Parts Vendors. the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,858
Likes: 1
From: Dark side of the sun.
Hey everybody new to this sight and bought my first idi, well first diesel ever and I have found everything else I need to fix truck except the wiring harness from the fire wall into engine bay right below the brake master cylinder any leads in a direction to go would be awesome thanks in advance
New User
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
From: Maryland
Ugg, I'd run Baldwin's before I ran Fram. Hell, I'd run anything before I ran Fram.
Most of you know by now I'm not a fan of brand wars. Everyone has their favorites and a lot of people claim their trucks 'like' a certain this that or the other. Fact is a truck is not sentient, it doesn't give a crap what you use. It's the owner that likes this that or the other.
I just go by my personal experience and that of others as what NOT to use.
So here's my personal experience on the Cat VS Baldwin filter thing:
In the '90's we were running two Freightliner FLDs with the 3406E Cats in them at my location. Both trucks were finicky, particularly with the fuel systems. Often would get phantom codes and power losses the dealer/shops couldn't explain.
One day our fleet manager, (located out of state), told me to try Cat filters in those trucks; that Cat's did better with the factory filters.
Oh boy, here we go with the brand thing I sez to myself. But I replaced the Baldwin filters with Cats at the next service. Here's the test: I did not tell either driver that I did anything different. The same week both drivers reported that the trucks were running better and more responsive.
We still had fuel system issues with those trucks, but it really cut down on the random codes and power loss.
I don't know the science behind it, I suppose the OEM filters are calibrated for the engine it's attached to. Maybe the aftermarket stuff isn't exact to the application, but 'close enough' to work.
Recently we had a clown at another location put a Fram oil filter on his Volvo truck. It wasn't the proper micron rating for that truck so it sucked itself in and crumpled like a pepsi can and truck lost its oil pressure. They caught it in time though. Glad it wasn't one of mine, lol.
Most of you know by now I'm not a fan of brand wars. Everyone has their favorites and a lot of people claim their trucks 'like' a certain this that or the other. Fact is a truck is not sentient, it doesn't give a crap what you use. It's the owner that likes this that or the other.
I just go by my personal experience and that of others as what NOT to use.
So here's my personal experience on the Cat VS Baldwin filter thing:
In the '90's we were running two Freightliner FLDs with the 3406E Cats in them at my location. Both trucks were finicky, particularly with the fuel systems. Often would get phantom codes and power losses the dealer/shops couldn't explain.
One day our fleet manager, (located out of state), told me to try Cat filters in those trucks; that Cat's did better with the factory filters.
Oh boy, here we go with the brand thing I sez to myself. But I replaced the Baldwin filters with Cats at the next service. Here's the test: I did not tell either driver that I did anything different. The same week both drivers reported that the trucks were running better and more responsive.
We still had fuel system issues with those trucks, but it really cut down on the random codes and power loss.
I don't know the science behind it, I suppose the OEM filters are calibrated for the engine it's attached to. Maybe the aftermarket stuff isn't exact to the application, but 'close enough' to work.
Recently we had a clown at another location put a Fram oil filter on his Volvo truck. It wasn't the proper micron rating for that truck so it sucked itself in and crumpled like a pepsi can and truck lost its oil pressure. They caught it in time though. Glad it wasn't one of mine, lol.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,858
Likes: 1
From: Dark side of the sun.
Unless its a beater, Stay away from autozone parts. Cheap and unreliable. Napa is to expensive for me. Oreilly is a good mid grade parts supplier thats local. Now, autozone usually has a oil change sale which I'll bite on when doing a friends car but even then, For my own, I stay away from it. On filters, I only do mobile 1 when I can. I've had almost all of the others fail. Including wix. At work, They only use Baldwin filters. The battery cable from oreillys is American made, excellent quality, and cheaper than the motorcraft by $30 and is almost identical to it. Nice heavy gauge 2/0 with no copper exposed.
Heres one most people don't think about: Harbor Freight. Their split conduit is nice, comes in a variety of sizes, and is a bear to open so it stays tight, and is the same thickness as oem. Their adhesive heatshrink is nice aswell. Used a ton of it on my '87 and it shrinks nicely, the glue does come out but not to much, and if you get it to hot, it does bubble and smoke just a little but can be smoothed back down and doesn't affect it. They also have a dental pick set that is perfect for connectors with the red tab inside them.
The dorman stuff is junk.
Heres one most people don't think about: Harbor Freight. Their split conduit is nice, comes in a variety of sizes, and is a bear to open so it stays tight, and is the same thickness as oem. Their adhesive heatshrink is nice aswell. Used a ton of it on my '87 and it shrinks nicely, the glue does come out but not to much, and if you get it to hot, it does bubble and smoke just a little but can be smoothed back down and doesn't affect it. They also have a dental pick set that is perfect for connectors with the red tab inside them.
The dorman stuff is junk.
New User
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
I took a field trip to a baldwin plant in auto tech school over 10 years ago and they were mfg'ing packaging and shipping out filters for fram, wix, and baldwin so I can tell you that it doesn't matter what name is on the outside. Don't trust any filter till you cut it open and see whats on the inside.
I have a moose jr injection pump and a set of injectors from Conestoga Diesel and they are great.
Dont ever buy a set of heads from Cylinder Heads International.
Stick with stock Zd9 glow plugs, the aftermarket ones will swell up and stock in the heads.
I have a moose jr injection pump and a set of injectors from Conestoga Diesel and they are great.
Dont ever buy a set of heads from Cylinder Heads International.
Stick with stock Zd9 glow plugs, the aftermarket ones will swell up and stock in the heads.
Trailering
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
From: central British Columbia
Summit Racing of Ohio. Great folks to deal with. I've bought a few things from them online, and the goods always arrive very well padded and boxed. Even with shipping, taxes, exchange rate etc. I can buy name-brand parts for less than locally. Two thumbs up!
Super Moderator
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 8,547
Likes: 6
From: MA
Whats wrong with Airtex? They make all of the fuel pumps for military diesel power generation units, and seem to have excellent quality at least in that application (I refurbish and resell these machines).
Logistics Pro
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 4,221
Likes: 15
Utter garbage, they have no sense of QC and you can measure their tolerances with a ruler! No joke, for example I couldn't get a replacement pump to fit in its holder, the rubber mounts that hold it were .250 larger than the holder! That's right, a friggen quarter of an inch error! And the pump design was so different from the factory pump I couldn't just switch out the rubber mounts. And after a few more incidents like that I swore off their crap, will not buy AirCrap again.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 1,666
Likes: 400
Diesel-rx is often recommended, and they do work significantly better than autolite
Thread Starter
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i ain't rite
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 65,221
Likes: 5,405
From: Marlboro Mental Hospital.
autolites are recommended by damn near every parts store too.
just because people recommend diesel-rx, does not mean i will ever use them.
as i am fond of saying.....if they are so damn good, why don't Ford or International use them?
just because people recommend diesel-rx, does not mean i will ever use them.
as i am fond of saying.....if they are so damn good, why don't Ford or International use them?
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 1,666
Likes: 400
I don't give a damn what parts store recommend, cause it'll always be who pays the most, I also don't care what Ford uses, as you replace the stock ones when they break
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