Thread: Defender odo - possible to change mileage?

contact JohnR, a Gold Coast Landrover Owners Club member
John runs an instrument shop
Lionel Otto Instruments in Brisbane
07 3277 3888
have a look at his website.

does connecting a drill and running it in reverse work?

Changing the reading on any odometer in Australia is an offence, even if you do not plan on selling it. You are better off getting a new one with a zero reading and logging in your handbook. You could also use the one you have and log the mileage.
As said tampering with a gauge is illegal.

Originally Posted by CraigE

Changing the reading on any odometer in Australia is an offence, even if you do not plan on selling it. You are better off getting a new one with a zero reading and logging in your handbook. You could also use the one you have and log the mileage.
As said tampering with a gauge is illegal.

I thought it was an offence to change the mileage reading of a vehicle. In this case fitting the used KPH speedo or even fitting a new zero Km speedo would also be changing the distance travelled by the vehicle. My plan is to change the speedo to the same distance (in Km) that is currently on the MPH speedo.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

I thought it was an offence to change the mileage reading of a vehicle. In this case fitting the used KPH speedo or even fitting a new kero Km speedo would also be changing the distance travelled by the vehicle. My plan is to change the speedo to the same distance (in Km) that is currently on the MPH speedo.

Just been through this. Yes, what you say is correct. If you change the speedo, you must have the correct reading transferred to the new one.

I put a NOS UK spec speedo in a friends D1 (odometer in MPH, MPH and KPH for speed). We went this option as we were offered it for nothing versus over a hundred for a used KPH one. We took it to an instrument shop with the old one reading 400,000km and they changed the new one to read 248,000mi odd. There's a declaration card to say that change has been made and is the true indication of the distance the vehicle has travelled to keep with the logbooks. Cost about $20.

you've got a couple of options depending on if the guage is an early or later type.

The early ones come apart easily enough and you simply flick the numbers over with a scribe or suitable instrument. The later models are a bit harder to open up but once youve got it the deals the same.

the lazy way is to just stick a drill onto the top half of a speedo cable and spin it up at a reasonable RPM till it flicks over to the number you want...

I am about to do similar, my County one has just packed in, at 195K, I have a Td5 one and all its associated wiring/ speed transducer, it reads 142K on the LCD odo, I will just have to make a note about the different KM's IF I ever need to 'sell' the vehicle.

JC

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

you've got a couple of options depending on if the guage is an early or later type.

...

Two problems, the KPH odo is at higher Km than the equivalent on the MPH odo, so I'd have to click over about 900,000Km to get it correct, would probably wear out at least one drill in that time and likely the speedo as well.

The other problem is that the bezel for the face is machine crimped on around the entire circumfrence so getting a scribe in seems impossible.