This is enough for most purposes and about as good as you can get without access to the full Stihl factory records.Īt a detailed level, there was some scatter in the the serial numbers, caused either by inaccurate dating of some of the saws in the database or by Stihl not actually assigning the numbers in strict chronological order. The relationship I finally came up with actually seems precise to +/- one year. This means that predicting the manufacturing year from the serial number is possible. I built the Stihl serial lookup machine on more than 100 identification cases for Stihl chainsaws which I assembled, plotted and analyzed.Īpart from coding changes, Stihl chainsaw serial numbers increase predictably from late 1950s up to the present day (2021). These small programs incorporate majority of the open information available and give you the best guesses for the saw model as well as the manufacturing year and site that you can get without Stihl manufacturer data.

This article gives quick lookup tools for both the part and the serial numbers, which tell you the likely saw model, the manufacturing year and the manufacturing location.īelow, you find instructions on where to find the serial and part numbers on your Stihl and the two lookup tools I programmed. The Stihl saw serial number (S/N), by contrast, carries little information as such, but can be used to look the saw up in Stihl’s databases. Summary: The Stihl chainsaw part numbers (P/N) are useful in saw identification in that they indicate the saw series and narrow the saw model identity down to 1 to 6 options. These numbers actually tell a lot about your saw, and in this article, I will give you the tools to decode them. But with many Stihl saws having carried this info only on a sticker – all too often unreadable or missing – telling these essential specs is not always easy.įortunately, Stihl chainsaws carry two types of identification numbers permanently marked on the saw body: the Serial number (S/N) and the Part number (P/N). These pieces of info are critical, for example, for knowing which replacement parts are going to fit. When dealing with older Stihl chainsaws, you often need to find out the saw manufacturing year and model number (i.e.

Stihl serial number year