Is there any way to tell if the odometer on an LR2 has been tampered with?

 

I dont think it is possible. Like the LR3, the milage is stored in several places. When installing a new cluster, for example, it will sync to what is in the system or if the cluster is used and has a higher milage, that. Basically it is pretty hard unless one wants to go with higher milage for some reason.

 

Probably no way to tell if it was hacked. It can be done on some cars, with specific programming skills and a hardware connection to the PCB for the instrument cluster. Common problem on some Hondas.

But on cars that take the higher of multiple records in different systems, it would seem impractical to get to all of them. If they really wanted to, it would be possible to build a chip with a physically irreversible counter... microscopic fuses that the chip burns out at 1,000 or maybe 10,000 mile intervals.

If in doubt maybe do a compression check, an excessively high mileage car probably won't have great numbers.

 

Reason I ask is that i am being offered an engine from a 2008 LR2 that has 20,426 miles on the odometer. The owner claims it will cost too much money to make it pass inspection so he is parting it out.


This one pegs my bullsh*t-o-meter off the scale, and I have my doubts if I should buy it.

 

BTW, for those of you who really love your LR2 and wouldn't mind blowing a lot of money, if your engine is tired and not worth repairing, you can buy a brand new one from a Volvo dealer, 0 miles, still in the crate, drop-in-replacement (or in our case, lift in, since the engine goes in from the bottom), for between $11k to about $15k.

 

Well it could look that dirty under the hood after all those years and still be low time.

Personally I'd only do it if I could do a compression check and borescope (you can get cheap scopes that connect to your phone). I think I could tell the difference between a 20K cylinder and 200K cylinder. Or maybe the car sat for ten years without being started, that would be bad too but you'd probably see corrosion inside.

Obviously you don't know if the engine is from the same car as the odometer pic, unless you can get the guy to do a video walkaround.

Of if the owner is in a smog state and has regular records of smog checks over the years, with mileage. Of if it was dealer serviced and he has those records (or can get them from the dealer). Such records would show mileage and also mileage trends over the years. Also ask for an explanation, granny drove it two miles to church every Sunday is better than sat in the barn without being started for a decade.

I bought a boat a couple years ago. In the 20-30 year old range, there's a sweet spot for hours on the (diesel) engines. You obviously don't want 10K hours, but if it only has 300 hours then it obviously spent a lot of time non-op doing water-front condo duty at some in it's life. Sweet spot is maybe 1K-3K.

For a (gasoline) car, I'd probably want 3K/year as a minimum without having concerns about too much non-op time. Apparently all the fraudsters who misrepresent the miles on worn out motors and trannys typically advertise around 60K... low enough to have plenty of life left, but high enough to sound plausible. The fact that guy is advertising 20K actually might work in his favor.

 

All that said I would actually put in a new OEM engine in my LR2, if only the cabin interior plastic had held up.

My 21 year old Acura's cabin interior is absolutely pristine, minus seat covers which was an easy fix. It wasn't even garaged.

 

I'm going to pass on that 20k engine. I'm getting bad vibes from not knowing how well it was taken care of when it was not being driven.

I can get a crate Volvo S80 engine, brand new, which is a drop-in replacement for the same engine in an LR2, starting at around $10k from a Volvo dealer. Plug-and-play including all the wiring. All the plastics in mine are in great shape. A local shop that does a lot of work on LR's estimated that it would cost $4k in labor to replace the old engine with a new one.

I can afford to do this, but I have to have the car inspected by the shop to see if there are any issues with the frame/chassis and body that would suggest I shouldn't be throwing $15k into it and should instead sell it for what i can and move on to a newer vehicle. This is a Massachusetts car, all its life, first sold in Cape Cod. When i bought it I had to vacuum out quite a bit of sand and remove children's toys and doodad's. We'll see. I already know there is a small amount of rust/rot right behind the edge of the rear pax doors.

 

Anything is possible. I am pulling parts from a D4 with only 16k verified miles on it.

 

I purchased my replacement 08 engine several years ago from an auto recycler. It had 74K miles on it and the CARFAX with matching VIN showed regular maintenance intervals and the mileage checked out. The car was condemned because it was in a crash and got hit on the side.

I got a 6-month warranty (engine only, not labor) with conditions. They would offer an extended warranty at additional cost if the mileage were under 50K, so I couldn't get that.