Let’s hear your defective parts stories.

Check the parts before you leave the store too. Went to AutoZone for some R45S spark plugs. Opened to check the center electrode is in the correct position with the side electrode as I've seen a lot of AC plugs over the years with the center one offset.

Opened the boxes, all the plugs were obviously previously installed, greasy threads and witness marks on the hex. Now imagine if you went home and found that. They would probably tell you to "pound sand" and walk away.

Best part, counter guy said "last set, you want to try them?"

 

Where to begin...it'd be a very lengthy list...

 

years ago bunch of us wear thrashing hard to get a buddies 273 race dart ready for its first trip to the strip last thing wear beaks all new well beading the left rear a chunk casting cane away with the bleeder

 

I wouldn't be dissing venture capitalists. Without them we would not have jobs. They are the guys who put their money where their mouth is; yes some hit it big like the guys who stuck with Amazon for the decade it lost $billions, but many go broke chasing a dream. Big risk = big failures or big rewards. They play in the big leagues where wimps like us would curl up into the fetal position and suck our thumbs!

 

Facts: New, knock off of a comfort grip F body wheel, manufactured just west of California. I had just installed it during build.
Defect: Self explanatory.

 

Yes Stupid Warner junk (china Mexico) first speedo the odometer stopped at 440 ,the 4 and 0 were trying to drop down together when it should have been the 1 . The needle cant go past 65mph or it will flick on around to do a full circle and wont return till 10mph.
Ok they sent another one so before i dismantle the whole dash I tested it speedo seemed fine but after 30 miles odometer didn't turn one click. So may get one repaired local if its possible.

 

Back in high school I helped my friend and his father rebuild an 8N to be used on their farm. All of us were excided as it cranked over, but would not fire. Band new distributor parts, point gap was double checked. Had fuel and even tried starting ether. No spark. My friend and his father went inside the house and I stayed to check out the tractor. No spark. I grabbed the OLD points out of the garbage can and installed them.....It started right up......All three of us looked over the "new" points and could not see why they were not working......

 

My Mexican coil on my Econoline failed. Replaced it with one made in China. YIKES ! This poop has to stop .

 

I have had an unbelievable number of new parts fail during the last few months. It is making the current build seem to be an almost never ending job. It has become standard policy to look at and test every new part before I leave the store. A new alternator checked good at the store but failed when it was installed. It tested bad when I took it back. Often I go to the back room and look for good used stuff, I saved over the years, when I need to replace something.

John

 

Windows, window mechanisms, brake system, wiper system, steering column, horn, wiring and harness, engine management, headlights, front fenders...

 

I learned long long ago ( when I was in college in the 80s and sold parts for a regional parts store ( Forest City Auto Parts) to check them before leaving the store , as I learned as a counter guy even then we had people bring back there used parts and the nieve counter guy would not check the box and put it back on the shelf . I often would pull the part infront of the customer to check them before sending them out the door , that Champion spark plug with no threads was more common than people think and not just Champions , we bought our plugs in the 64 bulk box packs , we had then come without straps , had some that were not glued and crimped right ( ACs and they blew the core out of the metal when the car fired ) some missing the wire caps , as they were all made and packed by machines .

 

Yep.Same old stuff from the early to mid 60`s when I was assistant mgr of a local parts in my home town in Fl.Plugs with no threads or ground straps.Dist caps with no contacts.Points with no springs.Wrong parts in boxes.You name it,we had it happen.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I am having issues with a Autozone starter in my custom 500,I am lucky to get 200 miles before it starts to just spin and I think I am on #5. Its not a flywheel issue either since when it does start there is no grinding,its just cheap parts installed.

