How to tell if engine was replaced

[Lil bastard]

The majority of 98's and 99's out there have their original engines, only a percentage have been swapped.

The VIN will be no help as the engine # isn't part of it except that the 5th character denotes engine type, in your case, this will be an 'A' - 2.5 Ltr.

The engine number itself is stamped on the case and will begin with M96/20... This is stamped on the left side just above the oil sump.

A dealer can tell you, but they're often known to be stingy with a car's history. Ask the service manager to give you the engine # on file with the car, if nothing else that can tell you if the engine is a reman (pretty much a new engine) if the final digit of the engine # they have is an 'X'.

If a New engine was put in as opposed to a reman (usually only in the same model year) there will not be an 'X', they'll know if it was the original engine, but they likely won't tell you (privacy act concerns - so they'll claim).

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is to contact PCNA directly, though they'll likely want to sell you a Certificate of Authenticity ($60 last time I checked). Btw, what did you pay for your '99? (neighborhood?)