Let’s hear your defective parts stories.

Here is mine. I took Friday off from work to drive up to BTT50’s in St. Paul for a nice day trip with my Dad. The farthest I have yet to have the car from home has been about 70 miles to Cedar Falls. We got about 100 miles up I35 and I noticed my temp gauge starting a steady climb. I put into a rest area and let it cool off. Nice thing about hot rods is that you never have any lack of old fashioned roadside assistance. Some guy gave me a gallon of 50/50 antifreeze mix and would not take any money for it! Hope he is reading this because I’m his newest fan. The coolant system took almost all of it. My first reaction was that I did not get all the air out of the system after installing the heater. The next 200 miles of the round trip went off without a hitch until we were about 10 miles from home and the same thing happened again. I pulled off to let it cool back down some and limped home hot. I did notice the faint smell of antifreeze as we drove and when I got home it became apparent that the coolant was being forced out of the radiator as we drove. I went into the house frustrated and let it cool down overnight. I spent the night worrying what the problem could be. We all know the drill. Yesterday morning I inspected the radiator cap. The valve in the coolant recovery circuit was hanging OPEN.
A trip to my favorite Irish parts store and a quick comparison between my cap and a non-defective cap (same brand) to verify my theory and I now have a coolant system that keeps the 50/50 in the radiator. I’m happy that a 3.65 part fixed the problem but the real kick in the pants is that this cap had barely been used. I’m just glad that I had the composition to read and trust my instruments and I didn’t screw up the engine.

 

The thermostat valve in my sister's Mustang turned 90 deg. & jammed open like that. I was driving once when my car just shut off. Something told me I probably wouldn't beable to find the problem. I had it towed to a friend who was a pro mechanic. It took him a week & like to drove him nuts b4 he discovered the problem. I had a Mallory dual point dizzy in it, & the the post that the points plate swivels on sheared off!

 

My defective part is a U joint,since I was at the local driveline shop getting a flywheel turned and new clutch parts for my 65 custom 500 I had them press in two new U joints since they do it for free with the purchase of them. Well this car has allways had a bad vibration over 60 and was getting worse,I crawled under it checking for a possible loose pinion bearing in the rear or the output shaft bearing in the trans but a bad front U joint with less the 3000 miles. The kid at the shop must of done something when he pressed it it and I thought about taking it back but I need it fixed today so I will do it my self. I was loosing coolant in my 65 country squire and noticed it was forcing it out the overflow so I installed a recovery bottle and problem solved,my theory was the new caps are made for recovery systems only but I have never had that problem with my 65 custom 500 yet. Jeff

 

I bought a set of Stewart Warner Classic "wings" gauges... Need I say more?

 

Just becuase you bought it new does not mean that it is new and not defective. Most parts are made in China, Taiwan, India these days...I bought a "new" alternator", didn't work from the minute I put it on...racked my brain and everyone else's, finally took it back...it didn't even work for them...so, there's very little quality control a those mfrs...need I say more?

R-

 

Same issue with TPI gauges. After a bunch of attitude and poor customer service from TPI, I went with Classic Instruments, and havnt had any issues. DOA new parts really sucks.

 

Bought a reman'd Bosch alternator that came right from Bosch. It was locked up tight when I got it. Bought it online so there was no 'running it back to the store'. I did end up getting it free and it works fine but obviously no one was checking these before they sent them out. That's pathetic.

 

A bunch of years ago,my 37 coupe was just finished--maybe 1000 miles on it. I had just come off the freeway--running like 70---and stopped for lunch with a buddy. Came back out to go home--got about 100 feet and the steering wheel gets--weird. Front end shakes bad--pull over and check front end--------The left bolt-on steering arm had 1 bolt come out and the other was close to the same.Call a buddy to trailer me home and pulled things apart.THIS IS SCARY!----I had SUPERBELL flame-cut steering arms on the car. I had Lock-tighted the bolts in. THE BOLTS HAD PULLED THE THREADS COMPLETELY OUT OF THE ARMS! Long story short---no companys sell these anymore for this reason--now use TCI arms. Superbell--Pete & Jakes---all the old parts guys used to sell these,but stopped about the time this happened.Even called Superbell---"never heard of the problem"---.

what would have happened if that let go 20 minutes earlier!!!!

 

I put a new (remanufactured) fuel pump on my '62 Falcon. Two days alater on the way to work the car sputters and dies. I coast to the side of the road to check it out. The bolts in the fuel pump had come loose and the diaphragm wasn't pulling and fuel. Luckily I was about a mle form my folks house. Walked over there, grabbed a bicycle, rode to the the hardware store bought the bolts AND LOCKWASHERS (missing when new) and went back to put it together. 78 cents worth of bolts later I was on the road. I didn't even bother complaining to the parts store. I fixed it better than when it came out of the box.

