E30 Odometer Rollback?

[leadnub]

Hello friends I really hope some of you are awake because I was supposed to see this beauty tomorrow. Please if you have any input help me out, I've been looking for my first E30 for a while and I do not want to drop 5K on something I'm saying "maybe" about or possibly being scammed on.

This 318i is for sale in Pennsylvania. The ad got removed when I got serious about buying it, but attached are the photos and the original ad.

I ran out of files to upload, but basically the CarFax came back saying the car was reported in November 2011 at 176XXX miles at an inspection and then again in October 2012 at 119XXX miles.

The car now is (allegedly) at 165K miles but would be around 220K if the odo was rolled back, and those are two really really really different E30's.

I wanna believe but my gut is feeling funny on this one :(
The guy is getting a little defensive about it and not really willing to work with me to take it to a mechanic and look at the ECU miles, just keeps saying "i dont know man I didn't roll it back"

is this something you've seen before? is this guy gonna scam/kill me?

I really appreciate any help you can give me. Just wanna get my first E30 and join the homies on this forum but don't wanna get played :(

Thanks in advance

[Fasteddie222]

Very possible and very easy for miles to get rolled back


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[leadnub]

like on accident? or maliciously?

update: he got extremely defensive and said "deals off."

[jgilber0]

Lots of cars to choose from. Follow your gut, it’s usually right on these things.

[ak-]

like on accident? or maliciously?

update: he got extremely defensive and said "deals off."

It's very easy to replace the cluster and it is possible because sometimes they stop working, for example the lights or odometers (which are easy fixes in themselves, but people don't research).

Seeing that he kept documenting his maint. with the replaced cluster (or rolled back odo, whatever) chances are he didn't do it, but maybe someone in the past did. It's not a huge deal and I don't know what can be hidden by doing it except for a higher resale value?

I don't know what else you told him, but if he is being extremely defensive and told you deals off fuck him and his patience anyways.
If someone called me out on the similar situation and I honestly didn't know I would work with the buyer and give him potential reasons on why someone would do this in the first place.

Also 4 door 318i isn't worth 5k imo. In my area those are the ones who don't sell on CL and go for cheap.

[fight4life28]

Looks like the one for sale in Lancaster PA. Which is local to me.

[leadnub]

Yes!’ That’s the one, sad this had to happen this way. He texted me again today flaming me for bailing and saying this is not how the community is and I know nothing :(

[fight4life28]

I don't think i know him since ive seen the car around at show or event etc. Possibly he is someone I came across with a different E30. What was his name? And yeah E30 odos are super easy to swap around .

[leadnub]

Not sure I should just name drop, nothin against this kid....

Hint his name is he same as an older James Bond actor and the main actor of Hunt for Red October

Just really confused why he wouldn’t work with me to figure out what happened and maybe buy it for less or go to a mechanic and check out if the ECU had mileage logged. Go defensive and unwarrantly annoyed and angry

[E30335i]

I don’t think an ecu would write out the mileage, you have to understand it’s common for people to swap clusters. Probably cluster quit workin and swapped for another, cheapest way out. There are so many e30s with swapped clusters and they are so old mileage doesn’t determine anything. Would you rather have a 100k car with no records or 200k miles with every documented mileage and probably better condition? Unless this car has all originality and a “collectors condition” I wouldn’t bother it. Put up best offer and if not, walk away.


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[TobyB]

The ecu knows nothing.
The seat bolsters, steering wheel, carpet, etc have
a story they can tell...

If the owner got defensive, he may have known something.
Unless you hassled him a lot.

At this point with e30's, maintenance, (timing chain on an m42)
general condition and rust are more important
than mileage. They're old cars.

t

[nando]

These cars a nearly 30 years old. Hardly any of them have an original, working odometer.

They probably just swapped clusters because the original was broken. Nobody is going to roll back an odimeter on a $3000 4 door 318. And lol at the DME logging miles - again, nearly 30 years old...

Always buy a car like this based on condition, its too old for miles to matter much anyway - unless its a rare model, or the miles are super low...

[flyboyx]

if the owner got defensive, it was for one of 2 reasons. either he is lying and he knows you caught him or it is a reaction to how you presented the facts.

either way, why bother with this car? the solution is easy. forget about it and buy one somewhere else.

if you have the kind of personality where you need to prove yourself right, just send him a copy of the car fax. he can choose to do the right thing with the information to other future buyers or not. it is out of your hands and up to him.

[Mwishlist]

These cars a nearly 30 years old. Hardly any of them have an original, working odometer.

They probably just swapped clusters because the original was broken. Nobody is going to roll back an odimeter on a $3000 4 door 318. And lol at the DME logging miles - again, nearly 30 years old...

Always buy a car like this based on condition, its too old for miles to matter much anyway - unless its a rare model, or the miles are super low...

This. My title noted that the mileage was wrong when I bought mine cause the odometer had already quit working. No big deal if the car is clean and engine strong.

[jgilber0]

This. My title noted that the mileage was wrong when I bought mine cause the odometer had already quit working. No big deal if the car is clean and engine strong.

Common with these cars. In fact I would be willing to bet that there isn’t a single e30 out there now that hasn’t had to have its odometer serviced.

Anybody regularly on R3V likely does it themselves instead of using a certified shop.

I just swapped in a re-geared odometer last month and gained 10,000 miles. At least it’s working properly now.

Miles are just a number, but other indicators tell much more.