Mechanical fuel pump beef/info rant

[SirRobyn0]

@Grit dog I have heard good things about Sound Starter, but they don't deliver and it's not really practical for us to drive to them. There is a guy in Woodinville.... Off hand I can't think of his name, but he ran Allstar Alternator and starter for years. As the cheap reman'd alternators hit the market at the parts stores he refused to budge in quality and continued to produce high quality hand rebuilt products. What he got for that was run out of business because he couldn't compete on price. So he moved his equipment to his house and rebuilds alternators and starters, mostly for shops and guys that know him. The trouble is because he's doing this out of his home and around a fulltime job it generally takes him a week or so to do a rebuild and he has no rebuilt units ready to go. Still we use him sometimes for certain things, like a hard to find alternator for example.

Yes, parts prices are going crazy and the rent went up 2K a month.....

 

[Ricko1966]

I hear ya. The overarching theme is that all the “name brands “ are farming out their names for the purpose of marketing the almighty dollar.

I recently purchased a whole brake setup from Rock Auto, and spent extra for the AC Delco items. Guess what? I paid 15 bucks an item (or so) extra for the box. When I pulled the part from the box, it had the exact same off brand name that I could’ve bought for less money. I could go take a pictures of the tag that’s on the brake hose, but you get my drift. Same cheaper part, AC Delco.

I’m not going all “‘MURICA” here, but good lord, the bumper brackets I bought this week from Classic Parts stamped Taiwan, was a helluva time getting matched up with the Summit bumper that I bought. It’s the world we’re living in, and it’s no better to buy from LMC, since they charge a premium, and their parts are also from overseas. Perhaps they are better there.

If the parts work, that’s fine- but perhaps I still live in the shadow of Flint, MI. And when I buy parts that are rebranded and not from them, I guess it’s kinda heartbreaking.

I'm not so sure you bought genuine AC/Delco,it may have been represented that way and the box may say so.I say this because I wentvround and round back and forth between airtex and rockauto and a junk fuel pump. Airtex wouldn't warranty they said it wasn't theirs and Rockauto isn't an airtex dealer. Airtex said buy the same pump from summit,I did problem solved.Going strong years later. People also get imitation parts of off Amazon as well as other places all thevtime,somebody recently recently posted about a imposter fuel pressure regulator that got from Amazon. What I'm saying is let's not all blame the manufacturers for ripping us off and completely bypass who sold us the parts

 

[ChuckN]

@Ricko1966 i think the lesson I learned is that if I really want an AC Delco part, I damned well better go to a local parts store and pull it out out of the box before I swipe the card. Otherwise it’s too difficult to navigate what is being sold through any online retailer.

 

[Grit dog]

@Ricko1966 i think the lesson I learned is that if I really want an AC Delco part, I damned well better go to a local parts store and pull it out out of the box before I swipe the card. Otherwise it’s too difficult to navigate what is being sold through any online retailer.

Yup online trickery….
I got a smokin deal recently on new batteries for our diesel. Delco Gold AGMs for about $100 a piece cheaper than everything else of similar quality.
Showed up in original packaging shipped direct from GM.
Turns out they must be clearing out old stock. Batteries are almost 3 years old….
But whatever’s. They work just fine and I’d expect them to last a good long time. We’re still showing 12.5v both of them after being last charged up around the time the China Virus hit us!

 

[Snoots]

I've seen AC Delco parts made in china and, AC Delco Professional parts made elsewhere.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I'm not so sure you bought genuine AC/Delco,it may have been represented that way and the box may say so.I say this because I wentvround and round back and forth between airtex and rockauto and a junk fuel pump. Airtex wouldn't warranty they said it wasn't theirs and Rockauto isn't an airtex dealer. Airtex said buy the same pump from summit,I did problem solved.Going strong years later. People also get imitation parts of off Amazon as well as other places all thevtime,somebody recently recently posted about a imposter fuel pressure regulator that got from Amazon. What I'm saying is let's not all blame the manufacturers for ripping us off and completely bypass who sold us the parts

@Ricko1966 i think the lesson I learned is that if I really want an AC Delco part, I damned well better go to a local parts store and pull it out out of the box before I swipe the card. Otherwise it’s too difficult to navigate what is being sold through any online retailer.

I was taken about 15 years ago by Rockauto on PCM that cost me about $600. It showed up and it was clearly someone core inside the box. (core charge was something like $50), they refused to send me another unit or issue me a refund. CC company was of no help. I lost the money and had to pay to purchase one from a local parts store.

I'll still buy some parts online, but only lower cost stuff, and with rare exception only from amazon, because of their return policy.