Car owners waste money on cheap parts that keep failing
12 posts across 2 communities in the last 30 days; 83% from r/MechanicAdvice.
“Hey guys, I just lost my engine oil cap and can't find anything that'll fit as a temporary replacement. Suggestions ?”
“Parts guy here at a corporate shop. Has anyone else in the past couple of months experienced this? For example, I’ve ran into the following recently: Ordering an LKQ radiator support and only getting an upper tie bar. Ordering a lower valance cover and getting an upper stop…”
“Why is the shop even allowing you to search for your own parts at this point? I would go through the shops vendor, they know what is reliable and what works for their standards. Keystone capa cert fenders on these trucks have always worked great for me.”
Repeatedly purchasing and installing low-cost aftermarket parts (e.g., lip splitters, air fittings) leads to repeated failures and wasted money. Users feel stuck in a cycle of buying replacements due to poor fit or quality issues.
SOURCES (33)
“Hey guys, I just lost my engine oil cap and can't find anything that'll fit as a temporary replacement. Suggestions ? submitted by /u/Valuable_sandwich44 [link] [comments]”
“Parts guy here at a corporate shop. Has anyone else in the past couple of months experienced this? For example, I’ve ran into the following recently: Ordering an LKQ radiator support and only getting an upper tie bar. Ordering a lower valance cover and getting an upper stop light and related parts. I had a buddy at my old dealer who ordered a core support and they sent him an entire engine assembly instead 💀 Just curious if anyone has ran into this! submitted by /u/baa410 [link] ”
“I’ve been struggling to fix this exhaust leak on my 2006 Nissan Altima and could use some help. At first I was convinced it was my exhaust manifold that needed to be replaced since the original one was replaced about 9 months ago for clogging up. Since then I had replaced it with a cheap one on rock auto but it also began to fail so I bought a oem version but now it doesn’t seem to seal right where the donut gasket goes and connects to the secondary catalytic converter. And now every time I acce”
“Why is the shop even allowing you to search for your own parts at this point? I would go through the shops vendor, they know what is reliable and what works for their standards. Keystone capa cert fenders on these trucks have always worked great for me.”
“It doesn’t want to go back in, trying to gauge how vital it is submitted by /u/angus-b-18 [link] [comments]”
“Hello I have a car that sounds like an old sofa. It's got 143k miles and I believe the control arm/ball joints are all original so they've been bad for a while. My question is about those kits that have all the parts in them. Are there any brands that are decent? I just did the water pump, harmonic balancer, alternator, and pulley's on the car and the AC condenser is up for replacement soon. She runs beautifully and I think the car will be on the road for at least 3 more years. I'”
“Any recommended fix for this? Leaks oil profusely atm. submitted by /u/GranTurismo4Liker [link] [comments]”
“So i just got a muffler delete and it sounds like it might have an exhaust leak? Can anyone give any insight on this? 2008 infiniti g35 submitted by /u/Intelligent_Witness2 [link] [comments]”
“New to cars in general and mine needs to have its air filter replaced. Is there a significant difference between the filters that are under $20 vs the ones that are $80+? What’s the real benefit of the expensive ones? I have a 2006 Honda CR- V. Thank you! submitted by /u/soupgalextreme [link] [comments]”
“Recently tried to fix this thinking replacing the hood latch assembly would solve my problem. Turns out the actual latch is fine (compared to a brand new one) and the cable isn’t being pulled far enough for the mechanism to lock. I checked the entire cable feed and tried tucking it around different ways with no luck. I’m trying to avoid placing the cable since it’s a pain to do. What would be your “good enough” fix for something like this? submitted by /u/Hobojimmeh [link] [com”
“1986 E30 320i , has a ticking exhaust from manifold leak submitted by /u/Will_smith04 [link] [comments]”
“It’s a gross polluter so I guess I would like to source better parts. What marketplace is the best online. I’ll try and go to the best yard near me for parts. submitted by /u/United-Ladder120 [link] [comments]”
“I bought ones that look different from this, and I do have to replace their O rings every year. These ones, I'm not sure where their O rings even are.”