 

anything thats cheap that has a lifetime warantee is often a rattle can rebuild , they basically clean it up and only replace the parts that are worn and then put a coat of paint on them , and they are hit or miss , ( often miss ) yes its cheap and you will get a replacement when it fails , buttt . who pays for the labor??? well my labor is cheap for me , but I have better things to do than crawl under my vehicle for 2 hours and then have to drive a half hour back to the store , wait for the person who doesn't have a clue ask answers on how to replace a belt and makes it out to rebuilding a engine for a half hour , then get interogated by the counter idiots who can screw up changing a plug in light bulb by trying to screw it in and never really Worked on a Vehicle . to get a part that will take a crap on you in the least convienent spot , just to save $30-50 . and I laugh as they now have the 2-5-10 year warantees , same garbage part but they allow you to bring it back more for the years it will fail . ( and the biggest thing no is they try to pass of renewed as new ,) one for the stores near me got sued for misrepresentation and false advertising , "new" mean none of the parts have ever been used and are virgin , and also two of the stores wants to charge you a core for a new part ( new, not rebuilt which I expect to drop off a core ) . wth is up with that ???? unless I have to I do not buy parts from the box stores , only from rock auto or my Jobber . all my electrical I have a local shop I deal with to rebuild them . I am also to the point where I do not buy my shop supplies from them .

 

Replaced the #5 Autozone starter with one from NAPA today.

 

I'm thankful that I've worked on the HD truck side of things for many years and also built driveshafts using primarily Spicer and Neapco products, some Rockwell, some furrin' made. In that field, I got spanked by somebody wanting us to use China repops of a couple common big truck shaft components. The press fit should've been 3.750, and it wasn't, too small. A good weld won't hold without the proper interference fit on a drivesahft application.
While I was in the USAF, I was driving my '65 Chev stepside SBC truck with headers, and my coworker had a '67 Ford F100 352 with headers. I replaced my starter with a one from a local parts store. My buddy bought one from Auto Shack (circa 1986). In a month, he had to pull the re-whatever starter they sold three damn times. The last time he pulled his, we went to the parts store I used and paid for one there. He didn't have to mess with his and I lost track of him. I used my starter for seven years. I had to replace it after I discharged from the Air Force and eventually moved to a place where I drove an 80 mile round trip every day and still in that truck.
And any other questions or comments could be made by me now working at an auto parts store while I grit my teeth to get back to the big truck business. With auto parts, many of the so-called warranties are caused by installer error. Hmmm, truck stuff is like that too.... Kinda funny how you make observations on the selling side.

 

Purchased a pair of Aftermarket Ball Joints for a Nova/39 1/2 ton truck and they were installed and worked fine for about 1500 miles. Then they stared (both uppers) to stiffen up and it caused the steering wheel not to come back to center after a turn. It took me a few hours to figure out what was wrong at the entire system was new from the bottom of the steering column to the tie rods as the wheels.

 

Hello,

Parts, whether they come from the USA or elsewhere, are just a product of assembly line errors. There is nothing we can do to change that scenario. You would think that a standard USA made product would work the first time you install it on your car. But, every factory has problems, it is just part of being factories.

We had a temperature problem on our 348 Impala after a long drive up to the local mountains and back. We pinpointed it down to the thermostat. Ok, that is an easy fix, so disconnect everything when cool, set out the towel to catch any overflow, do all of the right stuff, and install the new USA-made thermostat. Everyone at one time or another has done that simple task. When everything is bolted back together, a test drive is in store and happy days are ahead.

But, when that gauge still gets hot after a block, there is something wrong. The first thing was to remove the newly installed thermostat and check things out. What was to see? It still looked brand new, it just did not work. The cost was minimal, but the time involved in taking things apart and putting them back together was something we did not want to do again.

My brother suggested that I take the stupid thing back to the local auto parts store and get a new one…But, it is a new one… Luckily, it was a short bike ride to the parts store a couple of blocks from our house. (future sponsors: Olympic Auto Parts) By visual inspection, it still looked new, but after describing what took place, the manager was apologetic and gave us a new one, plus a free gasket kit and a free tube of Permatex sealer.

Back then, 90% of the products were made in the USA and the manager was a little ticked off that it did not work the first time. So, a pedal back home, install it again and go for another test drive. The thermostat worked this time and the temp was back in the safe range. Something that was new did not work? What is this old 60’s era coming to with the quality of USA made parts?

Jnaki
So, what did we learn from this fix-it fiasco? Don’t be in a hurry with the fix, accept that somethings just don’t work, (even when new from the good old USA) and develop a “patience is a virtue” towards most things in life.

Like in surfing: If you miss the first set of waves, there are always more coming…So wait it out… no need to scramble with a million other guys for the first set of waves.