 

Most modern manufacturers use "lean" or "smart" methods. They incorperate sample audits or rely on other assemblers to do partial inspections of product in addition to a value added proccess at an alarming rate of production. The consumer gets a slightly lower price. The stockholder thimks he has more value in his investment and the upper managers get big bonuses for presenting huge "savings". The product often suffers quality issues.
Manufacturers impliment the tactics to differing degrees, somtimes from plant to plant or even line to line. The results are inconsistent quality in similar parts from the same supplier. Some suppliers outsource the manufacturing risking even greater quality variation.

 

Damn near everything I buy from Oreillys or Autozone here is broken, too cheapy made, or lasts less than a week. I use a local store called Hammons, they rock.

I've had new starters and alternators not work. I bought two new welders that were busted new in the box (Chicago Electric - Cheap for a reason). One had the fan rattling around down inside.

New batteries that never hold a charge.

Ignition coils that leaked in the box on the way home and never worked.

Thermostats that come in the box sticky, spark plugs that are broken. The list goes on and on.

I got a fan belt that must have had some cut in it that I missed because it didn't make it past initial startup and broke clean as hell.

I swear those dumbass kids fuck with the parts when they're bored. After all the busted shit I've received from the other parts stores, I always check it before leaving and most of the time it's okay but I've definately had my times of "what's this shit? take it back there and get the right one" or I see that it's already busted.

I've yet to get the wrong part at Hammons, I've said it before and I'll plug them again, if you're in my area and need parts, swing by. They're on Zero ave down from walmart. If they had a bar and grill, I'd live there.

 

last year I bought a pretty new chrome 1 wire alt from a shop that advertises in the mags. while driving to the Nats at Louisville, my battery went dead. new battery too. after much checking, my son discovered that my 1 wire alt was really not a 1 wire, it was 3 wires. went inside the exhibition hall to find the vendor,I had no receipt with me so he didn't care. my son rewired for a 3, no problems since. thanks, Southern Rod I'll shop elsewheres

 

The unfortunate part of this is that the consumer is the mfgs final inspector, and it's not by coincidence either.

Charlie

 

two condoms..........there now 7 and 3and a half!!!!

 

I had the EXACT same problem with an ALT from the EXACT same supplier..

 

The hell you say! Thanks for the heads up. Maybe the HAMB needs to have a dud parts list.

 

4 (thats right FOUR) lifetime warr. fuel pumps in my 96 Chev 1/2ton parts runner in less than 1000 miles. I had a local shop put it in because I really didn't feel like dropping the tank myself the first time. NAPA just keeps giving him the new pumps and paying him to put them in. This last one has lasted about 1500 miles but it buzzed like a pissed off bee right from day one...

 

I used to work at Autozone back when it was Autoshack in like '88 when I was a punk kid working the counter . The rebuilt starter/alternator kind of stuff was shiite back then too. Lotsa stuff had a lifetime warranty, but you'd be taking it back to Autozone for the rest of your life replacing it

 

When I retired a couple years ago I got a job at the local Schucks Auto. CSK...Checker/Schucks/Kragen.

I can't even begin to tell you how many new parts we sold that were defective, from thermostats to entire engines. Many of the Autolite alternators and starters (both new and reman) were bad off the shelf. On one ocassion I opened a starter box and found the starter covered in mouse turds. Sparkplugs, fuel pumps, ignition parts (distributer caps with no metal pieces inside...an unfinished cap), batteries that are only a month old and dead, etc, etc, etc. My experience is NAPA tends to have the least screwed up parts....and the better counter help.

 

we put a nos accurate fuel pump in the gf 57 t-bird it is tight in and out specially with my hammer hands ... all in and no stripped threads no twisted fuel lines - vac line all ok ... after 2 minutes running its leaking/spraying like madout the sides
3 day wait each way reorder - wait - return -and original core long gone
remove and replace ... same problem
kicked box across floor and......
small note loose in bottom of box (1x1 )under flap... tighten all screws around pump before installation.... no where in on the other instructions or the book where we ordered it was this mentioned
as the gasket may have shrunk.....

now every nut and connection is checked on first
paperdog

 

Ricky Coyote bought a rebuilt distributer for his '55 Chevy last year. We were on our way to Back to the 50's this year. Rick was driving along, minding his own business, not hot rodding around or anything when Pop!...dead.... after very minor investigating we dicovered that the rotor turned freely Pulled the distributer, the darn roll pin that holds the gear to the shaft sheared We were able to make a half assed pin out of a drywall screw. It was enough to get us home anyway I've never seen a pin shear like that, and it was less than a year old

 

I worked as an assistant manager of a parts store. We had a return on a water pump, that one whole side of the water passage was filled with weld or something from the rebuilder. It ended up over heating the guys motor. The store had to buy him a complete new crate motor.