“Yeah, there are some that I have used that do leak and another set that I have that don't leak nearly as much. For what its worth, the leaky set (cheapo) I purchased at: Harbor Freight and they look like the set in your picture.”
high quality ones don't but they're like $8-15 per each side of a fitting
“Would a new exhaust tube work to fix this issue or is there another soultion? submitted by /u/AtTheKevIn [link] [comments]”
“Back in May I had to have the radiator fan, radiator, and hoses replaced because I hit a pot hole so bad it dislodged the radiator fan! A month or two after that it created an air pocket I had to purge and the coolant level was all over the place while I did that. Because of all this I was concerned about coolant leaks and I had a caliper issue and I asked the mechanic to do a pressure test(no leak). Last night I return from a long drive and under the hood smelled of coolant and I check it this”
“If you’re looking for a new joint just stay away from moog. They’ve gone way downhill in recent years. Part may be affordable but nobody wants to pull the knee back apart while it’s under warranty.”
“Hey everyone i need some help i just install new air quality sensor but the fault code wont clear it kept coming back does anyone have kind of this problem before i been searching for hours to solve this problem my car 2008 vw passat b6 variant 2.0 fsi turbo submitted by /u/Due-Nectarine5491 [link] [comments]”
“I flushed my ac lines on my 2012 Mazda 2 and I'm trying to reconnect them. I bought an o ring set from AutoZone and another from harbor freight but none of them match the original ones exactly, and for some reason the old ones are different sizes, one closer to the tip is thicker which if you look up OEM parts they should be the same. The OEM part page does not specify thickness of course. With the thicker new o ring on the end the line will not go back in no matter how hard I try. Thinking”
“Brand new coolant just needed to replace it because my waterpump gasket keeps leaks submitted by /u/Miserable_Loss_8616 [link] [comments]”
“Hi, I have a 2007 lexus LS460 2 pipes with separate mufflers 2.5 years ago the old ones rot and I replaced them - $600 CAD. Now it is again, same spot rot where pipe attached to a muffler. I live in ontario, our roads are salted during long winters. I drove around 80k km or 50k miles during this time. I hoped mufflers would have a longer life. Is it normal? Or I’m really now spending $300 per year? submitted by /u/OilyExamination [link] [comments]”
“Measure the opening and look into rubber plugs, standard nowadays for all cars. No need for the metal one anymore”
“Does anybody know a good steering rack rebuilder in L.A. county? I found one so far in Long Beach called A&D rebuilders but his prices are a little steep. submitted by /u/Dzzle_25 [link] [comments]”
“replacing the bumper hood or grill won’t change any gapping issues… if u aren’t going to sell this car anytime soon there’s 0 point in doing any of that. a gap would be created from a linking point being slightly bent.”
“I thought myself over the years long before we had youtube. you can do it. get a nice mechanic tool kit from home depot and go from there. learn the proper way by using a torque wrench. lots of free resources these days. you can easily work on all sorts of things like replacing engine related parts: radiator, timing belt, alternator, starter, etc... usually, the hard part is accessing the parts rather than the actual instructions. brakes and rotors are also easy to replace. the things I would av”
“I use Prevost female (blue button) and male from a variety of vendors. I'm redoing my air distribution system and wondering if it's worth it to upgrade to the European standard (Prevost green button / ISO-6150) that allows higher airflow rates. I'd need to change all of my males which would be a bit of a PITA but if there's a time to do it, now is it. Has anyone done this? Noticeable difference for anything? Thanks, submitted by /u/DendriteCocktail [link] [comme”
“im starting to believe im entirely incompetent but also dont want to roll into a show with a $70 splitter and spend a ton for them to put it on. i keep purchasing the same splitter off ebay because i keep thinking its me installing it wrong. well this is the third time ive installed one and every time i reinstall the splitter it seems to survive less than the last one. idk what im doing wrong. im taking the bumper assembly off entirely and using washers/bolts and 3M auto tape to adhere it to the”