Learn from experience…

 

When replacing a thermostat, boil the new one on the stove to see if it works before installing it.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Bought a steering center link from Speedy Bill for my G-body wagon last week. Read online that the nuts could be cheap chinese knock offs. Tightened everything down and stripped a nut. Used the old OEM nuts and everything is ok now. China nut musta been made of lead from recycled batteries

 

Bought a new harmonic damper from Summit. Tried to install it and it fell on. Measured hole and it was .005 larger than my crank snout. This is a brand new Crower billet crank. Called Summit. Tech guy says ".005 is pretty close. .005 is really small. You can't expect a machinist to come closer than that" I sent it back and bought one from BHJ. Really disappointed in Summit tech service moron.

 

Funny how I had to hold.0002-.0003 tolerances back before I retired. You are correct, the guy was a moron.

 

Hello,

After our clutch explosion in our 40 Willys, we always had second thoughts about our new heavy duty clutch that was made for us by a well-known, clutch shop in Long Beach. They assured us that our custom built clutch could handle any amount of power. We had it built in April of 1960 and it was bolted to a 283 SBC with an Isky Cam and 6 Strombergs, using a Joe Hunt Magneto. It was attached to a LaSalle 3 speed transmission.

We put all of it in a 40 Willys coupe. The motor was powerful and at the drags, it went mid 14’s at the first and with more runs and better tuning, mid 13’s. All in all, about 12 runs down the ¼ mile. (plus a 12 mile street cruise…6 out and 6 back)

We stopped running the car and decided to build it with more stuff for faster speeds. We checked everything when we disassembled the motor and clutch for our rebuild. My brother had commented that the clutch looked fairly new without any significant wear on the plates.

In June of 1960, we rebuilt the motor to 292, added Jahns Pistons, ported and polished the heads, got a 671 GMC blower Isky Gilmer Belt Kit, Edlebrock Manifold and a Howard Cam/Lifters set. We kept the 6 Strombergs on top of the 671. So, this motor sounded much more powerful than the original 283 SBC. (We also took it on a 12 mile street cruise to check things out before we took it to Lions Dragstrip.)

Our first run in late July with the new configuration was high 12’s, consistently. Now, we were in the ball game. After 4 more runs, we went home to do some more detailing and tuning. So now, from April to July, it had 12 quarter mile runs. From July to August, it had 5 runs up to the final eliminations and explosion. So, a total of 17 runs on the heavy duty clutch with this 671 SBC motor configuration.

This was the bone of contention: If a clutch did not show signs of significant wear, how much more pressure could a 671 on a slightly larger motor put on the plates in those 6 runs to the end? We did not have any dyno readings on either motor, but the 671 motor seemed significantly more powerful in our test runs and street cruise.

Jnaki

So, was the clutch worn out up to the explosion with the more powerful motor set up? Or were we pushing it with those 17 total runs from new? That is a question for the ages… defective or not? We decided that there was no way to prove it one way or another, so we decided that our next build would have a stick hydramatic transmission like the C&O hydro in the 58 Impala or the more expensive B&M stick hydro.

 

40StudeDude.Very true or made in Mexico. You would think parts store would get tired of all the returns.Bruce.

 

My wife just told me a story when she bought an alternator for 1 of her older cars and it didn't work.She took it back and asked the manger to look at it. He said he couldn't believe it when he checked it out .He said it was rebuilt totally backwards. In his words some one did a half ass job on this. Bruce.

 

I read somewhere the whole point of a damper/balancer is that it has to install on the snout with a tight interference fit or it won't do the job.

 

DAMN!!!!! Bruce.

 

John.I do the same thing. Thats how I got a front set of brakes for my 56 Chrysler Windsor. I had one before and kept the almost new brakes I took off them on I had 8 years ago. What they were asking for front brakes on e bay for my car were crazy!!!Bruce.

 

On my 1964 buick station wagon I was replacing the rear u joint, and after installing it greased it I saw grease coming out of only three caps. I pulled the u joint back off and pulled the caps off. On 1 end didn't even have a hole drilled in it for the grease to come thru. I took it back and they couldn't belive it. I always pull the caps off all my u joints before installing them now. Bruce.