only go by the car fax and odometer reading to make himself feel good that everything is as it should be.
 
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Venomiss

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So are you or your friend looking to turn this Viper around for a few$$ or keeping it?

Pay the money either way and get a Viper Tech to look at it that's local to that area.
 

Viper Wizard

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To reset the mileage on the PCM do you need a Dodge DRB or is there a cheap aftermarket scanner that will work? The concern here is for resale of the vehicle, don't want any questions coming up about mileage that might make a perspective buyer go else where. This is especially the case with this car since in Texas when you get a new Title on a car that is over ten years old they list the mileage on the title as being "EXEMPT". So basically an owner can only go by the car fax and odometer reading to make himself feel good that everything is as it should be.

As far as I know, only the DRB can re-set the mileage in a PCM.
 

JiPi

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Does the car have modified gears?
I don't know if it is true or not, but I read once that if you have gears installed, the speedo calibration box only modifies the info that goes to the speedo so that it indicates the right speed, but the PCM still reads the speed (and so the # of miles) respect to the stock gears.
That could explain why you have less miles on your speedo than what shows the PCM, but the difference seems a bit high.
 

Limit

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It sounds like the PCM isn't a big deal. I'd call the previous owners about any problems they may have had... They have no reason to lie about it at this juncture.
 

sctdev

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I've got access to a DRB if necessary. There may also be another way to "adjust" the PCM milage. Now that I have a Viper to play with I have a big incentive to dig into tuning the Viper.
 

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