Odometer Tell-Tale

[phantaztix]

I'm curious, looking around the forums and searching the internet I haven't been able to find anyone who seems to know that the Pre-1994 Ford 5-digit odometers have a tell-tale for when they have rolled over 100,000 miles. On the left hand side of the 1/10ths number (white) a wear indicator scratches into the number wheel approximately .030-.050 inboard as it turns over to 100k miles. It then does it again even further inboard (all the way to the edge of the number) at 200k miles.

Just thought I would throw that out as a help for anyone looking to buy a Ford vehicle and who isn't sure of the mileage. My X has over 200k miles and I could easily fool someone into thinking it's just over 100k.

 

[iwannax]

interesting....I'm going to have to look at mine and i should see 2 score lines

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

Mine should have 2, but I only see 1... I'll look closer with a magnifying glass, maybe it's just not noticeable, but interesting though.

 

[Maniak]

Hrm, I'll have to look at mine as it rolled 3 times already. I also have one somewhere in the shed that only rolled once.


~Mark

 

[iwannax]

Yup theres a score real close to the left side of the 1/10 digits. Huh I thought that was how it was supposed to be...very nice, glad to know that!

 

[92exp4x4]

Didn't know that, gonna have to look at mine agian. I had a junk one apart just to see how it went together. I never noticed anything like that.

 

[RangerX]

Cool info, I'll have a look at mine.

 

[92exp4x4]

I looked at a spare in my parts pile, I saw no mechanism to make a scratch in the tumbler. Where did you find this info? I'd like to see where you found it and read it for myself.

The spare gauges came from a running vehicle I striped and I have another bad speedo, that I replaced in one of my Explorers. Neither had any type of a mechanism to do this. I did however, notice that on all my vehicles and my dad's, and the spares, that a wear mark from the tumbler keepers (behind the numbers) shows on the left side of each number. The white one just shows it more. But, if you really look at it you can see a mark on all of them.

Could this feature have been on some certain models? Certain years maybe? I know I have seen some late production 94s with an actual 6 digit odometer before. There is one in the junkyard near my house right now actually.

I'm not calling anyone a liar, i'm just really interested in this topic. I would love to know the actual mileage of my vehicles.

 

[ragajungle]

I'm curious, looking around the forums and searching the internet I haven't been able to find anyone who seems to know that the Pre-1994 Ford 5-digit odometers have a tell-tale for when they have rolled over 100,000 miles. On the left hand side of the 1/10ths number (white) a wear indicator scratches into the number wheel approximately .030-.050 inboard as it turns over to 100k miles. It then does it again even further inboard (all the way to the edge of the number) at 200k miles.

Just thought I would throw that out as a help for anyone looking to buy a Ford vehicle and who isn't sure of the mileage. My X has over 200k miles and I could easily fool someone into thinking it's just over 100k.

I heard that too.... I would make sense that there be SOME way of telling... I did a search on google images and nothing... hmph

 

[Malchi]

My '91 has 2 "scratches". A long one that goes all the way across, and a short one below that. Does that mean I have 327k on it, not the 127k I thought it had?

But, then when the odometer turns, the "scratches" go away for awhile.

Unless I'm seeing something else..... Anybody got any pictures of the "scratches"?

 

[Jimmyjohn69]

I'm curious, looking around the forums and searching the internet I haven't been able to find anyone who seems to know that the Pre-1994 Ford 5-digit odometers have a tell-tale for when they have rolled over 100,000 miles. On the left hand side of the 1/10ths number (white) a wear indicator scratches into the number wheel approximately .030-.050 inboard as it turns over to 100k miles. It then does it again even further inboard (all the way to the edge of the number) at 200k miles.

Just thought I would throw that out as a help for anyone looking to buy a Ford vehicle and who isn't sure of the mileage. My X has over 200k miles and I could easily fool someone into thinking it's just over 100k.

I’m assuming my Ranger has 135k Miles from the carfax but wanted to post an example. From my understanding the odo has rolled over once and the 2nd time it rolls over it will be all the way up to the number 9. If anyone has a 200k+ odo that could confirm on deny that would be sweet. I know this forum is old but still relevant.

 

[TallestDutchman]

I'm curious, looking around the forums and searching the internet I haven't been able to find anyone who seems to know that the Pre-1994 Ford 5-digit odometers have a tell-tale for when they have rolled over 100,000 miles. On the left hand side of the 1/10ths number (white) a wear indicator scratches into the number wheel approximately .030-.050 inboard as it turns over to 100k miles. It then does it again even further inboard (all the way to the edge of the number) at 200k miles.

Just thought I would throw that out as a help for anyone looking to buy a Ford vehicle and who isn't sure of the mileage. My X has over 200k miles and I could easily fool someone into thinking it's just over 100k.

This is fascinating. I had no idea. Looks like mine has only rolled over once.

EDIT- I didn't read far enough down to see the blown-up picture with the scratch on it. Replaced the picture.

Second Edit - I went and looked at the odometer on my 1990 F150 Lariat and found the same scratch. Looks like it carries over to other models.

 

[92exp4x4]

This is fascinating. I had no idea. Looks like mine has only rolled over once.

EDIT- I didn't read far enough down to see the blown-up picture with the scratch on it. Replaced the picture.

Second Edit - I went and looked at the odometer on my 1990 F150 Lariat and found the same scratch. Looks like it carries over to other models.

View attachment 340631

I've had several of these speedometers apart. There is no mechanism to scratch the tumbler. I believe it's a wear mark from the gear that drives it from the back side, just the same as all the other digits. The tenths digit moves a lot more than the others, (10 times for each mile) so it will display marks. If ford cared about making the gauge read over 100,000 they would have just had the digit for it, which they eventually added.

Unfortunately there is no surefire way to verify the mileage of these vehicles. The 5 digit odometer is a holdover from a time when cars just didn't last past 100K miles and were cheap enough to be replaced every few years. My model A has a 4 digit odometer. In the 50s and 60s there was the idea of "planned obsolescence". Even body styles would last one or two model years before being updated. Non overdrive transmissions, crappy oils and poor maintenance ruined engines before 80k miles. People just replaced the car. Now cars last so much longer and are significantly more expensive overall, so people tend to keep cars longer and drive them much further. Also, there is little to no maintenance other than fluid changes. There is a need to display more miles because of the expectation of newer cars to last longer. Also it used to be that miles was a way to keep track of maintenance, now it's how we value used vehicles. 'High mileage = ****' to most people.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I agree it’s nothing but coincidence. Why add a secretive way to tell the mileage that would need a separate mechanism to accomplish what adding an extra digit would do, and do entirely better than some silly scratching?

 

[92exp4x4]

Also, these odometers are extremely easy to set. I replaced the speedo in one of my 2 doors. In about a half hour, I was able take the thing apart and set the tumblers to the exact mileage of my truck and put it all back together. It's a very simple mechanism.

 

[wankel1308]

287,000 on mine. The tenths digit appears identical to the posted photos.