What Is A Cummins EIN And How Do You Find It On Your Engine?

Cummins can trace its history back to 1919, when Clessie Cummins and William G. Irwin founded the Cummins diesel engine brand. Since then, it has churned out millions of engines, with each one being individually numbered. Knowing this number can come in handy for a variety of reasons. For example, it can help you find the right part for your engine more easily, or file a warranty claim if something goes wrong.

This ID number on Cummins engines is often called the EIN (Engine Identification Number) or ESN (Engine Serial Number). Since Cummins prefers the latter term, from here on out, we'll refer to it as the ESN. In most cases, the number consists of eight digits. To find the ESN of any particular Cummins engine, you'll need to find its dataplate. As well as the ESN, the dataplate also includes extra information such as a list of critical parts, the family of the engine, and often its horsepower output. The location of the dataplate varies between engine models, and confusingly, there can be some variation in its location even between models of the same family.

One of Cummins' most successful engine families is the ISB, which, in 6.7-liter guise, is available under the hood of trucks like the Ram Heavy Duty line and Nissan's diesel Titan. It has won plenty of fans over its time in production, and we even named it one of the best American diesel engines ever made. If any of those fans want to check their engine's ESN, they'll need to look for a dataplate that's typically either located on the engine rocker cover or on the side of the gear housing. If, for whatever reason, the dataplate isn't there, or if the number isn't legible, then the ESN can also be found at the top of the oil cooler housing.

For other engine families, the dataplate's location will differ. For the ISC and ISL families, the dataplate can be found on the top of the gear housing, while the ISX family sees the dataplate located on top of the rocker lever cover. For the ISM family, owners will need to look on the rocker housing on the side of the engine that features the fuel pump.

Various engines in the QSK family also have a dataplate on the front gear cover. It is safe to assume, however, that you probably don't have a QSK engine at home, since the engine family is reserved for only the very largest vehicles and includes variants designed for mining vehicles,  and some trains are even powered by Cummins engines from the QSK line.