Taotao USA: finding your numbers, your engine and your parts

Who built the engine in your Taotao USA

Taotao USA Inc. is the name on the certificate filed with the US EPA. That is the company that brought the machine into the country, not the company that built the engine. The record names 2 different Chinese engine factories across Taotao USA's filings — which means the badge alone does not tell you which engine you have.

• Jinyun County Xiangyuan Industry Co.,Ltd.
• Zhejiang TaotaoVIN prefix L9N

The numbers to find on the machine

Where these live depends on the shape of your machine rather than on the badge, so we do not repeat the search here — the sheets below cover it properly and are free. What matters for a Taotao USA specifically is which number settles things: with 2 factories on the record, the engine family number is what tells you which engine you have.

1. The emission control information label

   Carries the engine family number. This is the strongest identifier your machine has and the one most owners have never looked at.

2. The code stamped into the crankcase

   Survives when the label has not. It encodes cylinder count, orientation, bore and displacement class.

3. The VIN

   Identifies the vehicle rather than the engine, and its first three characters name whoever registered it for sale.

Engine families on the record for Taotao USA

If the label under your seat carries one of these, it is a Taotao USA and this is the certificate it was sold under.

Showing 40 of 95. All of them on the Taotao USA record page.

The other names to search under

2 other US brands sold machines whose engines came from the same factory at the same displacement. When a search for “Taotao USA” returns nothing, these are the names worth trying instead.

• Tao Motor Inc.
• Vicoo Industry, Inc.

How to search for a part

Searching the badge is searching the weakest information you have. These are built from Taotao USA's own record, roughly strongest first — replace <part> with what you need, and add the measurement you took.

1. 19TAOC.049MC1 <part>
2. 249cc <part>
3. 3Jinyun 49cc <part>
4. 4Tao Motor Inc. <part>
5. 5Taotao USA Inc. <part>

The strongest search usually has no badge in it at all. An engine family number plus a measurement finds listings from sellers who have never heard of Taotao USA, which is most of them.

Free sheets to take to the machine

• What scooter do I actually have?A one-sheet record of every number that identifies your machine — badge, VIN, engine number, engine family and factory. Fill it in once, photograph it, and never hunt for it again.
• Where is the emission label? Sorted by body styleThe most useful label on the machine, organised by what shape your machine is rather than by what it says on the bodywork.
• Where is the VIN on a Chinese scooter?A search checklist for the VIN, frame number, engine number and emission label — including the places people look last and should look first.
• What the engine code on your crankcase meansEvery character in the code stamped on your crankcase, what it means, and why 139QMB and 1P39QMB are the same engine.
• Badge twins: the other names your scooter was sold underThe same machine was sold under other names. Those names are extra search terms, and this is where you write them down.
• Before you order a scooter part: checklistTwelve checks that take ten minutes and prevent the single most common expensive mistake these machines produce.

Or print all fifteen at once — 44 pages covering identification, measurement, records and diagnosis. Free, no account, no email.