Short story - customer supplied ‘Motorcraft glow plugs’ for me to install. 30k miles later (one year) truck is having cold start smoke issues. It fogs out the county with choking, eye watering, blue smoke...

Even though GP’s ohmed out OK, I decided to pull valve covers and look around. Went to pull a GP out and my magnet-on-a-stick did not stick to it to pull it out of the hole. ‘That never happened before’ I said to myself and I pulled all (8) GP’s for a closer look. Then I dug out the packages these GP’s came in.

I also had a set of ‘authentic’ (more authentic???) Motorcraft GP’s to compare.

SOB, they are FAKES.

Here’s the subjects:




Which one is the knock-off??

Left or Right?

I pulled the fake out of the bag and gave it a solid inspection. Package said ‘2016’ - but hey, maybe a dealer/parts store went out of business somewhere and someone bought all the inventory and is slowly selling it off. ( I bought several sets of these for $0.01 each went advance auto stopped carrying them a few years ago). The body of GP had Beru - Made in Germany, etc just like an old GP I compared it to. I noticed just now the package says made in Ireland... ( I also have some authentic made in Ireland GP’s). Anyway, this stuff is laser etched on the fakes and looks/feels like the real ones.





Besides being non-ferrous on the top, the top has a slightly different shape and the crimp thing on upper stem looks different. ALL of the real ones (I have 100’s...) have (6) ‘panels’ and the fakes have just a circle in this area.




As seen in other Motorcraft fakes, the authentic stuff has this air release hole punch thing - but fakes do not. After I saw that video, I started looking at other Motorcraft parts and EVERY SINGLE package had this.




Anyway, I learned something and I am SUPER GRATEFUL this did not end poorly. I hope this helps others who ‘found a better deal’ on Motorcraft parts. Know your vendors!!!

In case you didn’t know, off brand glow plugs can fail and cause catastrophic engine damage. These are autolites (JUNK!!). Narrowly avoided disaster getting these out...

 

I saw these GP's in person recently at the GTG with a couple of other FTE'rs. We couldn't believe the differences were so small. The counterfeiters are getting very good at this...

To add to what Jason has said above, a reputable YouTuber has provided some details in the video below.

 

The ZD-11s now come from Ford in 2-packs.

 

Wow that is crazy how similar they look. Kind of makes me think twice about ipr's and icp's that I have had trouble with in the past as I have found some motorcraft stuff cheap online occasionally. I figured hey it's motorcraft why not . Thanks for posting this, I will definitely only buy from Reputable vendors from Now on! So I understand correctly, the 6 panels you are talking about, is that just underneath the top of the glow plug where the wire plugs in? Still can't believe how similar the glow plugs and packaging looks

 

Yes.

Real.



Fake.

 

okay great, thankful I got my last set of plugs from Riff Raff. Have you heard of any other Motorcraft parts that might be fakes also?

 

I'm just stuck on this part...
I mean...I just don't know what to say.

 

Darn, now I feel obligated to pull a vc to check....

 

Biggest ones are the fake filters sold on Ebay and Amazon. The Raccor clones are everywhere along with a ton of fake spark plugs and ignition coils. This is not just Motorcraft but it is happening to all brands. Go looking for Lexus or Toyota parts and it's the same. Go online and you will find a ton of clone Cummins, CAT and Kubota parts all made to look the part at a very steep discount.

 

Counterfeiting is everywhere and it's amazing at what you have to watch for.

 

It was only a year.

(Help me )

 

He's correct!

 

Forgive my ignorance and misinterpretation of the American language, are you fellas saying the genuine ZD-11's from Motorcraft come 2 to a bag (pairs) now?

 

That is correct.

 

You still pay for them individually though - it's not a 2-for-1 deal unless your parts guy mistakenly does it.