And the crap part about this whole deal is ford will eventually raise there price because the AM crowd produces very high fail rate

Just like Dorman oil coolers drove OEM price up

We're paying for part horrors failures

 

Anthony, you weren't bad in what you said.

I didn't post because I thought what I wrote could be taken as a personal attack. But I don't know if the op will ever post back in this thread.

Its just a really sore point with me. I've posted before I watched the company I worked for close plants in Canada, Virginia, North Carolina, two in Missouri, Mass, South Carolina, serious reductions in Tennesee, and thats only in the brake division. In all the management meetings the discussions were never about making more money for the company, it was that making parts there was no longer cost competitive to the competition. Because they were going offshore. And at the same time the automotive retail chains were pushing for lower pricing due to competition and the walk in customers who did not want to pay. A race to the bottom.

The OE parts have the quality target for warranty costs. The auto manufacturer does not want to have high warranty costs, and they get the hard hit for dealership warranty work. The aftermarket parts manufacturer only suffers the wholesale parts cost. Any many of those aftermarket retail stores really don't take a hit because they just send the part back and get a new one. Sales matters, warranty doesn't. It brings the customer back in the store and he might buy something else.

The independent repair shop takes the hardest hit because of the rework. Unfortunately it takes a few more hits before he moves his buying elsewhere. The DIY guy doesn't care that much about his own time. He saves $30. He may have spent an extra 3 hours doing the rework, but he doesn't consider his time as value. I certainly do. I've got better things to do in life then rework.

The rebuilt alternators we hear about out of these stores is a good example.

We're kind of in a spiral and it has taken decades to get where we are, and we're not soon going to get out of it, especially when you see the value of the new, replacement jobs out there. Not trying to make this political, but a number of those plant closing shift had a back story of how expensive some of the regulations were. The best example of that is what happened to the foundries that cast rotor and drums in this country, although in the past two years the tide may be turning. At the turn of the century plants were closing very fast and the industry association pleaded with congress to back off on the regs, but it didn't happen fast enough.

That trend is changing though. Brembo has a new plant in MI this year and Fritz-Winter has one coming up in KY. Despite the plants that my old company opened in Asia, you just don't have the control, and the partners often don't have the same pride vs profit consideration.

Overall the importance of the quality of the parts needs to be comprehended better. Recent examples here are this thread, the questionable blue spring part, sensors that are a little cheaper but don't have an o-ring but Teflon tape while trying to solve another oil cooler change out. The price/quality decision has to be understood better.

 

A very astute analysis Jack, pretty much along the lines of my feelings.

Brakes come to mind.
The fact it's cheaper in many cases to buy a set of rotors new, made by China man, instead of getting them turned.........sad to say the local guy has his lathe parked in the corner and uses it a few times a year.
That was one of my favorite classes back in the day, turning drums and rotors and served me well on all the jobs I did when I had access to a hoist and lathe.
I'm still a bit stubborn and have them turned when I can.

 

And when you go to the shop, most often greeted with either they don't do that anymore, that guy is not here today or its cheaper to buy a new set... real shame we gotten to this point!

 

Put the reman injector from Ford and the problem is fixed, so both injectors from the non-ford reman were bad. Gonna continue to post and pick your guys brains for info, my feelings aren't hurt for all the "I told you so's".

 

There are three ways to learn;
Read about it, have someone tell you about it, and do it. Any combination of two is almost garranteed to stick... 3 is a sure thing!

You will never forget how to bubble test a truck, or how to replace an injector and that Ford remanswer are the way to go.

Good job for hanging in there, some would have became discouraged after the first failed replacement. What did the shop say when you asked for a refund?