Potential Odometer Fraud?

[V8addict]

Hopefully I’m just being paranoid, but the 2008 GX I bought has 122k miles. Hard to say if it looks like it only had 122k miles or 200k. But one strange thing is the windshield wiper lever. If I pull back on it, which normally makes it squirt fluid on the windshield, it squirts it on the rear window. To get it to squirt at the windshield, I have to twist the end of the lever. Seems like this is the opposite of how it should be. And I am wondering if the PO had to take the dash apart to get to the odometer, and in doing so, reconnected some wires backwards which affected the wiper?

Is this possible?

P.S. another reason why I think it might have a lot more miles is because I changed out the tranny fluid and it was absolute tar.

 

[phishtaco]

Did you look at the Lexus records? Carfax? Autocheck? Or anything before you bought it?

 

[GrizzlyClint]

Hopefully I’m just being paranoid, but the 2008 GX I bought has 122k miles. Hard to say if it looks like it only had 122k miles or 200k. But one strange thing is the windshield wiper lever. If I pull back on it, which normally makes it squirt fluid on the windshield, it squirts it on the rear window. To get it to squirt at the windshield, I have to twist the end of the lever. Seems like this is the opposite of how it should be. And I am wondering if the PO had to take the dash apart to get to the odometer, and in doing so, reconnected some wires backwards which affected the wiper?

Is this possible?

P.S. another reason why I think it might have a lot more miles is because I changed out the tranny fluid and it was absolute tar.

I think these two are unrelated, however you can see if the instrument cluster binnacle or trim around it has any cracks or marks from being removed. Chances are if they are shady enough to swap out the cluster to get lower mileage they aren’t going to take extra care and remove these brittle plastic pieces properly. Plus you may see scuff marks if they used a screwdriver instead of a plastic panel tool on any of the dash panels.

Like @phishtaco said, check lexusdrivers.com for an in-depth history if one exists.

 

[V8addict]

Did you look at the Lexus records? Carfax? Autocheck? Or anything before you bought it?

I did check both. It checks out. Auto check shows same mileage and Lexus records stop around 97,000 or something like that. That doesn’t mean anything at all though, because the last Lexus record was years ago, so that would indicate that the car was used very lightly thereafter.
Also, auto check just doesn’t show any mileage discrepancies, that’s not to say that in between the years when mileage was reported that it wasn’t rolled back.

How would you explain the windshield spray controls working in reverse order? Pulling on the handle causes the rear window to get washed, instead of the windshield.

 

[Rednexus]

13-year old transmission fluid at 122k is probably going to look like tar in most vehicles. It was dark brown (although not burned) in my '07 at 136K when I changed it a few months ago. If the vehicle had been used for any towing or the transmission had otherwise gotten hot, it could have cooked it a bit faster as well.

 

[BlackCat]

My reservoir has 2 pumps. One for the front and one for the back. What’s more likely happened is someone has swapped the connectors, either after a collision repair or for whatever reason.

 

[V8addict]

My reservoir has 2 pumps. One for the front and one for the back. What’s more likely happened is someone has swapped the connectors, either after a collision repair or for whatever reason.

AHHA! There was a collision on the front passenger end. I can tell because the washer reservoir has some epoxy on it from the numbskull body shop that half assed the repair. Do you know where exactly those connectors are that may have been swapped?

13-year old transmission fluid at 122k is probably going to look like tar in most vehicles. It was dark brown (although not burned) in my '07 at 136K when I changed it a few months ago. If the vehicle had been used for any towing or the transmission had otherwise gotten hot, it could have cooked it a bit faster as well.

it does have a tow package so I guess towing was to have been expected. Crazy how the manual doesn’t call for a full drain and replace of tranny fluid like we do here.

 

[BlackCat]

AHHA! There was a collision on the front passenger end. I can tell because the washer reservoir has some epoxy on it from the numbskull body shop that half assed the repair. Do you know where exactly those connectors are that may have been swapped?



it does have a tow package so I guess towing was to have been expected. Crazy how the manual doesn’t call for a full drain and replace of tranny fluid like we do here.

They’re easy to spot, one is on the front of the bottle and one is on the back, both on the lower side. The only other connector on the reservoir is the level sensor.

 

[Rednexus]

If the GX is like my other cars, there are two black pump motors on the reservoir (one for the front, one for the back). I bet you can just swap the plugs.

I agree that "lifetime" transmission fluid is a insane concept. It's not easy to change on the GX either - it took around 4-5 hours with my wife helping due to the time required for the fluid to gravity-flow back into the transmission lines at the cooler. If i ever do this again I'm going to use compressed air to put new fluid back in.

 

[V8addict]

Agreed, I used one of those harbor freight hand pumps but even that took a while since I didn’t want to force it. Sheared a bolt off the tranny pan too which added a few hours to the job...

 

[BlackCat]

If the GX is like my other cars, there are two black pump motors on the reservoir (one for the front, one for the back). I bet you can just swap the plugs.

I agree that "lifetime" transmission fluid is a insane concept. It's not easy to change on the GX either - it took around 4-5 hours with my wife helping due to the time required for the fluid to gravity-flow back into the transmission lines at the cooler. If i ever do this again I'm going to use compressed air to put new fluid back in.

It’s nice having an 03- they have dipsticks.

 

[Ih8washboards]

odo fraud is unlikely, we like to joke about 122k being barely broken in, but not all miles are equal - and life spans should be measured in years/months in addition to miles.

12-13 years and 122k miles is plenty of time for lots of things to go wrong or wear out.

Any fluids that are still original are definitely a few years past their intended lifespan at this point. Regardless of mileage, after 10+ years - any original fluid should be expected to look terrible and not be expected to properly be performing its purpose.