The REAL thing...

[canny_banjo_man]

Hi All...
O K...I may NOT own an A/S...( yet-SIGH )........
But I do own a car...ok, it may easily FIT into Yr trunk...LOL,
When buying SERVICE/REPLACEMENT parts, do U Buy the genuine part or another brand ??. At the weekend I decided to change my sparking plugs, as the chap who changed my timing belt, said they were shot, I took them out, an YES they were totaly WORN out, yet worked fine, except for LOW mpg, I went 2my local motor dept:, an bought the replacement plugs...the same brand as I and my D/D have used for YEARS, in our Ford-Fiestas...an NEVER let us down, HOWEVER... the Fiesta I have now, ( only had it abt 8 weeks ), it is almost 5 yrs old...an done 87000 miles, it is delightful in every respect...until I changed plugs, it WON'T go over 65/70 MPH, so I took 'em out, an put in the OLD ones, and it runs GREAT...so these brand of plugs r NO good 4 my car, which leaves me NO choice but 2go over town 2 the main ford dealer an buy the MOTORCRAFT ones, as stated in the service data...it was NOT a matter of cost, it was handy being just down the road... so I guess it IS another lesson I have learnt, Do U have similar problems with the parts U buy !!
Jus a thought...Chris.....

[uwe]

Chris,
Yes, all the time. I found that in most cases, the factory supplied parts simply work best. They often cost only little more, but are guaranteed to fit, and most of the time, work right the first time.
It seems that every time I try and save some money by either using rebuild or aftermarket replacement parts, I end up doing the job twice.
So far: 1992 Dodge van steering gear, EGR assembly, cruise control.
The biggest surprise were the "lifetime warranty" brake pads from Autozone.
They made the van pull to one side. I removed and re-installed the pads, still pulled when braking. Their replacements then remedied the problem. But i did the brake job 3 times.........

[TBKP's Overlander]

I haven't had any problems with my Autozone pads. I keep going back for more. No charge. Am I changing them more often than if they were factory parts? Don't know, but free is hard to beat.

[wahoonc]

Have to agree with uwe that the factory parts are the only way to go. I had a high mileage Ford Ranger 200k miles, the starter went out around the 100k mi mark. Replaced it with one from Advance Auto, replaced it 3 more times in 9 months, then AA decided they didn't want to honor the lifetime warranty and claimed there was something wrong with the truck... NOT!Replaced it with a Ford OEM starter, still going strong at the 200k mile mark when I sold it. During the 9 months only drove the truck about 6,000mi. Moral of story all of my vehicles use factory parts if at all possible.

Aaron

[canny_banjo_man]

Hi ALL...
Thanks 4 that, funny though how I only do abt 8ooo miles per year...and get heaps of snags, I guess it is our ENGLISH way to accept this, I call it..." The joys of motoring ", or most commonly known as Accepted Tollerance...lol.
Guess if I did'nt have a car, I would'nt have problems, it's a bit like my D/W...can't live with her.....can't live without her, BLESS HER...LOL !!!!!.......
I got a tiny water leak on a hose, it's one of those stupid squeeze clamps, it appears to have LOST it's squeeze, hence the leak, I are going to replace it with a screw type clamp, looking at it, it is SIMPLE as chips....IF I take off about 6 parts to get to it, and I DON'T fancy messing with INJECTION pipes, if anyone has long rubber fingers, "PLEASE" let me borrow them, it's a little like when we visit FL:, on vacation, I see where I need 2b...but GETTING there is another storey...LOL.
I once had a problem with the hire vehicle in Orlando, the drivers window would NOT shut, I rang the firm 2 ask if I could return it 2b looked at...they politely refused my request, but I had another van within 20 mins...NOW that's what I call service...
But yes I guess one can't beat the ORIGINAL parts...unless they are F R E E ...!!!...LOL.
Have a safe day2day, stay lucky...Chris.....