Hey all! Just bought a 2014 GS350 F-Sport. After bringing it home I realized the odometer wasn't recording mileage. When looking at the odometer driving it'll go up to 103,016 then back down to 100,015 and repeats. When I put it on Trip it goes up to 0.4 then resets back to 0 and so on.

I looked at both Carfax and Autocheck and the mileage all the way from the original owner matches up perfectly, so I'm 100% sure the odometer wasn't tampered with. This issue may have happened very recently, the small independent dealer where I bought it most likely overlooked it as well. I took it to a well known independent Toyota/Lexus mechanic near me on Saturday and they told me that the "Odometer is failing. Common issue. Known as a glitch". I believe they contacted an odometer shop and they said to "reset the cluster memory and if that didn't work to remove the cluster to replace the on board ram memory". So they reset the cluster memory and it still wouldn't record mileage, so they then quoted me $650 to remove and repair it.

This is like so odd to me, didn't know modern odometers/clusters could fail this early, especially in a Toyota/Lexus product. I've done my research and I haven't came across any threads or posts about this happening to anyone else. What an oversight by me, I swear I checked everything on the car before buying it lmao. The car runs perfect just needs to get this issue fixed. Would appreciate any tips or info on how I should proceed.

 

Interesting, I'm sure it's happened but I have never heard of this with any Lexus before. I'm guessing the shops know what they are talking about, but normally of cars of late its a speed sending unit at the wheels that have things like this occur. It will be interesting to see what shows on a correct fixed odometer digital read when this is resolved, because I have heard that the Odometer mileage is still held in the ECU to send accurate readouts. If was me I would stop by a Lexus or Toyota Dealer too inquire if they have any info or experience with this before I proceed with a $650 fix.

I would be leary that it did not have more than the 103k miles actually when corrected. Did you get a Odometer statement of accuracy from the Dealer you bought it from? Please let us know what happens with this.

 

I would investigate fraud more carefully. How this happened exactly at the time the car was offered for sale? Original Seller, auction, used car dealer, someone might tried unsuccessfully to tamper the odometer and now it is stuck in a loop. Why the seller did not disclose this? What are the chances of the odometer failing exactly the time the vehicle was changing owners?

 

Thanks for your response.

When doing some research I thought it was a speed sensor as well and told the independent mechanic that. They diagnosed and said it's an issue with the ram/memory in the cluster. I really hope the correct the mileage is stored in the ECU.

According to Carfax & Autocheck, 2nd owner traded the car into a Dealership November 2020 with 101,092 miles. From there I think the Dealer sent the car to auction, and that's where the independent dealer I bought it from got it. Between November 2020 - November 2021 no activity was recorded on Carfax, I don't know where the car was or what it was doing. Then it was listed for sale in November 2021 (few weeks ago) with 103,016. I'll attach screenshots of both the Carfax and Autocheck. Didn't get a statement of accuracy.

I'll take the car to Lexus tomorrow and let them have a look at it. Hoping I didn't goof on this purchase, the car runs great.

 

Great points. The fact that the odometer isn't working correctly however makes me believe that it isn't fraud and that it actually failed (Does that make sense?) I've attached screenshots of Carfax and Autocheck in my other reply. Don't know why the independent dealer didn't disclose it, maybe they missed? Not sure, hoping for the best. Will take it to Lexus tomorrow to have it looked at.

 

From what you say sound like the car is in ok condition not to worry about that. Also I could see a Dealers missing this with so many different cars for sale. Again likely best you check the Lexus history also if any? Let them see what they think before anything else. I think they can hook up to the ECU and get a read on the Odometer also.

You may not ever be able to find out exactly who, what, when where or why? It could just very well be a car malfunction itself without any tamper..... or not? You check to see if the Law there requires the Dealer to give you a Odometer Disclosure Statement?

Personally if it were me, I would want to see what Lexus can tell me on a ECU read or any other, like a Inspection, 1st before going any other step. Depending on what you paid for it you might have a good car. After I knew what was what then I would go the next step in speaking with the Dealer you got it from. In this time of limited cars and high prices, the Dealer may just want to take it back and give your money back maybe? Also worried about legal action if something is wrong here Dealer car sale wise. Think about what's your next step or objective is after you get the info from Lexus. Until then anybody can guess away and that is a waste of time.

 

The Carfax report appears ok and I am sure the car is a nice vehicle. However, playing the devil’s advocate I would think a less likely scenario. The car drives perfect and the dealer liked it so much that drove it personally for a year. Why he did not sell it immediately in a heated market like this and took one year? Maybe he put 20k or more miles and as a car person tried to hide these miles to keep a high resale value. Definitely a felony but for $3-4 it is tempting for a low ethics used car dealer.

 

Definitely sounds like fraud and instrument panel has been tempered with.

Use Techstream to read the ODO directly from the ECU and see what that number says.

The engine ECU is independent to the instrument panel.

And no, doesn’t cost thousands. It’s a 2 minute job.

