Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

[DurocShark]

Latest post of the previous page:

Colorado doesn't do safety inspections. I'm considering just filling the holes and doing away with them altogether.

Then I think of the STUPID idiots driving around in the snow and think maybe I should paint the whole darn bus in reflective paint...

[vdubyah73]

Driving a six wheel dump with a huge yellow plow all kinds of lights as well as a strobe on all four corners. If they don't see me, side marker lights won't amount to a hill of beans in the scheme of things. It's not so much visibility as it is the amount of people on the road that have no bussiness driving. Some are just completely friggen clueless. Used to be that once you made eye contact with a driver trying to pull out you knew they saw you and weren't gonna do anything stupid, not anymore! If you don't want 'em and can get away with it go for it.

Bill

[sped372]

Autozone voltage regulator - crapped out after about three months; shoulda known better but I was in a pinch

[DurocShark]

Autozone voltage regulator - crapped out after about three months; shoulda known better but I was in a pinch

The thing we have to remember, and our busses deserve it, is that it's ok to buy crap parts in an emergency.

But we MUST REMEMBER to replace those junk parts with quality as soon as possible! Let the junk become spares. Let quality run your bus.

It's a lesson I've learned the hard way.

[Sluggo]

Hot-Spark Ignition Replacement module. This thing sucks. The first one I got wouldn't even hold an idle and crapped out after a minute. After several days of being given the run around and told about the defects of my new coil and ignition wiring and being told to buy an external ballast resistor they finally had me return the Hot-Spark at my expense. When they sent me the new one it was actually my old hardware in a baggy with a new module. I installed this one and it worked (meaning the engine could hold idle and run) but not as well as expected. I gave it a month and it did not improve. The messed up Pertronix I was replacing with this actually works better. So do points (which is what I'm running now). The replacement unit worked but missed often and gave a weak spark. I have e-mailed them and we'll see what the response is.

[DurocShark]

That's what I discovered belatedly.

It ran fine the first day, then went south.

My coil has 3.8ohms resistance (good Bosch blue) but I still had to add a ballast resistor (1.6ohm). Still didn't work right, so they told me to put heatsink thermal grease (ARctic Silver II) under it. Improvement, but only some.

This bus had a Pertronix that ran fine until I screwed up and shorted the leads to the poor thing.

I'm gonna get a .85 ohm resistor and see if that makes it perfect.

They do respond quickly, and are VW guys, so that's why I've given this thing so many chances to work.

[Sluggo]

That's what I discovered belatedly.

It ran fine the first day, then went south.

My coil has 3.8ohms resistance (good Bosch blue) but I still had to add a ballast resistor (1.6ohm). Still didn't work right, so they told me to put heatsink thermal grease (ARctic Silver II) under it. Improvement, but only some.

This bus had a Pertronix that ran fine until I screwed up and shorted the leads to the poor thing.

I'm gonna get a .85 ohm resistor and see if that makes it perfect.

They do respond quickly, and are VW guys, so that's why I've given this thing so many chances to work.

They said they improved the design and thermocouple on the new batch and sent me a new one. I'll hook it up this weekend and see what happens. Now it comes with a little syringe full of thermocouple grease.

[DurocShark]

That's what I discovered belatedly.

It ran fine the first day, then went south.

My coil has 3.8ohms resistance (good Bosch blue) but I still had to add a ballast resistor (1.6ohm). Still didn't work right, so they told me to put heatsink thermal grease (ARctic Silver II) under it. Improvement, but only some.

This bus had a Pertronix that ran fine until I screwed up and shorted the leads to the poor thing.

I'm gonna get a .85 ohm resistor and see if that makes it perfect.

They do respond quickly, and are VW guys, so that's why I've given this thing so many chances to work.

They said they improved the design and thermocouple on the new batch and sent me a new one. I'll hook it up this weekend and see what happens. Now it comes with a little syringe full of thermocouple grease.

Yeah, I got the new one too. Haven't had time to deal with it, currently hunting vacuum leaks (again).

[NWbuspilot]

Kemco Ignition Coil.

Mine lasted 3 days. I put my old bosch coil back in there. Pale yellow spark is better than zero spark.

[RSorak 71Westy]

This is a Harbor Freight fuse that never blew after being direct shorted across a battery....WARNING Do NOT use these

[NWbuspilot]

Bus Depot "OEM Quality" Spark Plug Wires. Could feel the charge when I rub my arm over the wire.

I'll second that. The shoddy insulation on these wires caused my coil output voltage to arc the the #1 negative terminal and fry my ECU.

[foxtail]

Where has the quality gone???????
Where has the pride of quality gone?????????
Pride in craftmanship so few and far between.
I work part time for Kevin Veale he own Veale Automotive and we see it all the time....having to go back to the Parts Store and get another part and they are said to be new parts??

Having to tear out a tranny twice because of a so-called new Pressure Plate or Throw out bearing.

BAAAA HUUUUUUUUUm BBBBBBBBBBUUUUUG!!!!!!

[dtrumbo]

This isn't so much a criticism of the quality of the part per se, but more of an exposure of the borderline false advertising under which it was sold to me.

https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.as ... 03-109-GER

Part number ending in 'GER', description on the webpage as 'Original German quality or equivalent'. What I received was a Euromax brand pulley made in China. I paid $24.95 + shipping thinking I was getting a better quality part than the typical aftermarket made-in-China (ie Euromax) when I can buy the exact same part from multiple other vendors for at least $10.00 cheaper and knowing what I'm going to get if I do so.

I called and politely expressed my disappointment with my purchase and was met with questions about if I thought a part made anywhere other than Germany could be considered "OE quality". When the discussion degraded, I asked for a full refund including return shipping. I was offered a purchase refund, but no return shipping. I then informed them (what most of you have already determined for yourselves) that I would keep the $24.95 Chinese pulley and that would be the very last dime they ever would receive from me. If the person had bothered to check my order history, simple math would have told them this was a bad decision. Now my "banned" list of ACVW parts vendors is up to three.

[hambone]

I no longer shop at CIP1 because of that crap.

[dtrumbo]

I no longer shop at CIP1 because of that crap.

I had read of your experiences, but I guess I had to feel the pain myself. No more.

[Amskeptic]

This isn't so much a criticism of the quality of the part per se, but more of an exposure of the borderline false advertising under which it was sold to me.

https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.as ... 03-109-GER

Part number ending in 'GER', description on the webpage as 'Original German quality or equivalent'. What I received was a Euromax brand pulley made in China. I paid $24.95 + shipping thinking I was getting a better quality part than the typical aftermarket made-in-China (ie Euromax) when I can buy the exact same part from multiple other vendors for at least $10.00 cheaper and knowing what I'm going to get if I do so.

I called and politely expressed my disappointment with my purchase and was met with questions about if I thought a part made anywhere other than Germany could be considered "OE quality". When the discussion degraded, I asked for a full refund including return shipping. I was offered a purchase refund, but no return shipping. I then informed them (what most of you have already determined for yourselves) that I would keep the $24.95 Chinese pulley and that would be the very last dime they ever would receive from me. If the person had bothered to check my order history, simple math would have told them this was a bad decision. Now my "banned" list of ACVW parts vendors is up to three.

Watch words. All they have to do is meet the minimum standard of legalese.
I like "Part will be repaired or replaced at our sole discretion with a product of like-quality."
I don't trust your discretion and DEFINE "like".
Equivalent DIS! ya skivosa. . .