PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

I am not quite sure what to do at this point with the PA, but I am growing rather sick of this problem that has cropped up in the last 8 years of owning this car.

The problem? Replacement parts.

I know that being 22 years old, with 191k miles, any original part failure is completely fair game. I accept that. But those failures are relatively few and far between, it's everything that happens after the replacement that bugs me.

Some examples:

Alternator: I am on my 4th alternator. Admittedly it's the DuraKrap lifetime warranty special from AutoZone. I knew that going into it though, and replacement is a breeze, so this is not really where my beef lies, but since the rant is rolling, I am tossing this on there

Battery: I am also on my 4th battery. Most of them still start the car just fine when they fail, but I start noticing electrical oddities, and then have the charging system tested, which flushes out the bad battery. Odd, but again, DuraKrap Maxx, and I have had several occaisions where running the best big battery has saved my bacon.

Master Cylinder: That one hasn't come up lately thankfully, but that took 2 or 3 replacements to get sorted out.

Radiator cap: I average 1 of these a year. They all seem to start leaking externally.

But here's the latest one,

Heater Core: Fairly certain the original is what came out originally, and it was replaced with a solid aluminum unit from RockAuto. I, captain fluffy fingers, had no interest crawling under the dash, so $250 in labor later, I was back on the road. 6 months later, it failed, and I was rather annoyed, so I dumped the dreaded stop leak in it. It held together for about another year, until it failed again. Not wanting to have to deal with this issue again, I put it in a shop, they put up the parts, and about $300 later I was rolling down the road (with apparently half my glovebox screws missing between the 2 trips in). About a year later, I start smelling coolant. It's faint, and I can't tell where it's coming from, so I wait, because sooner or later, it will show itself. Sure enough, a month later, the heater core explodes again. 3 weeks out of warranty with 5k miles on it.

I am pretty sick of this nonsense, but I can't help but wonder if the parts are really this crappy, or if there is something wrong with the car that is causing it to chew through parts like this.

Thoughts? Suggestions? General insults?

I feel like most replacement parts are reman'd or manufactured with the idea that the owner will ditch the car in a couple years.

The electrical problem might be a slight current draw that isn't enough to drain the battery while driven day to day but enough to suck what's left of the CCAs at start up and work the alt.

I try and steer clear of cheaper stuff with warranties because I know it will fail and my time is worth more..

You have to replace like for like, for instance, you orig battery was a sealed Delco, probably
lasted 9 or more years (mine have).

The original heater core could have had plastic tanks to eliminate electrolysis. If it did, an all
metal aluminum one is the problem. Its acting like battery plates in the core.
Same with radiator etc. You may have to ground it.

Buy OEM or an aftermarket part designed to OEM standards.

I have the orig radiator cap on my 96 and will not use that aftermarket crap. I had a lever vent one
that would not even hold pressure. Put the orig on back on and good to go.

2 of them are because you're buying Duracrap.

The heatercore, yeah, that's *shoot*.

Depends on the part. Sometimes, there isn't an option for a like-OE or OE part (AC Delco), so you're at the mercy of the aftermarket.. The new sending unit on my '89 fuel tank looses connection with the resistor when it gets to E - it's a brand new part that doesn't freaking work right. There are several aftermarket parts that have proven to be just as reliable, if not more, than the OE part. Moog problem solvers come to mind. And then there are still OEMs that manufacture replacement parts (Timken, AC Delco, Delphi, Denso, etc), and then there are a few companies that maintain old tooling from the OEMs to either remanufacture parts or rebuild them (like Borgeson). Those are usually the safe bets for a quality part.

The rest (Airtex/Wells, Mevotech, SuperBestParts#1, etc.) are all parts out of the same factory in china, that have no real quality control, and build with not-to-spec materials, that 1/20 actually work and the rest are just some form of junk that's going to fail after 30 days. Cheap parts got me through college, but I wasn't paying a shop $300 for a heater core replacement either, and even then I was getting better reliability from cheaper used OE parts from a U-pull.

MattStrike wrote:Depends on the part. Sometimes, there isn't an option for a like-OE or OE part (AC Delco), so you're at the mercy of the aftermarket.. The new sending unit on my '89 fuel tank looses connection with the resistor when it gets to E - it's a brand new part that doesn't freaking work right. There are several aftermarket parts that have proven to be just as reliable, if not more, than the OE part. Moog problem solvers come to mind. And then there are still OEMs that manufacture replacement parts (Timken, AC Delco, Delphi, Denso, etc), and then there are a few companies that maintain old tooling from the OEMs to either remanufacture parts or rebuild them (like Borgeson). Those are usually the safe bets for a quality part.

