Mystery Truck

[Landon Boyd]

I’m brand new to the group so hopefully I get all this right.
Recently I purchased a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7 with 98,000 Miles. The truck had quiet a bit wear and tear but not awful by any means. Just a rip in the seat, cracked dash, blower motor resistor. exhaust leak, airbag light, different color hood and some rust on the back wheel wells. After owning it for a bit I started wondering whether or not the mileage was true. Pulled Carfax and last reported mileage was 255,000 miles almost 7 years ago!! which blew my mind because the truck does not run like it has a ton of miles on it at all. It maybe shifts a little slow every now and then but other than that it drives great with no issues. When I pulled the Carfax it did report of a mileage change from 255k to 52k within a couple years but in Missouri and Illinois it is exempt from mileage requirements. Vehicle has a tough history it seems but it passed safety and emissions first try. I’ve tried reading casting numbers and serial numbers everywhere on the vehicle and I have gotten nowhere. I thought maybe it was swapped somehow with a donor truck or maybe rebuilt but it doesn’t explain the speedo being so low. Vehicle has also been in a couple accidents apparently but an airbag never deployed. Engine bay is surprisingly pretty clean and fluids seem to be kept up with. Truck bed looks like it has 300k of wear on it. I cannot for the life of me figure out any serious story of this vehicle. I probably shouldn’t be too worried if the vehicle drives good but knowing how many miles are on your ride is maybe important. I’m going to try and find a way to upload pictures of the Carfax and other reports I was able to pull. To be clear I decided to keep the vehicle after talking to person I purchased from because I do not plan on getting rid of it and by the way reports show they had no clue either!! I’d like to know how long I may be able to drive it without dumping a ton of money into it. Any advice for some peace of mind is much appreciated.

 

[Landon Boyd]

 

[ST-8]

I mean who decides to pull a carfax after you bought the vehicle? that’s not smart on your part, hard to tell what’s happened the 17 years in between when it was new an when you bought it lots of shady people out there that hide **** like this. That was the first thing I asked for when I was serious about buying my truck, just seems like common sense.

 

[Landon Boyd]

I completely agree with you. We drove 3 hours to pick the vehicle up last minute notice kind of a thing. Seller was really nice and honest about everything as far as I can tell. Truck doesn’t quiet look like it has tons of miles so it just didn’t cross our mind. I’ve pulled Carfax before every car I’ve ever bought so I guess I kinda get kicked in the throat for not doing my buyers diligence. Again still not worried about it either way. Just curious to possibly know more on the actual history

 

[Landon Boyd]

 

[ST-8]

A good friend of mine just sold his 07 with 300k miles on it an from the pics it looked in better shape than yours. Than again I live in the south where rust isn’t nearly as much of a problem.

 

[TERRY G ABNEY]

If the dash cluster was changed in truck , odometer will show mileage from truck it came out of

 

[Landon Boyd]

I was told that a dash cluster wouldnt just show up on these trucks. They are either programmed to the new truck other wise it won’t start or they are rolled back.

 

[Jason G Slabaugh]

Well looking at your carfax it says potential odometer rollback. Its possible

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I have personally swapped odometers from an SLT truck into my ST so that i could add factory keyless entry and power door locks/mirrors/windows. The milage display on the odometer is stored IN THE ODOMETER ITSELF. My truck had 150k miles, the donor truck had 154k miles. Once the cluster was in my truck, it read 154k miles.

It is possible (and very illegal) to swap the cluster from a low milage truck with the same options directly into a high milage vehicle in an attempt to scam a buyer. Again, VERY ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL.

I have been told that our trucks do also record milage in other modules in the truck, so although the odometer may say 98k, its possible your PCM/ECM/TCM etc will still hold the true milage count. Not sure if there is any truth to that though. It might require a dealer scan tool to read too.

 

[TERRY G ABNEY]

I have personally swapped odometers from an SLT truck into my ST so that i could add factory keyless entry and power door locks/mirrors/windows. The milage display on the odometer is stored IN THE ODOMETER ITSELF. My truck had 150k miles, the donor truck had 154k miles. Once the cluster was in my truck, it read 154k miles.

It is possible (and very illegal) to swap the cluster from a low milage truck with the same options directly into a high milage vehicle in an attempt to scam a buyer. Again, VERY ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL.

I have been told that our trucks do also record milage in other modules in the truck, so although the odometer may say 98k, its possible your PCM/ECM/TCM etc will still hold the true milage count. Not sure if there is any truth to that though. It might require a dealer scan tool to read too.

