I had a junkyard engine in my car until the engine blew recently and i have to replace it. 2 shops have independently verified that the engine is in fact a junkyard engine, due to the yellow digits scrawled on it that would identify it as such.
will i be able to track where that engine came from? or if i'm not "privvy" to that information because i'm joe-nobody, would a government group (ie: DMV etc) be able to do that?

 

Why would you want to track where an engine is from..Im curious too that question...

WheelBrokerAng

 

A junkyard engine is a junkyard engine.just that. No way are you going to be able to find out where it came from unless the seller has the knowledge.

 

Are you asking so you can buy another junkyard engine that somehow matches?

Look at the front of the block, alongside where the tranny bolts up. Theres a flat space with type & serial # stamped in, for examplelike this:
F22B1
1234567

The first line is the type of engine.
The first digit in the 2nd line indicates the model-year of the engine.
We dont really need the remaining digits of the serial #.

 

If it still has the VIN on it you could do a carfax and see the history of the car it came out of.

 

VIN tag was only required beginning about 1996 in USA. Before that, or elsewhere in the world, it may not have ever had a VIN tag.