hey guys, newb here. im thinking about buying a 2003 lancer es m5 with the 2.0 in it.

i want to pull the trigger on the deal BUT im very hesitant. the seller claims that the car has AROUND 135K on it but i cannot verify that because the odometer is flashing...all the other items on the dash work but the odometer. i did look at the title and it was showing 119k from february of this year. so if i take the chance and buy this car does anyone here have any thoughts on what it could be and the cost?

the seller claims that the odometer just started flashing within the last couple months. i do find it somewhat ironic that the title has a nice round even number. which leads me to think that it could have been broke even before february.

thoughts...

thanks in advance, hopefully a lancer owner soon.

 

Questionable odometer reading = Other hidden & questionable underlying issues with Lancer.

Move on and find one a nice old lady has been driving around.

GL

 

while i want to 100% agree what could be the issue with the odometer?

 

Well, one issue could be the cluster is truly malfunctioning and all is good! BUT I would not take that chance with my hard earned money...that's just me.

Another issue is actual miles on vehicle. He/she could have swapped out the cluster with a lower mileage vehicle, lancer could have been modified and then brought back to stock/current condition, sketchy seller (possibly)....etc...

 

alright...so the ecm or pcm would not save the miles? they are saved in the actual odometer?

 

IIRC, in evos the mileage stays with the instrument cluster, not the ecu.

Please verify this.

 

do the evo and es share the same cluster components? could it not be something as simple as a fuse or something along those lines?