Odometer off by 3.9% on 2003 Camry LE

[pars3683]

On my standard 2003 Camry LE, which I bought new, the odometer, and speedometer, is 3.9% high, i.e. when speedometer says 70 mph you're really doing 67.25 mph. I've confirmed this with GPS, mileage markers and following it with my truck. I called the dealer and they said if less than 6% off ALL WAS OK. Of course this means my warranty ran out 1400 miles early. Fortunately didn't have any major problems that would be solved by warranty. Tires are now worn - close to 38,000 - and odometer still off. Not a major deal, just an aggravation and does not live up to the quality I've come to expect in Toyotas I've owned since 1972. Just wondering if others have had this problem. Is this programmable, or can it be easily fixed? Thanks
Terry

[white3ch0c0late]

Well.. 3.9% is a very big difference... Toyota shouldn't have blown you off like that, but thats what stealerships do...

Your options at this point are to change your tires to a different size (use a tire calculator to see how to minimize the percentage error you've got)... or you can go have your speedometer re-timed.

[Silver Streak]

I don't know of anyone who's really measure their speedo against a GPS or another car. Pretty much the only two reasons your speedo is off is because of the wrong tire size, or because it was just calibrated wrong.

What I noticed is that the LE comes with 205/65/15 tires. However, the SE comes with P215/60R16, and the SE V6 comes with 215/55/17 up here in Canada. Here are some measurements

205/65-15 5.2in 12.7in 25.5in 80.1in 791 0.0%
215/60-16 5.1in 13.1in 26.2in 82.2in 771 2.6%
215/55-17 4.7in 13.2in 26.3in 82.7in 767 3.2%

That's a pretty big diff between the 17" and 15" rim, but does Toyota calibrate between the 3 cars? Hmmmmmmm

[t^3]

Toyota's repair manual allows the speedometer to be up to 10% higher than actual, and up to 2 mph lower than actual. I think it's so that Toyota won't be held responsible if you're caught speeding but you actually weren't speeding according to your speedometer.

Edit: Just want to add that I've confirmed that my speedometer is off too by about the same percentage by just doing the 60 mph test with freeway mileposts.

[Super Kaioken]

hmmm 2.6% too fast for the 215/60/16 or too slow?

[ASG14]

I used my GPS in my '96 Camry and i thought it was just me with this problem......

[Super Kaioken]

i wanna try mine with GPS, i'll just be going back and forth past the markers. anyway, i've always heard that less than 3% is a good tire size.