The mileage is held in the cluster of most automobiles these days , I dont think the ecm is capable of storage for mileage , or at least I never ran across that , but yes the cluster holds mileage within the cluster , built in memory of the cluster, as cluster now has stored codes with doing cluster test , most automobiles since the early 2000's has build in memory of the cluster for speedo an all gauges , no more cables all electrical an computerized,,dash swaps should be represented when car sales but to many nefarious individuates will take advantage , I prefer when the car or truck was pre computer lol

 

[Landon Boyd]

So found out some info today!
I called the Department Of Revenue and they were able to give some details but not a ton. They included that back about 4 owners ago there was a note from a inspection that the odometer was not working but the last Carfax record stated that the last reported ODO reading with 254K. They said to fill out a request for Vehicle records that costs about $5 and they would send everything they have pretty much to me and I will take about 1-3 business days. Talked to a local dealer and the dealer said to bring it up and they would scan the PCM for the mileage with their WiTech tool to find out more info. We are hoping maybe it’s the original PCM to get more info. Also I went ahead and peeled away at the dash and pulled the cluster and it defiantly seems as if somebody had been in there. At this point I have 100% accepted that this isn’t the mileage on the car but I am trying to find out if the motor has been swapped as well. Everything is pretty clean on the motor and it runs really good with no issues and no lights. Defiantly some wear in there though. The transmission didn’t seem to be in as good of shape as in I found a couple identifications of an older transmission. This thing has drove me crazy knowing all of the history but people need to know if the have 90k or over 300k on what they are driving on the daily. Do your research!!! Even if there isn’t symptoms of tampering there is always a chance!

 

[Logan Klein]

I’m brand new to the group so hopefully I get all this right.
Recently I purchased a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7 with 98,000 Miles. The truck had quiet a bit wear and tear but not awful by any means. Just a rip in the seat, cracked dash, blower motor resistor. exhaust leak, airbag light, different color hood and some rust on the back wheel wells. After owning it for a bit I started wondering whether or not the mileage was true. Pulled Carfax and last reported mileage was 255,000 miles almost 7 years ago!! which blew my mind because the truck does not run like it has a ton of miles on it at all. It maybe shifts a little slow every now and then but other than that it drives great with no issues. When I pulled the Carfax it did report of a mileage change from 255k to 52k within a couple years but in Missouri and Illinois it is exempt from mileage requirements. Vehicle has a tough history it seems but it passed safety and emissions first try. I’ve tried reading casting numbers and serial numbers everywhere on the vehicle and I have gotten nowhere. I thought maybe it was swapped somehow with a donor truck or maybe rebuilt but it doesn’t explain the speedo being so low. Vehicle has also been in a couple accidents apparently but an airbag never deployed. Engine bay is surprisingly pretty clean and fluids seem to be kept up with. Truck bed looks like it has 300k of wear on it. I cannot for the life of me figure out any serious story of this vehicle. I probably shouldn’t be too worried if the vehicle drives good but knowing how many miles are on your ride is maybe important. I’m going to try and find a way to upload pictures of the Carfax and other reports I was able to pull. To be clear I decided to keep the vehicle after talking to person I purchased from because I do not plan on getting rid of it and by the way reports show they had no clue either!! I’d like to know how long I may be able to drive it without dumping a ton of money into it. Any advice for some peace of mind is much appreciated.

To save you a fortune, do as many repairs as possible yourself. The 3rd gens are very easy to work on. Change simple things, such as thermostats, sensors, spark plugs, ignition coils, and watch closely for signs of seepage either from cooling system (usually water pump) or power steering. you could also have an oil analysis done from a sample of the engine oil. This can tell you a lot, such as the wear on the engine, how well maint. was kept up with, and from there you can determine whether or not the truck is worth keeping. Front end parts go bad occasionally, but thankfully replacing pretty much anything in the front end is easy. Parts are also easily available and inexpensive. Another pointer - don't put s#&t parts on your truck. Buy from quality brands, sure you spend a bit more but chances are once you install quality parts, you'll never have to replace the same part twice. For the exterior, you can go to your local pull-apart and find a bed that's a similar color for not too much money. Hoods are more of a rarity, the demand for hoods in good condition is high and a lot of the time these trucks are wrecked in the front end. For the cracked dash, you can get a glue-on ABS dash cover. It will make it look much better than a busted Dodge dash. To maybe explain the low odometer, maybe the gauge cluster went out at some point and was swapped with one from a totaled truck. The 3rd gens were recalled in the past for problems with their airbag systems. It's possible your truck never made it to the dealership to have the airbag system repaired. I'm not sure exactly what part causes the airbag light. Maybe it's just a sensor, who knows. You'll need an OBD II scan tool to find out. "Inexpensive" scanners usually can read these trucks just fine. If your A/C still works, consider yourself lucky. The A/C system on these year trucks is garbage, and sometimes they cost a fortune to repair if you don't have the tools on-hand to work on the A/C system yourself. Also blend door actuators tend to go out of alignment, so some climate zones barely work if at all. It's a nightmare to pull the dash on these trucks and air distribution plenum parts get expensive. Sometimes the A/C leaks inside the distribution box where the little radiator that cools the air sits. Leaks here are very hard to find, and also very hard to fix.

 

[madtrucker2016]

some car dealers bring their vehicles they are selling through another state and wash the title and change the mileage and then bring it back to their state and sell it PA and NY are famous for that

 

[madtrucker2016]

also check the o2 sensors I had a 04 and mine ran like crap finally changed them and truck ran beautiful