Parts brands - OE Volvo, trusted aftermarket, and bad

[BlackBart]

I thought I'd just check out the cheap seats, and here at RockAuto is a "Trakmotive" RF axle for $75, and I'm fairly sure it's the same exact photo as the NAPA Premium CV axle I linked above.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... ggdtu1o%3D

GKN right front is backordered at FCP at $500, and OE Volvo is discontinued.

[Sveedy]

I have used both 1AAuto and TRQ with no issues.
I notice that the TRQ axle shown is a turbo axle (larger dia. main shaft). Considering how hard it is to find those, I'm a bit surprised to see them for $112.

[BlackBart]

Interesting - the $114 one shows as CSA80448.

https://www.1aauto.com/2004-volvo-xc70- ... 04-1234-84

[Sveedy]

JFYI, I ordered a coolant hose online from Partcatalog.com. The manufacture was listed as Partcatalog ( guessing China ), but since the only other affordable option was URO, I decided to give them a try. Open the package and what do I find ? URO !
In the process of returning.

[hiroku]

Hey guys, I have a parts related question which I think fit in the spirit of this thread.

So, Last summer one of my heater hoses failed.
I know to avoid URO, so I looked for an OEM one. Searching by the part number, I found an ebay shop selling a brand new, Genuine Volvo hose.

IIRC the hose did arrive in a nice looking box addressed from Volvo Poland or Slovakia, and the hose itself had Volvo logos in it.
I did notice the design was very different from the original hose that came out of the car, I assumed they changed the supplier to cut costs.

-> I installed the new hose, vacuum-filled and bled the cooling system with Volvo approved coolant. No excessive pressure in the system or anything like that as far as I can tell.

Now, less than 8 months and 10,000km later, it's already leaking! Coolant trace is clearly visible in the crimp union from the rubber with the metal/plastic part.

I imagine these aren't very robust and tend to fail in this area, but 8 months sounds excessive to me...

- Anyone had a similar experience? Is the OEM hose supposed to be this bad, or is this a freak occurrence? there a chance the ebay one could be a fake?

Thanks for your help!

[abscate]

There are a couple of ways eBay can counterfeit parts…

Outright copying with poor QC

Collecting rejected OE parts and selling as new

Both the part and source have to be vetted in this Brave New World

[hiroku]

The seller does look like a semi-official dealership or something, and has 98% positive feedback, so seems reputable enough. Indeed it's impossible to know these days.

I'll try to trigger their 2-year warranty on parts and see how that goes. Thanks!

[abscate]

Good luck with that Hiroku, and let us know how it goes. I’ve collapsed 99% of my purchases to FcP or the Volvo dealer , thankfully only 5 miles away

[hiroku]

On another note, gotta say I always chose Nissens for cooling system stuff, but starting to be quite suspicious of their quality lately.

- fitted a new expansion tank + cap from them a while ago, suddenly coolant started being pushed out of the system via the brand-new Nissens cap. The pressure release mechanism on the Nissens cap felt quite wonky compared with an old OEM one. Replaced with a new OEM cap at it has been perfect ever since.

- Then I installed a new radiator, the fit of the new part was not optimal at several stages in the process. The brass bushing parts need to be swapped from the old radiator and it was a pain to press them in. Then there's only one part number for both manual and automatic cars, so negotiating the large metal pipes for the transmission cooler was unnecessary on my M56 and made installation a million times worse than it needs to be.

- Now the plastic drain plug is stripped the first time it was ever touched.

Now I'm glad I ordered the Mahle Behr oil cooler rather than the Nissens one, even though it was quite a bit more expensive!

[abscate]

FCP has the Nissans p80 heater core for $22 , lifetime warranty of course