{"id":265,"date":"2021-08-21T14:58:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T14:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorhowto.com\/?p=265"},"modified":"2021-10-30T21:01:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T21:01:15","slug":"odometer-not-accurate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorhowto.com\/odometer-not-accurate\/","title":{"rendered":"Odometer Not Accurate (3 Ways To Fix)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is very important for your odometer to shows an accurate reading because of the very fact that you may run into some trouble when you finally decide to sell your car later on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, there are laws against odometer fraud due to the very fact that the odometer and your car\u2019s mileage are very important when it comes to ascertaining the vehicle\u2019s value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens if your odometer was not accurate and how to fix?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An odometer that is not accurate will most likely still function normally but it won\u2019t be accurate in the sense that the mileage will not reflect the car\u2019s true mileage. This can be due to how you used the wrong tire size or due to how the odometer was not calibrated properly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t

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  1. What happens if your odometer was not accurate and how to fix?<\/a>
  2. How to tell if your odometer is accurate?<\/a>
  3. Why isn\u2019t my odometer accurate?<\/a>
  4. How to fix an odometer that is inaccurate?<\/a>
  5. Sources<\/a><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n
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    \"Odometer-mileage\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    If you must know, the odometer\u2019s calibration is based entirely on the size of the tires your car is using as that is how it will determine the right equation to use when calculating the total distance traveled by the vehicle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As such, it is important to make sure that your odometer is actually accurate to make sure that it is recording the proper mileage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That way, you can escape legal troubles later when you finally decide to sell your car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to tell if your odometer is accurate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    It cannot be overstated how important the odometer is to a vehicle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While this isn\u2019t an instrument that you regularly look at or use when you are using your vehicle on a regular basis, the fact is that it becomes very important when you are about to sell the car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s because the odometer is one of the things that determine the value of a used car due to how it is responsible for keeping track of the mileage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As such, one of the things that you need to make sure of is that your odometer is actually accurate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That means that it should be showing the accurate value of your car\u2019s mileage and that it isn\u2019t showing a higher or lower reading. But how in the world would you even know that your odometer is accurate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In most cases, it can be difficult to truly tell how accurate your odometer is because the odometer is the only instrument that tells your car\u2019s mileage. You can use a GPS odometer to try to see if the discrepancies between it and your odometer are not too wide.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    More on odometer data can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If the discrepancy is too wide, then that means that your vehicle\u2019s odometer might not be accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meanwhile, another way you can tell if the odometer is accurate is to drive. Find a road that isn\u2019t too busy and has road markers. Drive from one marker to another depending on how far the distance between the two markers is. Let\u2019s say the distance is one mile.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, if your odometer increases by a mile, then that means that your odometer is accurate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, if the increase is lower or more than a mile, then there is a reason for you to believe that it isn\u2019t accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why isn\u2019t my odometer accurate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When you do discover that your odometer is not accurate, the only culprit for that is due to how it isn\u2019t calibrated according to the size of your tires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It could be due to how you replaced the odometer and it wasn\u2019t calibrated to the size of your tires. Or it could be due to how you changed tire sizes without recalibrating the odometer to the new tires<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Either way, the fact of the matter is that the odometer is not accurate due to how it is wrongly calibrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, in most cases, a wrongly calibrated odometer is due to how the owner of the car changed car tire sizes without even recalibrating the odometer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Regardless of whether the tires are larger or smaller, there should be a marginal difference in how your car is keeping track of your mileage as against the actual miles traveled by the car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Naturally, larger tires will lead to greater distances traveled while smaller tires do the opposite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, if you changed to a larger tire without recalibrating your odometer, then the odometer will show a reading that is lower than the actual mileage of the vehicle. The opposite happens if you switched to smaller tires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to fix an odometer that is inaccurate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    So, if your odometer is inaccurate but is actually working normally, then the only way for you to fix the odometer is to recalibrate it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Recalibrating a mechanical odometer should be something that you can do on your own but the same cannot be said when it comes to a digital or electronic odometer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For those who want to recalibrate a mechanical odometer, do the following steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n