Camry Broken Instrument Cluster

[Carebear]

Hello... I am thinking of buying this second hand 2004 Camry and the only problem is the gauge cluster is not working. It lights up naman but the needles aren't moving. Does that mean that the odometer is not functioning too and the current mileage is what it was before it broke? Also, after test driving the car, I noticed that maluwag yun shifter, parang hindi shoot yun shifter when i put on drive.
What could be the possible causes of this? Mabilis ba talaga masira yun gauge cluster? according to the seller, the car is hardly used. How do i know if the car has been tampered with? Thanks.

[ghosthunter]

If the needles aren't moving, chances are the odometer isn't functioning as well. Since you gave it a test drive, you should have given notice if the odometer changed or not.

I would rather buy a FULLY FUNCTIONING car with nothing to fix than try to fix something the current owner doesn't or can't fix. There is a reason, usually cost or hard to find part. (In this case, I think it's cost).

Given that, you should be wary of the other things the current owner didn't bother to fix as well.

[Carebear]

Thanks GhostHunter.

The seller will be shouldering the costs for all the repairs naman, so I'm still thinking about it.

Does anyone know a mechanic or toyota technician na marunong tumingin if nadaya na yun odometer? coz i actually saw a couple of Camrys with tampered odometer when I checked the actual service records from toyota, but if not maintained sa casa, there's no way for me to check.

[bratski]

i suggest you stay away from that camry, a broken gauge cluster is not that common, and probably that car has seen better days, maybe the owner disconnected the cluster some time ago and forgot to connect it when it came time to sell.

[ale828]

Broken Instrument cluster may be a sign that the odometer has been tampered.
this is how they change the odometer reading on new digital odometers. they remove the whole instrument cluster and fix it via computer. Now the problem is most of these instrument are vacuum sealed so that they won't get tampered and a malfunctioning instrument cluster may be a sign that it has been changed.