Totalcar – Magazine – Engine number or engine code? It really doesn’t matter!

The average age of the domestic car fleet is barely 16 years old. This is also problematic because, as time progresses, potential technical faults in vehicles can become more frequent and more costly.

So whoever has an older workhorse must also take into account possible engine problems. Sometimes the engine breaks down due to a lack of lubricant, sometimes the cylinder head gasket gives up the fight, and the repair is not always successful the first time. An engine overhaul is not a penny-pinching affair, but it does take time.

Even in big rural cities, the service charge of independent service centers is already below HUF 20,000, and a complete engine overhaul can take days. I’d rather not even count, the cheapness is over. But when?

In the case of a teenage car, it can easily happen that a complete engine replacement is a more favorable offer in all respects than a major general. It’s also simple math: refurbishing takes much longer than snapping in a replacement motor. And time is also money with the mechanic.

Contrary to popular belief the legislator never insisted that a car use the same engine during its entire life cyclelike what was put in on the assembly line. It is an interesting fact that in most of the EU member states they do not even deal with the engine number at all, the authorities are only interested in the engine code.

Engine code: the engine type code, which determines the type and power of the engine (for example: gasoline, 8-valve, supercharged, belt-driven, 75 hp, catalytic converter). This is not a unique identifier.

Engine number: engine code plus the serial number of the specific engine within the engine type. It shows how many of the same engines are in the row, i.e. it is a unique identifier.

The only thing that matters is that it is the same type of engine. You can, of course, fabricate something else, but we call it tuning and it requires a permit.

It is worth knowing that the domestic authorities have not been enforcing the engine number for almost a decade, there are many cars on the roads that only have the engine code on their license plates. More recently only the chassis number is visible in the pedigrees. You don’t even have to go for an original inspection after an engine change, it’s only mandatory if the chassis number changes! And these also have a practical advantage.

If the engine breaks down and it is more economical to replace the engine than to renovate it, the job of those with an engine code registration is extremely simple. They need to get a legit, identical stripped engine, get it replaced, and then they can ride off into the sunset. According to the relevant legislation, as long as the engine is of the same type, neither the registration nor the registration certificate need to be changed.

Those who have been given an engine number by the machine will have a slightly more complicated task. For a dismantled motorcycle acquired from a legal source, they must definitely keep the sales receipt, because it must be presented in the steering wheel window. There they get a new document and the stunt is done.

In case of engine number, there will also be a round here.

The reason for this is not to save money, but rather a pragmatic approach, because the disassembled engine is not a modern chicken either, so it can easily happen that it also breaks down, or that a few characters of the engine number simply fall off. The goal is therefore to not have to issue a new traffic ticket every time.

I remember a specific criminal case from when I was a young lawyer on the subject, which greatly contributed to the development of a more flexible attitude of the authorities. At that time, a teenage F Astra had a bearing failure during a vacation in Austria. The driver took him to a local mechanic, who in one afternoon fitted a dismantled engine of the same type into the family station wagon, and gave him an invoice for it. There was no mention of Motor General.

It’s not a good idea to mess with unique identifiers.

The owner wanted to sell the car years later, but it failed the origin test, and the financiers filed a criminal complaint for “misuse of a unique identification number”. This was based on the fact that the car does not have the number of engines installed at the factory. However, the court explained that

As long as the engine code engine number is not etched, polished, punched through, falsified, or removed, no irregularity can be established. Thus, there is no need to overthink the legal aspects of engine replacement, as long as the engine comes from a legal source and is of the same type, there will be no problems.

Unique identifier not fully legible…

When buying a used vehicle, be sure to check the engine identification dataif only because the entire character line can easily become a victim of rust on iron-block engines, which can cause problems at the origin inspection. Of course, there is a solution for this too: “the engine number is unreadable due to natural wear and tear, its type code has been determined.”

It is important that after reporting and documenting the engine change, do not forget to report the change to the insurance company (new traffic!), as it may be important in a later claim settlement.