VAG COM Odometer verification? 98 Jetta TDI

torc_sst_873

Active member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Mason, MI
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
Going to look at a 98 Jetta today. It looks very well maintained, Southern car with no/minimal rust. The odometer is reading 92000 miles, the owner claims it wasn't recording all of the mileage, that it has somewhere around 140000, that for a while is wasn't logging miles, then it started to function normally again.

My question is, can I hook up a VAG COM to find out the actual mileage? Or at least a better idea? I don't believe the readout on the odometer has any faded digits judging off the photos I've seen.

Thanks
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
EDC15/16 mileage checker in VCDS main screen.

On that car, the odo counts up to 300k then the word 'total' goes away.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Remember, all that checker does is look in the engine controller for the mileage... if that controller has ever been changed, it won't match anyway, and they rarely land exactly the same as the odometer for whatever reason. But it is usually pretty close.



That car showed 405k in the odometer:

 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Up north here we see 'em every once in a while for sale as "ultra rare low mileage MK3". :)

Then you see the missing "total" in the odo, and the worn-out steering wheel grips and/or worn-thru seats and/or worn-down clutch/brake pedal covers and you know she's wrapped around at least once. :) :)
 

torc_sst_873

Active member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Mason, MI
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
As it turns out the VAG COM would not read the mileage, it kept getting an error message. Also, there were lots of other issues (7 codes), so I decided to pass.
 

Abacus

That helpful B4 guy
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Location
Relocated from Maine to Dewey, AZ
TDI
Only the B4V left
The Mk3 (A3/B4) cars do not have the capacity to store the mileage anywhere other than the cluster, which is easily changed. So unfortunately there is no way to tell mileage other than by getting an approximation from Carfax or like services.

I once bought a wagon (which W386 now owns) that had 9 stored codes, and all were easily repaired in a short time. Mileage also means little on these cars and it’s easy to tell whether it has high or low miles due to the overall condition.
 
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oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I was wondering about the early cars' mileage in the ECU, as I could not recall ever having looked for that in one. I knew the '96 OBD-D Passat for sure did not store it, though, as I had looked in one of those once.

But I agree, the difference from 92k miles and 392k miles should be able to be seen with some careful examination. No matter how well it was cared for, it will have some small clues here and there. A lot of it can be fixed/changed/improved/updated, but still the price should be appropriate for the true mileage or at least a significant difference observed.

If the car was nice, 392k miles wouldn't scare me in the least, but I would expect to pay less for it. The fact that the seller is obviously trying to pull something over one someone kinda sucks though.
 

Stromaluski

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2013
Location
Greenville, SC
TDI
'67 Deluxe Bus, '80 Rabbit Truck, '92 Corrado, '10 Cup Edition
The fact that the seller is obviously trying to pull something over one someone kinda sucks though.
Or a previous owner pulled one over on the seller. The seller may be have absolutely no idea that it's wrong. I know I've had a couple cars in the past that a potential buyer pointed something out to me and I had NO idea despite having owned and driven the car for a while.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I think he means changing the cluster is easy. And these cars have no CAN bus or anything, no ECUs "matched" to anything else, no immobiliser, or anything, so swapping clusters is as easy as swapping wheels.
 

My_name_is_Rob

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2012
Location
Mexico 🇲🇽
TDI
2013 A4 Quattro
Ah okay, that makes sense. I did a bit of research on resetting the mk3 clusters, but it was all well beyond my comprehension. I'm just tired of the '-----' readout. :(
 
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