Defective parts .
 

Any of you getting inferior parts in your manufacturing/repair/service businesses ?
I just finished up what was really a simple job, but made super difficult by some unknown amazon parts .
2011 Tiguan, customer reads his own code, p0087, low fuel pressure. Fires up his google machine, and orders a new direct injection fuel pump on amazon . First one he gets is damaged. he never tries it. The second pump shows up the next day, and he installs it , but still same code, hard starts, and low power .
They took it to the local Euro expert. He bills 5 hours diag time, but comes up with no answer for them . They declined further diag time .
They called me and asked me to take a look at it . I know who had it before me, and I would say his shop is about the best in the area, but I reluctantly agreed anyhow. Its been slow, I like a challenge sometimes . I spent, about the same 5 hours and then went long on this one . I checked every possible scenario for no fuel pressure, and had no solution for them either . It was not making any fuel pressure over and above the electric pumps output.
First time customer, I could tell she was getting frustrated with me, and the whole situation . I had the car for over a week.
She asked me , " what would you do it it was your car ?". I told her, I would purchase a good quality german made pump from a known vendor. If that did not work, I had no other solutions .
She at first declined ,they were already $700 in at this point, and still with a broken car .
A day later, she calls, and says her husband and her decided to punt and give it one more try.
I installed a Bosch pump this am, and it fired right up, full pressure, and runs perfect . So, long story short, they got 2 bad fuel pumps from an amazon seller . Probably chineese knockoffs .
I have been pretty lucky , but have had a few similar situations over the last 2-3 years.
I got 2 bad bosch alternators for my 930 a few years back. Spent an entire evening checking every possible scenario for low voltage, and alt light on , Everything spot on where it should be . I was replacing the alternator due to bad bearings, I put the old one back in, and it still worked . Returned the 2nd Bosch alt, bought a Valeo, and it is still in there working today .
Any of you run into sub par materials or products lately ? Is it getting worse ? I buy lots of el cheapo stuff on e bay for myself ,and have had pretty good luck thus far .

I've had the same problem - there's a lot of 3rd-world knockoff Scheiße out there

My mechanic installed a reman. power steering pump on Mrs. Noah's minivan. It died on the way home from the mechanic.

The old bad parts I have had was the reman alternator for my El Camino. The good news is I could likely change it in 15 minutes if I had to. It would not charge if the RPM stayed under 2,500 RPM. If I got it to 2,500 all was fine. I learned to just have the old one rebuilt at a local shop and all was fine.

3 bad blend door actuators for my Tacoma, 2 rock auto and one autozone, ended up modifying the autozone to avoid the $300.00 Toyota

Parking brake shoes from our host didn't fit w/o firing up the grinder. Actually, the last 2 old 911s I've bought have had worn out parking brakes. How do you even wear out parking brakes anyways? Are old 911s the go-to drifter car now?

Fred, not advising you on how to run your shop but if that cutomer / scenario came to me the first thing I would tell them is a quote for an OE or OEM pump and labor, then 1 hour of diagnostic after. If the customer wouldn't agree I say fine, that's my terms, call me if you change your mind.

Personally and professionally I refuse to bear the burden of someone buying their own parts and then creating more problems and of course blaming the next guy because they had to pay twice. You fix it and they're still pissed.

The first shop made the wrong call.

I've learned the hard way. If they want to buy their own parts they are already not your customer as they're circumventing the process and the business model to satisfied customers and a fair profit.

Crap aftermarket parts are nothing new, just more of them. If there was a roulette wheel in Vegas with black being aftermarket parts and red / OEM. I'd bet the red every time as the odds are waay better.

That's why I don't buy any auto parts off of Amazon, eBay, independent internet vendors, or local parts houses.

I buy from authorized dealers. I can usually get at least 25% off list and I never have these issues. I could save money by buying from other sources but the China junk is getting worse, not better.

I hate China.

Rebuilt Napa alternators..... tried 2 of them on the town's 1 ton Ford. The first one lasted a week the second one was dead out of the box. Bought one from my local rebuilder and it's been fine since.

Put in a new distributor in my old van. Got one block away before the dam shaft broke. Chinese.
Put in a new water pump in the same van. Casting was thinner and made the bolts too long. Impeller also rubbed against number one cylinder wall. Chinese. Returned for rebuilt motor craft parts.

A few years ago you could buy real bosch parts direct from amazon at great prices. Now they only seem to have knockoffs and exorbitantly priced genuine parts.
I wind up buying more and more from a dealer.

I only buy factory new parts, even for the 40 yo Chevy Blazer, the C3500, and my Kubota and Ford tractors. Goes without saying the Porsches get only factory Porsche new parts.

no Mahle or Mann oil filters??

Pelican has sold crap Mahle filters for the '84 in the past, so no.

One exception is brake pads. Trying Cool Carbon. Jury's still out on them.

Interesting thing happened to me. Had a Jeep 4.7 needing timing guides and tensioners. I ordered them from my local supplier. Cloyes brand. Parts arrive and I get to work. I open the boxes and one tensioner was in a bag, one was wrapped in brown paper. Guides were a different color than what was on the screen when I ordered. Also in one box was a receipt for the parts being returned. in Texas. I'm in Alaska. Went to the parts store and he pulled another set off the shelf and we looked them over. This second set he pulled looked way different and much higher quality. So... some unscrupulous individual orders a cheep chinese timing set off Amazon, buys a quality set from parts store, swaps parts into parts store boxes and returns them. Bingo. They get name brand for Chinese prices. It sucks now questioning every single part that comes into my shop.

ok - I recall you posted that the Porsche oil filters were worse than Mahle a while back on Rennlist...

reminds me of the Big Short... CDO A has crap from CDO B, which in turn has crap from CDO A

I pick and choose the vendor and MFG, for parts. For fuel, I'm not going to install an air tech pump, ever. It's all over the map on suppliers though. Today was a TYC (Genera) Honda blower motor day, and I wouldn't have installed anything else on my car.

There have been bad batches, for example the famous Bosch voltage regulator fiasco for the 356s. Mahle had a short problem with their oil filters making a whistling sound. At the time, Porsche filters had fewer holes, but that may not be a bad thing below say 3,000 rpm. Today, there is no difference between the two, but the takeaway is that you're relying on a German brand to not slap their name on Chinese products.

There is zero difference now between the Porsche 9N cartridge oil filters or air filters, and Mahle ones from Pelican. So for the Cayman, I'll add these onto an order whether it be from Pelican or Suncoast Porsche, which has become a major force offering great "kits" of genuine factory parts packaged up for the enthusiast. Otherwise, I always go for the factory Porsche parts, not "OEM Supplier". One of the telephone order guys at Pelican sold me crap tire pressure sensors that he swore were "just as good as" the Porsche ones, which he criticized for being overpriced. I ordered them, they didn't work, and I tossed them in the garbage. Went to the dealer, paid for the correct genuine Porsche units which I had overnighted. Lesson had to be re-learned.

I have even got defective OE parts from the dealer. One Mitsubishi fuel pump, and one delco fuel pump .
GM took car of me no questions asked. I had to really argue and prove my point with Mitsu to get another pump. I was ready to launch it through their window .
It did not work. not at all, the motor was locked up right out of the package .

I just rebuilt my VW starter with Chinese parts.

The electrical connection on the Chinese solenoid was wrong, but I cobbled it up and got the car running, bu it never was quite right, low crank speed, noisy clicking. I chased my tail assuming it wasn't the starter.

Turns out the Chinese solenoid was crap. I bought a VW starter and put the problem behind me.

I thought I saved $100, but I didn't. And I removed the starter three times.

Lesson learned.