Sorry in advance. Parts quality rant

[Ele115]

It is getting so bad. It took me 4 ignition modules before I had spark! I got an old cruddy one from the back of the garage and the Diplomat fired up first bump of the key! Other car, I had one of those "Mopar product" distributors I got from Summit about a year ago and it started to stumble (the 74 Road Runner) About 300 miles on the distributor. I found the shaft inside is wobbly as heck and at times the reluctor hits the pickup. An old junk distributor was cleaned and rebuilt to cure this, it was too late to get a refund. Cummins idler pulleys and EGR coolers, from CUMMINS !!! I don't even know where to begin. I no longer get auto parts online unless they are NOS on Feebay. I spend a lot of time returning parts. The parts people are only as good as what they have in their system. I feel for them, I don't give them crap. They do their best for shit wages. Heaven forbid you need something for a Tesla! It will be sitting for many months. Very weak Delco starters right from the factory the last few years in Cummins products. Slow cranking, they think I swap out starters as a hobby, but replacing them cures the slow cranking so it isn't me.

Sorry I had to! It's getting so bad. I advise you, URGE YOU, stock up on parts that were made in the USA or Canada decades ago. Hoard them.

 

[Aspen500]

I know EXACTLY what you mean. It's been getting worse and worse, especially the past few years. Parts bad right out of the box, parts that fail a week later, parts that ALMOST fit, etc. You shouldn't need to modify s part so it can be put on. Those are all reasons I waited 3 months for a Ford blend door actuator for my Mustang. Could have had a Dorman one right away but, I don't want to do the job again a month later. Ford one made in USA, Dorman, China. No big deal waiting, the car is stored winters. Would have waited anyways(still works, just makes all sorts of bad noises), just to get s real part, not a cheapo Chinese knockoff.

Always reminds me of Tommy Boy where he says "I can take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, but all you'd have is a guaranteed piece of sh*t". So true......

When I built my car, put a new nuetral swich in the trans. A year later I had to use a jumper wire and bypass it so the starter would work. Fortunately it failed in my driveway. Replaced it again. Shortly sfter, the b/u lights quit working. Got an old original one from my dad's stash and, it's been in there 10 years and works like new Give you one guess where both parts store switches were made.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

That's one reason I don't buy much in advance anymore or online with the return hassle.

 

[pioneer61]

Thought maybe it was just me. Been having similar problems. Items either no good out of the box or wearing out faster than they should. Pretty much re-using the old parts as much as i can.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

I hunt for anything I can grab in junkyards and anything cheap NOS on ePay

It's not just car parts. It's parts for everything. And in NY, the geniuses want to move everything and everyone to electric and ban natural gas and gasoline. So we're supposed to rely on Chinese made electric equipment and power supplied by a UK owned power company. It would be funny if it wasn't so God awful

 

[Aspen500]

All that additional electricity is going to come from where? Oops, I forgot, they can't be bothered with the facts. Hope we can get lucky and those idiots get voted out next year.

I keep thinking I should replace my avacado green fridge that's 49 years old (1974) but, it works perfectly fine, it's quiet and, most important, it was made in USA. A new one might only last 10 years. So, at some point I'm going to empty it out, drag it's million pounds into the garage, sand it down and repaint it something other than green. Probably still be working in 20 years from now.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Facts? What facts!? These morons are building are buried cable to Quebec to power NYC because the system actually has less capacity than it did 20 years ago. That's because they shut down all the coal and natural gas fired power plants and are shutting down all the nuclear ones too.

Refrigerators can be rebuilt. I have a rebuilt fridge from the 90s. It was $229 including tax and delivery and a 1 year warranty. Buying a rebuilt fridge creates less waste, keeps money in my community, and saves me money. Everyone wins. But people would rather ban natural gas while complaining about the evils of pollution on their Chinese slave made phones, wearing clothes made in sweat shops, all of which was imported on cargo ships that throw more pollution into the air than I ever will.

 

[Ele115]

Put yourself in the place of the Chinese ruling class. They would benefit from this at least 2 ways: We buy junk parts from them and they have to be replaced often, which makes them a ton of money because pretty much everything comes from them now. The other thing is that it gets cars and other durable goods into the scrap heap faster and faster which means most of these ICE powered cars will be replaced with battery powered poofster mobiles and China is quickly becoming the battery and lithium giant as OPEC was ruling for decades with their oil. Imagine all of the battery cars when they are kaput and the batteries dribbling ooze into the ground by the zillions. When those battery cars start to service out, they are throw aways too, but they will be an environmental disaster despite what the good guys keep saying. China and India will get cheap oil when our demand drops and burn it like there is no tomorrow.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

God help us when all these lithium batteries leak. Exposure to air and moisture is how these batteries ignite. They can't even keep them in junkyards because rain will cause them to catch fire. And they can burn for days. I saw a video of a fire department place a burning electric car into a large dumpster full of water. This is after hosing it down for hours. 3 days later they pulled it out of the dumpster to make sure it was out and it instantly reignited

 

[Aspen500]

You're right, only takes a miniscule amount of moisture to short them out. The insulating film between the layers of each cell is about as thick as tissue paper. One tiny hole and poof. Almost impossible to put the fire out. Basically it's like thermite. Once it's lit about all you can do is let it burn out. Spraying water on it makes it worse. Yep, "eco-friendly". If that electric car is kept in a garage, not only do you lose the car, but the garage and house too, possibly along with your life. I'll keep my gas powered vehicles, thank you very much!

