odometer reading

[mikesantos]

How do you tell the amount of miles on these older trucks? I was noticing on my 83 truck the odometer only goes to 99,999 miles then it rolls over.  Compared to my 95 which has 6 digits and can go to 999,999 miles. 

Is there any way to tell how many times it’s rolled over and calculate the miles the engine actually has?  I’m at 60,000 some odd miles now which I found odd for a 30 year old truck. 

Thanks in advance.

[bake74]

     No way to tell if odometer has rolled over, unless P.O. is truthful.  There is no secret counter inside that tells if it has turned over.
     The shape the engine and overall truck can be a sign as to how many miles, but only a indication.  Some take really good care of their vehicles and can turn the odometer over and their trucks can look to be in better shape than someone's with originally has only 60 - 80,000 miles that has abused their truck.

[pholliday1]

Actually... and this isn't known by many people that if you own a used GM truck to included current year models you have absolutly no idea how many miles are on it, there is a way to circumvent the milage reporting on all these trucks. Unfortuneantly there are quite a few unscrupulous people in this world. Depending how motivated the criminal is they have away around most anything. Years ago they just unscrewed the adapter fom the tranny and wired it out of the way, and now there unplugging fuses and putting in on off switches. BUYER BEWARE!!!

[pholliday1]

Sorry got in a hurry forgot to hit spell check LOL

[Jason S]

Aside from obvious tampering on the odometer: if the truck hasn't been stored for years or was grandpa's truck he used to go get feed once a month; the odometer has likely turned over at least once.

If you would consider the truck to be a daily driver most of its first 15 years (1983-1998) and even if you use a really low number of 8,000 miles per year- that's 120,000 miles. Add another 15 years of very low miles (1998-2013), say 3,000 miles per year, that is another 45,000 miles.

Do you know if the engine is original?  Does it have obvious signs of having been overhauled or replaced, such as: Relatively fresh paint; painted blue or orange; paint over grease RTV squeeze out on the intake, timing cover, valve covers; do the valve covers have any decals like Goodwrench 350?

If it looks like the original engine, it could very well have 160,000 miles.

If it looks like it has been overhauled or replaced and you don't have any of the records (or even if it is the original engine), you can still find out the overall "health" of the engine by performing compression tests, leakdown tests, observing plugs for oil fouling, observing oil pressure readings, etc.

[Captkaos]

If you are trying to determine if it is 60K vs X60K, assume it has turned.  Unless you ARE the original owner, or know the original owner personally and they have documentation to back it up I doubt all of them are less...

Other thinks to look at, are the door panels worn smooth, brake pedal wear, gas pedal wear... 
My 90 Suburban has 370K on it, you would never know just looking at the motor until you realized a few looms cracked or missing...