 

Called odometer shop this morning and explained situation, they said bring it in. Asked them if i should take it to Lexus first and they said that the dealer would probably quote me thousands and then probably outsource the work to them anyway.

Will report back with update. Thanks guys.

 

Go drive the car for 900,000 miles and list it for sale on craiglist.

Nice 2014 GS. Only 100K miles, good condition, no accident. Low miles!

Don't! lol

 

I've never heard of any odometer malfunction with the 4GS - i think you are doing the right thing to get it looked at thoroughly as echoed by other posters.

Even if the independent dealer that sold you the car did not tamper with it, someone else may have tried to "fix" something that created a problem that somehow went unnoticed. Really interested in hearing what the Lexus dealerships might say vs the odometer shop...

 

I don't think the dealer I bought it from had it for a year. The Autocheck report showed that the 2nd owner traded the car into a Toyota Dealer November 2020, that Toyota Dealer then sent the car to auction. I don't know how long the car was in auction or when the independent dealer i bought it from got it, I just know that they listed it for sale a couple weeks ago. The car could have been at auction for months for all I know. I don't think "heated market" applies to GS350's, people are buying the IS and ES, not the GS. If you look at the market right now the IS is selling for way more than same model year GS's, it makes no sense lol, this is why Lexus discontinued the car, it's a very particular crowd that wants it.

Either way, I had the car looked over by one of the best mechanics in my area after buying and he told me the car is really clean and runs great. Only thing he found was that the oil pan was cracked and jb welded, but it's not leaking so he said it's fine. I paid $20,000 for the car. It's a fully loaded F-Sport, I think the only options missing are Power Trunk and The Dynamic Handling Package.

Hoping the odometer shop can pull the mileage off the ECU. As long as it's under 105K~ I won't care for the most part. I don't think the car has been driven a lot the past year between auction and the independent dealer. If he does find that it's been tampered with I'll know that it was done while in the independent dealer's (where I bought it from) hands.

 

Thanks for the info, will talk to the odometer shop about Techstream and the ECU. May have to take it to Lexus.

 

I would not take it to the Guy the Dealer wants you to take it to if I understand correctly. I would also call that Toyota dealer that had it and ask about what they found, did, and the mileage? I think the best thing you could do is take it to Lexus or another Toyota Dealer, other than the one that had it to get a straight answer and info about the odometer.

Again all that Dealer had, Dealer did, I think is a waste of time till you take it to get the actual out of the ECU. You also got a great price on it, well depending on the mileage being within no more that 25-30k more IMO.

 

Hey guys! Update: Issue is resolved now!

I'll try to keep this short. When I was looking at the car before buying it I noticed the battery was bad since the car was slow to crank, I didn't care since I could just replace it. I thought the issue was with the connectors at first so I took the car to a mechanic on Monday and he let me know that the actual positive terminal post on the battery was broken, changed the battery that night and the slow crank issue was gone.

Next: Called the independent dealer where I bought it from on Tuesday and told them about the odometer issue, one of the guys mentioned to me how a few weeks ago as they were getting ready to sell it one of the guys tried jumping the car (keep in mind the battery was bad) and the entire car died and that may have something to do with it. They were eventually able to get the battery charged again but never noticed an issue with the odometer. So basically, by jumping that bad battery it caused some type of short in the electrical system/ecu and messed up the memory in the odometer. That day I also asked the independent dealer and called up the Toyota dealer that had the car last November about the history of the car. The Toyota dealer got it on a trade in from the 2nd owner (November 2020), the car had around 101,000 miles then. They had it on their lot for awhile, it didn't sell so they sent it to auction, the independent dealer bought it from auction (January). Here's where the story gets funny lmao - after getting it from auction they ended up selling the car to to someone, that person never payed the first payment (So they never transferred the title and this owner wasn't reported on the Carfax) and that person ended up getting deported, they repossessed the car and got it back a few months ago I believe in September. The owner of the independent dealer was thinking about keeping it then decided to list it in November, by this time the car had around 103,000. Only being driven 2000~ miles in around 7 months makes sense because for the most part it was being hidden from repossession, lmao.

So in conclusion the odometer was never tampered with, jumping a bad battery that was in the car made the car die and crashed the ECU/Odometer. The odometer shop was able to fix this by taking apart the cluster and replacing the "IPC". They tried pulling the exact mileage off the ECU but said they couldn't as everything ran through the cluster and it all crashed, so they weren't even able to set it back to the exact mileage I had before so they set it at 103,800, just a few hundred off, more than the car actually has probably. Got the car back today and it's now recording miles and the trip works as well. Guy at the odometer shop said he was also able to look at the history of the ECU to see if it was tampered with and if codes had been erased/cleared and he said it wasn't. He also says the car is extremely clean and I shouldn't be worried - other mechanic told me this as well. All in total it cost $280 to fix, independent dealer is going to pay for it.

2014 GS350 F Sport RWD with 103,000 for $20,000? I think I got a great deal. Car runs and drives like a dream.

Happy to have the car back and the issue fixed. Thank you for your guys help! Happy to be apart of the GS family now (: