QuickBooks does not track the date your transactions cleared.  Only if they did or not.

It is quite odd for a bank to honor a 4 year old check.  You may be able to ask them to not do that...

IMO reconciling is only user if you balance exactly. Adjustments to make reconciles balance defeat the whole purpose of reconciling.  One way to minimize what you are seeing here is to forbid their use and to review the reconciliations each month to ensure they're not used.