The rest (Airtex/Wells, Mevotech, SuperBestParts#1, etc.) are all parts out of the same factory in china, that have no real quality control, and build with not-to-spec materials, that 1/20 actually work and the rest are just some form of junk that's going to fail after 30 days. Cheap parts got me through college, but I wasn't paying a shop $300 for a heater core replacement either, and even then I was getting better reliability from cheaper used OE parts from a U-pull.

The u pull it yard is the best source for OEM parts. I have gotten better alternators, and modules for used cars.

I have been through a bad rash of alternators over the years...

At one point after the 3rd failure of Advance Auto's best alternator... I got pissed and told them to find me an AC Delco New unit and I would pay the difference just to have a quality item.. This alternator is still on my car 14 years later.... Its on battery 4 in that time.. and it still produces 14v with no dips of funkiness any of the other alternators had..

I have the Original CS 144 140 Amp alternator from the van, its being used on a charging cart.. Had a bearing starting to squeak.. Replaced it, I fried the regulator in testing so I replaced that too.. The brushes were still good so they went back in.. Funny this alternator is 21 years old and produces 14.5 volts for my charging cart..

The 03 had a GM/Delco reman, from what I can gather it was replaced under warranty.. I went ahead and installed a new alternator only to have it fail less than a year later just above jacksonville and put me in the middle of the hood... I went up another exit and parked in front of a large zoo for the swap out.. I keep a trunk spare in this car.. Broke out the old one as it was still good.. Installed it and on my way again.. Thank goodness for a 79 series HD battery.. Once I made it up north I bought an Advance reman with their best warranty.. 6 months later the voltage gauge started wigging out.. I exchanged it and got another, I tested it to verify it works( its now the trunk spare ) Have had no issues to date with the GM Delco reman...

I did the same with the van... When we updated the engine and PCM, we went with the newer style alternator... Funny I had one burn up, another just quit, another had a field fail.. #4 is still functional but you can bet I will have a saddle bag spare alternator..

I am at the point now where rebuilding it myself may be a better idea..

Don't get me started on the other parts... a lot of the time the quality is just not there..

On the Junk Yards... I agree there are a lot of times where you can actually find better parts in the yard as opposed to the aftermarket..

I had a similar experience. I had a 1992 Bonne SSE, that I bought new, and ran through 3 Alternators in its 189k miles, 12 year life span in my household. My sense is there is/was an electrical system design flaw. There was always some quirky light dimming when the blower fan fan was turned on and off, and even the power windows dimmed the lights.

I'm not a fan of aftermarket parts and avoid them whenever I can (very few exceptions apply). I know this just isn't always possible. Even on newer vehicles they are often questionable. I believe this is part of the reason that dealerships charge as much as they do. At least there is some standard that must be met. Even RockAuto has their low-end lines so it isn't even so much the vendor as the manufacturer. Some replacement OE parts just don't last like the originals either. You have to find that balance between what you're able to spend on good quality items and what's reasonable to put into a 20 year old car. This can be tough sometimes. The car isn't worth much for you if it keeps breaking down but isn't worth much to the insurance company (in the event of a wreck) regardless of what brand of parts you use.

MY 96 SE still has the orig alternator. About 10 yrs ago it went out on me.

Took it apart, everything looked good (brushes excellent) except 1/2 of the rectifier bridge was dead.
The diode went, found an orig 180k car in the junk yard, took the rectifier out of that
and installed in my orig alt, still going strong to date.

I am happy with that, you just cannot buy the Delco internal parts any more.
Wish you could, would save a lot of time.

My 92 Bonne SSE went through 3 Alternator's in 189K miles - all GM factory eq, installed by Dealer. So far so good on my 98 SSEi, but have only had it 18 months (also no discernible light dimming on the 98 like I had in the 92). It would be interesting to know if there were any substantial design modifications made in the 96-99 Bonne's.

Nothing infuriates me more than having to re-do a job because the part was made like garbage.
Whenever possible/practical, I shell out the extra cash and buy ACDelco OEM grade but, as others have noted, that isn't always possible.
Even brands that formerly were known to be higher quality seem to have gone down in terms of quality.
Know that the problem is not unique to US car aftermarket parts.
For example, my Nissan Sentra's crankshaft position sensor made by Standard--which used to be top-notch back in the day--failed in less than 12 months of light vehicle use.

If the price difference between OEM and aftermarket is huge, then I factor in how labor-intensive it is to re-replace defective parts before making a final decision but usually opt for OEM based on past experiences.

RJolly, sorry to hear how lousy the quality of the work was, in addition to the part failures.

Sadly, at least in the US the attitude is far too likely to be, "It's not my car." followed by rushed, poor quality work.
Whatever has happened to taking pride in one's work?