Heater Core, why OEM?

Post by **burnout8488** » 15 Jul 2011, 00:53

Quick question, I just had a thought and had to ask.

If all the OEM heater cores notoriously fail, sometimes too early, why do some people prefer to replace them with OEM?

Some of the parts Volvo used in our cars are admittedly not very good, but when it comes time to fix them, I don't understand why people immediately go for OEM if the aftermarket alternative is proven to have near-exact fitment, and likely is designed to fix the problem the OEM part was notorious for.

Post by **erikv11** » 15 Jul 2011, 02:07

The reason is the obvious one: for the heater core, the aftermarket units have a worse track record than OEM (Behr).

People have been working on these cars for so long, and there is so much chatter about them in various forums, that there is a lot of information about OEM vs aftermarket. Sentiment varies about when to go OEM vs. aftermarket but based on a lot of data, for the vast majority of parts, the OEM supplier provides the superior product.

Post by **Juan62** » 15 Jul 2011, 03:07

I second that! Certain replacement parts needs to be OEM. But nothing Man (human) makes, last forever...

Post by **jblackburn** » 15 Jul 2011, 06:47

Simple: THEY ESPLODE!!!!!

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=40020

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 15 Jul 2011, 07:08

The aftermarket ones are also known to not provide as much heat as the OEM.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 15 Jul 2011, 07:32

I agree with zhenya. I replaced one of mine with a Behr and I need to crank the knobs to a much hotter position, that car has a MCC, than I did with the OEM core to get the same heat.

...Lee

Post by **confused_al** » 15 Jul 2011, 08:45

Ozark Lee wrote:I replaced one of mine with a Behr and I need to crank the knobs to a much hotter position, that car has a MCC, than I did with the OEM core to get the same heat

Must be my old age, I'm confused...
Lee, isn't that Behr is OEM?

Post by **Xilikon** » 15 Jul 2011, 09:38

confused_al wrote:
Ozark Lee wrote:I replaced one of mine with a Behr and I need to crank the knobs to a much hotter position, that car has a MCC, than I did with the OEM core to get the same heat
Must be my old age, I'm confused...
Lee, isn't that Behr is OEM?

Yes, I also thought Behr is the OEM for heather core...

Post by **burnout8488** » 15 Jul 2011, 11:59

So, in a nutshell, you're telling me the OEM sucks, but the aftermarket ones suck even more?

What a blunder.

In all seriousness, that bursting thread really does make the aftermarket one look cheap. The reinforcements on the OEM one seem to be extremely important. Since my lower dash is apart anyway, I'm going to try and return the aftermarket core and (regrettably) buy an OEM to replace it with. The aftermarket stinks anyway, because I forgot to clean it.

It just sucks that I can expect the OEM to start seeping sometime down the road too.

Post by **erikv11** » 15 Jul 2011, 16:04

Actually, I'm not saying that.

OEM heater cores are lasting like 5-8 years now (I would estimate originals lasted 10 years on average), IMHO that's really not so bad. If you put one in today, there is a decent chance it will outlast the rest of your car.