gdunn
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2003
- Location
- Hillsdale, Ontario
- TDI
- Golf, 2k, Green, Auto: Jetta 2003, Black, Manual
To all,
I was under the hood this past weekend and noticed something I should've noticed a long time ago: the engine number on the TB cover is in the 100000 range. That in itself isn't such a big deal--it just means its an early engine.
The car is a German built 2000 Golf (according to the VIN). My previous (written-off) German built 1999 Golf had a higher engine number than that. That makes me wonder if the previous owner had to replace the engine and found one from an older car (thus the old number).
I did some digging around to see if I could find a better identification on the engine (afterall, the TB cover could easily have been replaced). The VIN is engraved in the top of the intake manifold and that matches the rest of the car. So if they swapped the engine, they used the intake from the original engine. Possible.
Based on the look of the engine (rusting/dirt accumulation/etc--I know those aren't great indicators of engine life, but its something) its got more age on it than my last one that I wrote off at more than twice the mileage and 1 extra year. That's why I suspect the engine may have been swapped.
Are there other places (on the head) I might find the VIN? I couldn't spot it.
This is purely for my own curiousity. The car runs great. I've changed the TB so I know when its due. When I bought the car, it came up clean on CarFax (again, that doesn't mean much).
Thanks for any thoughts.
I was under the hood this past weekend and noticed something I should've noticed a long time ago: the engine number on the TB cover is in the 100000 range. That in itself isn't such a big deal--it just means its an early engine.
The car is a German built 2000 Golf (according to the VIN). My previous (written-off) German built 1999 Golf had a higher engine number than that. That makes me wonder if the previous owner had to replace the engine and found one from an older car (thus the old number).
I did some digging around to see if I could find a better identification on the engine (afterall, the TB cover could easily have been replaced). The VIN is engraved in the top of the intake manifold and that matches the rest of the car. So if they swapped the engine, they used the intake from the original engine. Possible.
Based on the look of the engine (rusting/dirt accumulation/etc--I know those aren't great indicators of engine life, but its something) its got more age on it than my last one that I wrote off at more than twice the mileage and 1 extra year. That's why I suspect the engine may have been swapped.
Are there other places (on the head) I might find the VIN? I couldn't spot it.
This is purely for my own curiousity. The car runs great. I've changed the TB so I know when its due. When I bought the car, it came up clean on CarFax (again, that doesn't mean much).
Thanks for any thoughts.
