well, looks like there is no definitive way to tell.
I think it's like a 2005 or something.
I'm putting it in a 1989 Frame so we will see how that goes.
Only difference I see so far is the pickup coil on the 89 has 4 wires and on the newer engine there are only 2.

Thanks for everyone's input!

Phil.

 

ok, here's what my book says. after 89 i guess they stopped keeping track of engine numbers lol. for what its worth, my 93's engine is AE109625

 

well that blows my theory all to hell! guess it's just model numbers then, not engine numbers.

 

I am curious about this also. I looked at the engine numbers on my bikes and this is what I found:

'87 EX500 eng.# EX500AE005XXX
'06 EX500 eng.# EX500AE317XXX

My Haynes man. has some info about engine #'s but only lists up to '05.
Not sure what that means just thought I would share the info.

 

A&D are North American designations, C&E are Europe and Asia.

...i think... it's been a while since this question has come up. i know my 500R was a D11

 

My word is C but i just seen A, D and E on internet?

 

i have a list of engine numbers in my book at home. ill look it up when i get back there.

but the thing is, after a certain year, they all start with the same numbers... ill post the list when i get home.

 

EX500A denotes a Gen1, and i'm guessing the E3 denotes series 3, which i believe was 89.

all you really need to know, is that's it's a Generation 1.