Hi. Does anyone know if possible to find out when a car was produced! I have a 1999 Honda Odyssey, with a RA3 chassis and lately I had the radiator worked on and the guy, very experienced, said he had seen one like mine before and that he had done a few Odysseys. Yesterday had windscreen replaced and again the stock one wouldn't fit. Our screen was about 3 inches wider and about 4 inches deeper. Again the said they had done heaps of Odysseys. One said his "partner" had one and he had a good look at ours. We have roof racks, spooler, glove-box in different place and a different sunroof. Finally our was imported from Japan 6 years ago. Any advise really appreciated. Ian
therafter1,
Mar 6, 5:03pm
I find the easy fix is buy NZ new. There is less chance of encountering wog issues like this !
therafter1,
Mar 6, 5:04pm
Well you did say any advice appreciated lol
sas777,
Mar 6, 5:53pm
Isn't there a decoder available online, where your chassis number gets entered and then it's broken down into various parts like year, model, assembly plant location etc! I was reading about this on a mercedes website, but pretty sure it said the decoder works for any make/model
Thanks, for that and I do understand. But comes down to what funds one has to purchase. NZ new cars do tend to cost more, but one does know more of it's history.
tigra,
Mar 6, 6:03pm
So #1 what was the windscreen they eventually fittedfrom (Year/Model!)
ianalice1,
Mar 6, 6:07pm
My vin #is 7A88G610706103854, I put it into that page and search for a long time, then times out with error message
Don't use the vin tag that was placed onto the car when it arrived in NZ for road use compliance.
Type in the actual VIN number that was issued by Honda Motor Co Japan.
grangies,
Mar 6, 6:36pm
7A as the first characters on a VIN is an New Zealand VIN number.
ianalice1,
Mar 6, 6:39pm
Oh, okay, that explains it. I got the Vin off Carjam. So where would I locate the Japanese VIN!
ianalice1,
Mar 6, 6:41pm
Not sure, on that, but they spent sometime measuring our one. The person they spoke to, on the phone, kept insisting it was the correct one for the chassis number.
jamielr,
Mar 6, 6:46pm
you use the chassis numbers. japanese import cars (non european) do not have vins. according to EPC(manufacturer) Data it was manufactured december 1998 ra3-103854 i think the people you used were trying to fit a ra6 windscreen/radiator. there is no problem in getting parts for most japanese imports (nz new is were you have problems. as no used japanese parts for some makes)
grangies,
Mar 6, 6:48pm
In the engine bay, stamped onto a little aluminium tag, or a sticker/tag inside one of the front doors on the body frame.
A ha, guess that explains it. built Dec 1998 and 1st registered, in Japan in Feb 1999.
ianalice1,
Mar 6, 7:57pm
Thank you, one and all. But, I guess, it doesn't explain the radiator or windscreen issue. Must be a Japanese issue and not model specific.
frytime,
Mar 6, 9:36pm
nz vin numbers don't contain o only zero's as it may cause confusion
andrewph,
Mar 6, 10:29pm
Try the chassis nubmer on the body tag.
kazbanz,
Mar 6, 11:20pm
ianalice--I suspect that being a "1999" oditty that they assumed it was actually a RA6 because 1999 was the change over year
motorboy2011,
Mar 6, 11:56pm
the seat belts have the date printed on a tag on the bottom, these are always new and not NOS within the factory
ianalice1,
Mar 7, 12:54am
True, series 2 to series 3. Seems mines got some extra stuff in it, so could be something to do with that.
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