Yeah I know, cell phones, lap tops, power tools have lithium ion batteries but they are MUCH smaller and don't live in the conditions a car does.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

There have been known fires from tool batteries being left in chargers so i never do that. Years ago i had a cellphone charger overheat and melt so after that I never leave phones charging unattended.
The EV battery one scares me.

 

[Ele115]

So the one new ignition module I got (the fourth one) only lasted halfway through cam break in. I am using a 50 year old module in it now. Another one in the stack of crap that has to go back. Incredible! I just found an NOS one in the ratty old red white and blue Mopar box on Feebay and snapped it up.

 

[MoparDan]

There have been known fires from tool batteries being left in chargers so i never do that. Years ago i had a cellphone charger overheat and melt so after that I never leave phones charging unattended.
The EV battery one scares me.

My neighbor has a couple of those electric bikes, and one night one caught on fire while being charged, and I mean it burst into flames! The fire did NOT go out easily, could've lost the entire trailer...all because of a defective charger

 

[MoparDan]

Put yourself in the place of the Chinese ruling class. They would benefit from this at least 2 ways: We buy junk parts from them and they have to be replaced often, which makes them a ton of money because pretty much everything comes from them now. The other thing is that it gets cars and other durable goods into the scrap heap faster and faster which means most of these ICE powered cars will be replaced with battery powered poofster mobiles and China is quickly becoming the battery and lithium giant as OPEC was ruling for decades with their oil. Imagine all of the battery cars when they are kaput and the batteries dribbling ooze into the ground by the zillions. When those battery cars start to service out, they are throw aways too, but they will be an environmental disaster despite what the good guys keep saying. China and India will get cheap oil when our demand drops and burn it like there is no tomorrow.

Exactly! With all the junk modern cars with their billions of useless computers and sensor those are easy to get off the road being too expensive to fix after about five years or so even with good parts. With old cars such as our F/M/Js (and older stuff then them) the trick is simply poor quality replacement parts

 

[pioneer61]

Put yourself in the place of the Chinese ruling class. They would benefit from this at least 2 ways: We buy junk parts from them and they have to be replaced often, which makes them a ton of money because pretty much everything comes from them now. The other thing is that it gets cars and other durable goods into the scrap heap faster and faster which means most of these ICE powered cars will be replaced with battery powered poofster mobiles and China is quickly becoming the battery and lithium giant as OPEC was ruling for decades with their oil. Imagine all of the battery cars when they are kaput and the batteries dribbling ooze into the ground by the zillions. When those battery cars start to service out, they are throw aways too, but they will be an environmental disaster despite what the good guys keep saying. China and India will get cheap oil when our demand drops and burn it like there is no tomorrow.

truth

 

[Ele115]

Another good one I see A LOT of is brass freeze plugs cracked and leaking. The new Cummins and Detroits. The freeze plugs are shaped like a cop and are folded into a 90 degree bend to give them about a 7/16" edge to seat against the block. Where they make this bend, there are tiny cracks where the brass didn't survive the process and they seep anti freeze.

 

[Remow2112]

One of the issues with the electronic stuff for our cars is that they were originally analog assemblies. Now it is a tiny circuit board with a chip on it. Digital does not handle variability very well. We all know these cars electrics work in a broad range of voltages. Analog tends to handle that much better. For ignition I would find an old MSD 6a or 6AL box and convert. It gets rid of the ballast resistor and you can use a hotter coil. (Older MSD are analog build)

 

[Aspen500]

That's something I never thought of. Newer cars regulate voltage precisely. They keep 5.0v +/- .01v for VREF and 12v circuits are regulated with very little variation, and are well protected from voltage or current surges and spikes, not to mention diodes to prevent backfeeding. Our cars have none of those things.

 

[Remow2112]

I had a 93 D250 Turbo Diesel with external voltage regulator. It went bad, got one at the local parts store. Went bad in 4 days. Tore it apart to see a single chip with a burn spot in the middle. Went to the junkyard and ganked every old style analog I could find.

 

[LSM360]

Yep, I am so frustrated with crappy new parts too!!!! I've been known to pay triple for a NOS part off ebay instead of crappy Dorman, Cardone, ACDelco etc. All crap chit out of the same animal as far as I can tell!!!!

It use to be if I was reasonably sure my fuel pump was bad and bought and installed a new one and car still wasn't getting fuel I would rule out pump. Not any more!!! Just as likely new pump is as bad as old one!!!