until now ive never givin it much thought but when i bought my truck used there were painted numbers on the exhaust manifold, kinda like the way salvage yards mark there parts. i just wonder if the manifold was cracked or if the engine was replaced? anyone know how i could find out?

 

Most likely the changed the exhaust manifod. There are common problems with those. Because it is not a dodge motor I am not sure if a VIN check will tell you much more than if your engine number was put into a certain VIN range or not?

 

check the ser# on the engine block on the top of the boss of the oil cooler on the block.

 

I lost my 53 block at 17,500 miles(gotta be the record). The dealer beat my A/C condensor to death. It's not pretty,but it's working great.