I got scammed 2004 SR5

Hey guys, first post today. I came over from the tundra forums as I have a first gen tundra too. Long story short I bought what I thought was a 2004 SR5 v8 with 140k miles today. When I got the truck home I looked on the Toyota site to see what maintenance had been done and found out the guy I bought it from rolled the miles back! It says it has 254k!

 

Sorry to hear man. A buddy got scammed the same way buying a Sequoia. Unfortunately it’s becoming more commonplace now.

 

that’s the plan. It’s such a crazy situation I never thought anyone even did rollbacks anymore on the odometer. Could be worse but I don’t think the timing belts ever been done so it’s definitely on borrowed time there.

 

I have a good Toyota master tech buddy who owns his own shop down here. It’s going to him next week and I’ll have him see if he can find anything out.

 

How many miles on the Tundra? My buddy had one that he sold recently with 480K and still going strong.

Your 4Runner still looks awesome. Go give it the mechanical love it needs and hope for the best.

 

Wait, if the title is clean then it should have the guys real name on it. Right?

At least the truck is clean, he just lied about it having 100k less miles. Do the maintenance that others have suggest and you'll be okay.

 

the tundra has 160k on it. Its my baby

 

That's what I thought. A lot of dealerships do this, or car flippers. I watched a video on YouTube last week about "how not to get scammed" and they mentioned the title-not the persons name selling it.

 

I wish I saw that! He was a really nice guy too and had all these stories about the car and using it to take his kids to stuff. And he even said he hates selling anything on marketplace because of scammers. What a beauty. I just want to know how he rolled the miles back. I’m assuming it’s not easy I never would have thought people still did that

 

He probably bought a gauge cluster from a junk yard. He found a 4th Gen 4Runner with a lot less miles and pulled the cluster. You can also buy them online. But HONEST people either fix the mileage or make a notation in the CarFax/Title stating the odometer was replaced.

 

im assuming the odometer was rolled back because when I got home I registered the vin on the Toyota website to check the service history. I should have done it sooner that’s on me but my wife really liked the car. The service history has oil changes all the way up to 254k miles and the gauge reads 140,540

 

I have to assume it was him. The lady who’s name is on the title is a 60 yr old pharmacist who bought it from a Lexus dealer in 2012

 

with all respect it annoys the crap when people call the 2uz the million mile motor yes it did reach a million miles but ironically the few that reached a million will probably be the only ones because they drove those almost non stop on the freeway in a short amount of time. 99.9 percent of folks with the 2uz would take over 20 or 30 years or never even get that high and all that stop and go and cold starts wreak havoc on an engine even a 2uz so a 2uz or any normally driven petrol engine most likely never make a million miles even if the owner(s) actually tried to drive it for that long

 

yea I was really surprised it’s only been between two dealerships here in Houston and the oil was done every 5k at Toyota. The only thing I didn’t see was the damn timing belt but I’ll do that.

 

Sorry you got scammed, but the wagon looks great!

Btw, welcome to the site

 

I don’t know man, but looking at these photos, I’m pretty sure the seller is the one who got scammed here. I’d figure out how to roll the odometer back to the right mileage, and enjoy this mfer truck.

 

You know after sleeping on it it really is a great truck. The back brakes were f’ed but I spent 3 hrs replacing them and a bad caliper and it rides and runs so smooth and great. No rattles or squeaks or clunks

 

The only thing stopping the truck was the piston against the rotor In the rear passenger side

 

And a few interior shots. It’s really a nice car I won’t worry about the miles.

 

thanks!

 

Welcome!
The pictures look quite good. I think you will come out alright.

 

I guess I didn’t mention it but I paid $6400 for it.

 

It's a very common practice rolling the mileage back on vehicles that goes to auction, I know that's not the case here..but I read several years ago that it's very easy now compared to days of old to do this, before everything being electronic to roll back the mileage you had to do it mechanically by attaching a drill to the odometer cable down at the transmission and run the drill in reverse until you reach the desired rolled back mileage which can take hours, with modern vehicles it can easily be done in just a few minutes with a computer and even a smartphone app which is what most people who buy used and flip vehicles via an auction do!!

 

Sounds like it’s a lot better then a lot of the 4Runners others have bought and that mileage is nothing price seems good after you get the needed items fixed you have a great truck.

 

Sorry you got scammed like that but it is a great car and looks super clean.

 

Thanks guys. I fixed the brakes and it’s super smooth and runs great

 

$6500 is a steal. Dude didn’t know what he was defrauding you with. Talk about instant karma.

 

Haha im not as mad now lol

 

plenty of videos show how to do it, what tools to use, and on newer vs older.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_yP9rOKgxU

 

I bought my 2004 Limited v8 with 237k from my parents for $6k and got the 'family discount'. I think you walked away just fine even with the scam. I wouldn't sweat it or be worrying about it.