Vin# Location on a 98 SOHC motor

I am in the process of purchasing another 4.0 SOHC engine to replace my old one. The place I amd getting it from has a 4.0 SOHC engine that has already been pulled out of a wrceked explorer. The seller does not know the exact year of the engine.

My question is where would the vin# or identification# be located on a 4.0 SOHC engine. If I could find this I would know for certain what year it is.

I found the vin on mine on the drvs side upper rear of the block, but it was the last several numbers of my vin, so I don't think that will tell you the year.

VIN 10th digit

The tenth digit of the 17 digit VIN indicates the year of manufacture. The identifier changed in 2001 [1998(W), 1999(X), 2000(Y)------2001(1), 2002(2), 2003(3)]

If there are at least 8 digits on the block and they are the last ones then you'll be able to determine the year.

Thanks for the help guys. I will check it out and see if i can find the numbers.

Dale is right, mine is a 98 and has "x" as the first letter.