Manufacturing Date - Physically Printed on the Van

oneadVANture

oneadVANture

Member
Hello All! After 7 years of ownership and three states with successful registrations and titles (CA included!) - my 4th state is giving me trouble. Colorado requires a VIN Verification before going to the DMV. This is where a person looks at your vehicle and fills out a form so the DMV clerk "knows" your vehicle is real and doesn't have to go outside to look at it; since someone else already did. Anyway, on this form the vehicle year is required. I was told it can't come from any paperwork (the whole point is catch people with sketchy paperwork), it has to be something on the vehicle with a date of manufacture. Normally they just use the VIN for the year.

Who knows if what I have been told is correct, but figured a discussion on this might be helpful for other purposes too! Does anyone know of locations on the van that have a manufactured date. According to the internet, windows/glass often do, along with the gas struts for hood (ha!) and trunks. It doesn't appear my trunk gas struts have a date on them. My glass might, but from what I have read all glass manufactures will often hide the date via a code. Mine appear to be manufactured by Asahi - but I can't find an online resource that decodes their "bug". Any castings or other components that have a date on them?
 
oneadVANture said:
Hello All! After 7 years of ownership and three states with successful registrations and titles (CA included!) - my 4th state is giving me trouble. Colorado requires a VIN Verification before going to the DMV. This is where a person looks at your vehicle and fills out a form so the DMV clerk "knows" your vehicle is real and doesn't have to go outside to look at it; since someone else already did. Anyway, on this form the vehicle year is required. I was told it can't come from any paperwork (the whole point is catch people with sketchy paperwork), it has to be something on the vehicle with a date of manufacture. Normally they just use the VIN for the year.

Who knows if what I have been told is correct, but figured a discussion on this might be helpful for other purposes too! Does anyone know of locations on the van that have a manufactured date. According to the internet, windows/glass often do, along with the gas struts for hood (ha!) and trunks. It doesn't appear my trunk gas struts have a date on them. My glass might, but from what I have read all glass manufactures will often hide the date via a code. Mine appear to be manufactured by Asahi - but I can't find an online resource that decodes their "bug". Any castings or other components that have a date on them?
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When I was tidying up some solar and auxiliary battery wiring last summer, I happened upon the year/month of manufacturing (June 1990 for my Delica Exceed) on one of the original components! Though I guess it’s really the manufacturing date for that particular component, but maybe it’d work for the DMV? Mine is definitely a 1990.

Behind the passenger seat, the lower center pillar plastic has this imprinted on the inside (on mine, anyway; holes here made by prior owner):

IMG_5211.jpeg

This is how that panel looks when seated:

IMG_2295.jpeg
 
I don't have a direct answer for you, but I see you've posted in a couple other Colorado-related threads, some of which do mention getting VIN verifications at specific VIN verification services, so maybe going to one of those specific places will simplify the process, since they've done it before.

However, if you enter your frame/chassis number at the link below, (it looks something like P35W-xxxxxxx and will be on the metal ID plate directly below the driver's seat in the door well, behind a carpet panel and on a plate next to the driver's seat under a removable plastic cover.)

Enter chassis # here:

https://mitsubishi.epc-data.com/

At the top of the page it will spit out the manufacture date for your specific van, which is obviously not physically on the van, but maybe you could use the info to satisfy the state requirements.
 
deskinthewoods said:
Could you show the guy what comes up when you put your chassis number into here : https://mitsubishi.epc-data.com/ ?
It gives you :

View attachment 26561
(not my frame number)

You could do it from your phone...? Like, right in front of them...?
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Ha! Beat me to it as I was writing my response!

One question I have is the format of that date. In your example, is the '10' the month or the day?

Mine is a 93 with 1993.11.1 which I assume means November 1st, but there were a few changes in engine specifics (like water cooled turbo and differences in the head) around the middle of 1993, so for 93 models, it's important to know the difference in the specific month of manufacture.
 
Sputnik said:
Ha! Beat me to it as I was writing my response!

One question I have is the format of that date. In your example, is the '10' the month or the day?

Mine is a 93 with 1993.11.1 which I assume means November 1st, but there were a few changes in engine specifics (like water cooled turbo and differences in the head) around the middle of 1993, so for 93 models, it's important to know the difference in the specific month of manufacture.
Click to expand...
I believe the date in the EPC database is date of registration/entry into the database, and not the exact date of manufacture. Decoding the chassis number for JDM vehicles is not explained in the manuals. It is explained for export vehicles, but it doesn't conform.
 
DeliKit said:
Behind the passenger seat, the lower center pillar plastic has this imprinted on the inside (on mine, anyway; holes here made by prior owner):

View attachment 26558
Click to expand...
Good find! Can't hardly fathom why they would date a trim piece... It appears to be the installation/build date, and some worker had to manually fill in the table when installing it. Mine has the same table and a punch mark where Jan '91 would be; the date EPC has for my van is Feb '91.

IDT the dates are likely to be that close together if it was the date the part was cast (in a completely different factory/location)... and why wouldn't it just be cast into it? It would be a whole lot easier to drill a little dimple into the mold to update it. But date of installation and date of registration (Jan/Feb) makes a lot of sense as many of these vans were built to order; and date of install/build can't easily be known beforehand.
 
Great find on the trim piece. I doubt the EPC would fly given the year on my previous state’s registration and Title wasn’t enough, but I will ask! I will take a look at the trim piece tonight!

FYI it looks like the rules in CA have changed but the CHP officer I worked with did something similar; looking at components on the van for dates to verify a previous state’s paperwork. But he did it behind closed doors without me, so I don’t know what he looked at
 
Oh another great idea for folks! I have unfortunately (fortunately?) replaced the spare when I got my first set of tires since it was in pretty sore shape.
 
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