John Deere, like other engine manufacturers, uses its unique terminology and arrangements, to mark its products, and to assign part numbers. Understanding this marking categorization and system is crucial to part number identification, which is then used to select rebuild kits, components, and maintenance parts.
A typical engine serial number looks like TO4045T123456. To better understand this number, it will be split into several parts. The first segment is the two initial letters “TO.” These two initial letters indicates two things:- one, which country was it manufactured in, and secondly, if it is Powertech or non-Powertech.
All John Deere engines manufactured in Dubuque, Iowa, USA, are preceded by the letters “TO,” all engines preceded by “CD” are manufactured in Saran, a factory located in the Loiret area of France, and all engines manufactured in Torreon, Mexico, are preceded by the letters “PE.”
The next set of numbers in the John Deere engine serial number are four (4) or (5) numbers and letters. In our example, this refers to “4045T.” This can be further sub-divided into the “4045” and the “T”. The 4045 indicated that this is 4045 model. The initial “4” indicates that its build with four (4) cylinders. The “T’ that’s comes after the engine model number tells that the engine has a turbocharger attached onto it, and thus this is a turbocharged engine. This factor is significant as turbocharged engines are designed differently from non-turbocharged engines. Most importantly, parts may not be interchanged between these two kinds of engines.
The last set of six (6) numbers is the sequential number of the engines as it comes off the assembly line. If this number is 123456, then the next serial number of the next engine on the same assembly line will be 123457. This will continue until John Deere decides its time to upgrade or to build another model.
There are many variations of the above serial number. The model 4045T can be marked 4045D. Here the “D” symbolizes that the engine is a diesel engine (some early John Deere’s were manufactured to operate on gas), and that’s it’s naturally aspirated, i.e., it’s not turbocharged. Thus, this serial number could have been TO4045D123456 and this would have been totally different from the TO4045T123456.
The 4045 in serial numbers can also be 3152, 3164, 3179, 3029, 4202, 4219, 4239, 4039, 4276, 6303, 6329, 6059, 6414, 6068, 6414, 4270, 6404, 6466, or 6076. They can be followed by a “D”, a “T” or a “H.”
The issue of how to identify which engines are PowerTech and which are not non-PowerTech often arises. This can be solved by further dissecting the John Deere serial number.
For the engines made in Dubuque, Iowa, USA,(TO Engines) all engines with a sequence number more than 700,000 are all Powertech engines.
For the engines made in Sarran, France,(CD engines) all engines with sequence serial number more than 500,000 are all Powertech engines.
On the contrary, however,, all John Deere engines made in Torreon, Mexico, (PE engines) are PowerTech engines. This sequence serial number began with one thousand (1000). Thus, all PE PowerTech engines will have a sequence serial number of one thousand (1000) and up.