When I first went to look at my truck(25 years ago) I smelled coolant. It had a small leak out of one of the freeze plugs under the motor mount. I found out after I bought it they put in stop leak to keep it from leaking. I replaced all the freeze plugs on the lower block and there was also a lot of crud at the bottom. So if you have it on a stand that is the time to replace anything you might think could go bad in the future.

 

That sounds like a great idea. How did you flush the crud out of the bottom? How hard was that? Is that something I need a machine shop acid bath for or can do at home?

 

If you have a cherry picker or hoist along with an engine stand, you just need a garden hose. Pop the expansion plugs out, tilt the engine to one side and flush the hose through it. I had a big tray to keep from making a mess but it really just needs a lot of water. There WILL be sand in there from the casting process.

 

I made up some fittings so I could get my pressure washer nosel to go in there from the bottom.

 

No ****, I've got a engine stand and picker. I'll definitely have to do this. Great tip thanks y'alls!

 

Hey Y'alls,

So I'm trying to date this new 5.9 block I got on facebook. The guy who sold it to me said it was from a 1998 dodge ram but who knows. From what I can tell the closest thing to a date on it is an 95 on the passenger side on the block. Maybe I'm reading it wrong and it's a 85? Trying to make sure it's going to be compatible with my 99 ram 1500. It looks identical except for the EGR plate on the intake. What do y'alls think? If it is a 95 is that compatible since I've got my own intake and such already? Where there any differences with these 5.9s?

 

I don't think there ARE any differences in the block. They were all in the bolt on stuff. Intakes changed several times over the production run.....

I think that implies the block was cast in 95, when it actually found it's way into a truck though, that's a very good question.

 

Look on the edge of the block at the raised section next to the oil pan. There is a flat section and the VIN is usually stamped there. Some years it's a partial VIN and others it's the entire VIN. If you find the VIN, run it through the VIN decoder to see what it came in. If it was originally a crate engine like a warranty replacement, it will be blank. This will be the drivers side of the block.

 

They stopped doing that in the early 70's, It was nice you could tell what the motor came out of. The magnum blocks are the same the entire run just different casting #'s if it's a 318 or 360. Sometimes you will notice something that looks like the image below, It's a casting date (year). I would imagine the intakes had them somewhere. This is not taken from a dodge but it looks very similar. Chrysler has been doing this for years, It's not on all parts (block and heads excluded) but quite a few.

 

The VIN is still stamped on the block, I'm just not sure where. The VIN is also on major components of the car or truck like the door, hood and other parts. Salvage yards that sell late model repair parts have to note where the part came from. The engine number is no longer the VIN though. That went away in 1968 when the VIN was placed on the lower left corner of the windshield. That's so a police officer could check a car to see if it's stolen. Before that, the officer had to get a warrant to enter the vehicle.