Advice please

[lotuslad]

Morning all,

Despite my monicker I've decided to betray by beloved Elise and go off with a Trevor. And lo and behold I've found a beauty – a venetian blue Chimaera 4.0HC.
Only problem is it's showing 1,400 miles on the clock due to an apparent battery failure (it has the digital odometer). The seller is being perfectly honest and has explained that the car covered 48,000 before the glitch, and has told me that he tried to get TVR to put the miles back on. No luck, so he's selling it cheap.
It's a bargain but I'm nervous about the effect of the odometer reading when I come to sell the car.
Any advice?

[Mark.S]

Does the seller have the handbook with service history (showing mileage at each) and/or the receipts for any work done? I doubt it would be a problem so long as you had these to back up the story.

Might be worth getting the car to an independent for an inspection before buying as well.

[jessica]

I know it's rude to ask!!!!!!!! but i,m gonna anyhow How much is a bargain...!!!!!

[Paul V]

As has been said get the car inspected, my car has the battery gone, it’s a common fault, as long as the history shows the previous mileage there shouldn’t be a problem.
Also try the 430, 450 and 500 to see which one you prefer.

[5ltr-chim]

There are several companies around who specialise in 'Odometer correction' - might be worth getting a quote or two - Alternatively you could search for a breakers with one with similar mileage -preferably same colour face - otherwise you'll need to split the unit to swap it.

Just a couple of thoughts for making life simpler..

[ribol]

I find it hard to believe that anyone would sell a car cheap for this reason. It would be relatively easy to get the odometer set to the original reading after the battery was replaced. I have seen the odometer battery problem come up on here before so it is not unheard of.

I would have a good look at the service history and assume it had done a lot of miles from where it was last backed up. Unless you are very familiar with these cars I would get the car checked over by a proper TVR main agent before parting with your money.

Ivan

[madcop]

I would imagine that this car is over three years old. Ask to see the current and previous MOTs. The mileage will be shown on these and give you an idea of how many miles per year the previous owner/s have been doing in it.

[david010167]

I have the same odometer. The LCD is maintained by a £3 watch battery. If the battery fails, the memory is wipped and you cannot put the millage back.

BTW: If you get a TVR dealer to fit the battery it will cost £60.

[raceboy]

david010167 said:If the battery fails, the memory is wipped and you cannot put the millage back.

If we've all got the same style speedo's (which knowing TVR I doubt) the mileage can be 'adjusted' when mine failed, ie started reading from 0 on every trip I took the speedo out and sent it to ETB Instruments along with the past MOT's and service history, and for about £30 they fixed the problem and reset the mileage to an agreed figure

[mhowe7]

Mine has the same and I know it has reset in the past.

Question is how easy is it to replace the battery?
If its a watch-type battery, these can be bought very cheaply but how easy is it?
I am wondering if there is a way to change it before it gives up and looses the mileage. Perhaps keeping power to it (ignition on??) whilst changing battery??
Any ideas??

Mark

[shadowninja]

5ltr-chim said: There are several companies around who specialise in 'Odometer correction' - might be worth getting a quote or two -

you might confuse them tho by asking them to increase the value of the mileage reading

[M@H]

Hmmm.. so if you've got one of these speedo's all you need to do is drop out the watch battery every say 10,000 miles, have a quick service from a garage, bin the receipt, and get the speedo reset to just over whatever the mileage of the last maindealer stamp was..!?

Sounds easy doesnt it..

Matt.