Does towing advance speedometer?

[vernz]

I just looked at a 97 escort LX wagon that is in very nice cosmetic shape but has 146000 miles on it. The current owners were told that much of the milage was racked up when the car was towed behind a RV, and therefore is not on the engine. Is this possible or is this an electronic speedometer that will not register when the car is towed? Any other areas I should be wary of with this much mileage?
Thanks, Vern

[bigrod118]

no, the speedometer/milagageometer or whater is controlled by the speed-o-meter that is connected to the transmission. so when your transmission turns its turns this gear which thells the speedomter and such how fast your going. its not when your wheels turn that you turn that gear in the transmission. the tranny has to be moving in order for that to move, and if there towing it, it would be off and in nuetral, and hence, no transmission work. those miles were put on the car.

[jabber]

I can atest to what BigRod states above. Last time I tries to get the tranny fluid changed on my manual transmission escort, 3 mechanics in a row refused to the job as the Odometer cable to the transmission was too fragile.