stihltech and others

[cord wood]

Hi all,,i was wondering if there is anyway of identifying the year of a stihl from the serial #? Also what does the ms as in ms460 stand for? Thanks in advanced Ray

 

[ohio hunter]

there is no way that i know of to find out the year buy the serial number.
The ms thing is initials for motor saw in german I think it is motor sage.if your saw is a ms 460 it is not very old .probaly 4 years old at the most.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

I asked Stihl directly, and they said that if the saw was registered for warranty when it was bought new, they could give me a production date.

Take care all,
Jeff

 

[Toneman]

Ohio Hunter is correct. MS stands for "MotorSäge" which is the German word for Engine Saw.

 

[Lakeside53]

You can get can get a ROUGH idea of the year of manufacture by tracking a few serial numbers in the Stihl tech data or parts lists - they identify WHEN (date) a part gets superseded and at a certain serial number. The trick is to drop the first number - this is the COUNTRY of manufacture code.

1= Germany
2 = USA
3 = Brazil
and I forget if 4 or 5 is Japan...

So a saw with a serial number like 116xxxxx is made in Germany and a later saw than a saw with a number like 214xxxxx (USA made)

Somehow the serial numbers are assigned globally such that they are unique in the last 7 digits, (maybe monthly?), but the first digit is fixed by country.

Example - an 026 rim sprocket shows as

---> X 2580973
[26.92]

This means a saw made in Germany UP to serial number 12580973 or the USA UP to 22580973 (o.k., can't have BOTH of them with the same last 7 digits!) would use this sprocket AND the change was made in the 26th manf. period (week?) in 1992...

rough, but works pretty well...

 

[mryb]

The pointer inside the circle on the bottom of the saw when translated tells the prodution date...Rick/Saw ****

 

[blackjack]

Go to the Stihl website and post a message with your serial number requesting date of production and they will email back with month and year. They did it for me three weeks ago.

 

[Fish]

To find out the real truth, just ask Glen

 

[glens]

The pointer inside the circle on the bottom of the saw when translated tells the prodution date...Rick/Saw ****

Hey Rick.

I thought such indicators typically identify when the mold/die was made, not when the parts made by them were produced.  That's as much truth, such as it is, I can add to this particular discussion.

Glen

 

[rahtreelimbs]

I have a Stihl 028 that I bought from MRYB. I just email Stihl the s# and they promptly got back with the production date. I also asked for a copy of the saw manual and received it.

 

[stihltech]

date

Since you put my name on I better answer. Yep, they're right.

 

[mryb]

Hey Rick.

I thought such indicators typically identify when the mold/die was made, not when the parts made by them were produced.  That's as much truth, such as it is, I can add to this particular discussion.

Glen

Glen,
I was just going by the discussion we had on this a few years ago on here...Rick/Saw ****

 

[Oregon_Rob]

Hey Rick.

I thought such indicators typically identify when the mold/die was made, not when the parts made by them were produced.  That's as much truth, such as it is, I can add to this particular discussion.

Glen

Pointer are the production date most of the time. They can be changed easily in the mold. Otherwise they would just stamp the mold.

 

[NevadaWalrus]

I know the clock pointers are the part production date on the Briggs Quantum Power fuel tanks because they had so much trouble with them with seam leaks that at one time Briggs wanted those numbers when doing warranty. Of course that doesn't say when the machine was assembled but it should be relatively similar. Some molded parts come from outside vendors and may be made a few months prior to unit assembly but that still gives a good ballpark time line.