DAF engine identification

[DBA Forum (B) - Michael Rigg]

Hi All
My DAF does not have a series plate on the rocker cover. Large DAF on the side of the block. So how can I identify if it is a 475 or 575? I guess the engine is forty years old.

[DBA Forum (B) - Balliol Fowden]

Chris Ries is the best man to answer this but, from memory, an "A" prefix on the engine number is a 575, an "E" is a 615 and a "B" is a 475. I may have got the first two wrong or transposed but the B is definitely for 475 'cos I was looking at one today. A 615 normally has "615" cast into the block starboard side. My note book is at home and I am on my ship so I can't confirm (and my 615 has no engine number so I can't confirm the 615 prefix from there either).

The engine number is stamped on a raised face on the block casting, starboard side (normal engine orientation) behind the dip stick, between no's 3 & 4 cylinders.

Balliol.

[DBA Forum (B) - David Puttock]

Hi all DAF owners
Now I have found the engine #s, is there a way of reading the #s to find out the age & history? The #s on my Ford tractor enabled me to date the build to the month &year.I suspect my DAF maybe a recon,but it would be nice to find out.
Best regards
Dave Puttock.

[DBA Forum (B) - Balliol Fowden]

I don't know if Daf numbers are coded. As you say, some are, like Listers.

Your engine may have been reconditioned retaining its original block and engine number, but it seems common in Holland with Daf's for factory short engines to be used, in which case the engine number is normally transferred from the "donor" block, being stamped into the blank face on the new block, since the engine number really refers to the ancillaries. That is why my engine has no number, because a short engine was fitted in a hurry a few months before I bought the ship and in the hurry the donor engine number was not transferred.

So even if there is a code within the number it may not necessarily give you an acccurate indication of the actual age of the engine.

Balliol.