 

Actually some Dodge Dakotas with a 6 cylinder used a cap like this. Dumbest design I ever saw. The igniton wires had metal push in connectors that you pushed in the cap. I pulled 3 off the shelf till I found one that had some instructions inside it that explained how to attach the wires.

 

Yeah, C/S/K has some real junk. I didn't have awesome luck at the NAPA-stocked garages around here. But it was nowhere the fiasco that it would've been if we called Schucks for everything!

Sticking a 'lifetime warranty' on some fucking POS doesn't impress me much - I know that most of the crap those parts go on will be sold within a couple/few years, or that the warranty info will be lost. One way or another, the mfgr/seller won't have to stand behind it. I'll forego the warranty to buy true OE grade stuff that will go the distance.

Best story: take your pick, I think it's a coin toss.

Working on wife's Eldo when at first garage (mid 1990's); replaced rear calipers. Bled 'em - or tried to. We used a pressure bleeder there that forced fluid into the M/C. Only, it kept coming out all over those Moraine calipers - on both sides! And no, I didn't fuck around with either of 'em; I just bolted 'em on, attached the hoses (the only place they didn't leak) and cracked the bleeder.

The brand? Cardone.

Next morning, boss tells me that's why we don't buy Schucks parts at this shop!

Fast forward to three years ago... different shop. I sell a P/S pump in some GM (I don't know what it was, I is a dumbass Honda wrench...) because that's the only way we can get a replacement for the leaking P/S reservoir. Boss gets on phone & orders part.

Part comes after lunch, is put on car, and the steering growls after one trip around the block. Phone call made; new pump installed, system bled (in case the rack or lines were contaminated by fubar replacement pump). This one starts growling before it's out of the shop. Another phone call, another swap & bleed. Back from test drive w/ noise. The boys swapped the reservoir onto the original pump, bled it, and had no more problems.

The brand? Cardone.

The preceeding story was true, and the names were left unchanged to incriminate the guilty.

-bill

 

we've installed reman motors that didnt have oil presure.but the worst for me is bad gears. sometimes even with a perfect pattern and back lash they make noise ,it dont happen much cause all ill install is oem ,dana/spicer or precison gear.but every once in awhile ill get a gear that either wont setup or makes noise .and then its tear it down and order a another gear.

 

About 11 years ago I was getting into dragracing and the 'ol street car turned racer just wasn’t cutting it. Laid out a packet and built a new car. When it came to the motor I had it built at a very reputable shop here in Oz. Got it back and in the car, dyno'd 1200hp (Cant remember exact No#)
First shake down run and the motor grenades! I think I cried! Went back to the builder and sat down with them while the motor was torn down and talked about what went wrong. It seemed that one of the rods had parted company with the crank. The bolt had a nice clean shear through it.
Got a call about a week later, they were building a new motor for me, would I like to come in??
They explained to me that when they crack tested everything before assembly the guy grabbed the wrong pile and gave to the engine builder! So it was put together with cracked parts! Did a deal, gave them a little more and wound up with 1800hp!

 

how about replacing the mtr in a dodge RV FIVE times because of the fuck'n junk ass motors that Four Star Remanufactured Engines built & NAPA sold. what made it worse is it was my parents RV, damn i hated that RV,,,,,,,joe

 

The preceeding story was true, and the names were left unchanged to incriminate the guilty.

-bill[/quote]

That's what I'm talking about. I've had two issues so far with defective parts on my hot rod and I'm not done building it yet. The first one was two defective reman master cylinders, that one really messed with my head because it would go to the floor intermitantly. Replaced it once and same problem. Replaced with new from NAPA-Fixed!
Second was the above mentioned cap deal. Easy fix but my wife may have burned up the engine if she was driving it.

 

bought a set of motor mounts for hte Comet at Autozone, installed them with the original nuts, only to completely strip the threads. Turns out the new ones used metric threads!
Bought another set, got the correct nuts and installed them. Well apparently my fire breathing 144ci straight six with 85 factory horsepower was too much for them, they were both seperated less than 1000 miles later.

 

I was replacing allthe steerign gear on my Ford truck at a buddy's garage. Had everything in place and went to put the LAST nut on and - nada - couldn't get it started. We figure they musta changed to a larger size so we went rumaging through his bolt pail - still nada. So we figure maybe there's a burr or something - it really LOOKED like it should "go" - still nada. Eventually we grabbed some pitch mics - damn threads were made .020" OVERSIZE - good luck finding THAT nut!!!

Went to take it back and they started to give us a hard time because it was "obviously previously installed. My buddy near freaked and says, " **&^%^& yeah it was previously installed - now go get another one before this one ends up through your window."

Yeah - My buddy has a bit of a temper.