i'm 72 years old. my dad(92 years old) was a gm mechanic from 1950-1970. when i was 12 years old i started walking to the dealership every day after school and helped my dad. we worked all day on saturdays. in the 60's we didn't bolt on parts. we, the mechanics, re-built everything (starters, generators, alternators, water pumps, ac compressors, wheel cylinders, master cylinders, etc.) we also did all our own machine work on engines that we rebuilt. we had a valve grinding machine, boreing bar, surfacing machine, etc. we did it all. we also repaired radiators, heater cores, and made all our own ac hoses. this was at the local gm dealership. all the dealerships did the same thing. we took our time. we did it right the first time because if it came back we had to do it for free :) my dad and i still do all our own repairs no matter what it is. but it's getting harder because getting kits to rebuild certain parts is almost impossible now.

A lot of the issue is that there is no accountability for these parts makers.

This applies to aircraft parts as well. As a mechanic you start questioning your troubleshooting skills when the part you figured was bad didn't fix it and then it turns out that you received bad parts 3 times in a row.

I have discovered that in most cases a good used OEM part from a salvage yard is better than the new after-market parts sold today.

Its ridiculous! Everything these days is made as cheaply as possible yet costs 3x more than they ever did when they actually made quality parts...

Quality has been falling across the board for years. We've now reached a point where it's so bad many things are no longer fit for purpose. It all comes down to the bean counters that keep cutting costs without any thought about quality.

I am a computer repair technician and I get so many new parts that have come failed! It’s happening everywhere with everything and it’s a shame.

new parts being worse than the old ones is what makes me hesitant to replace super old parts that are still working fine just as preventative maintenance.

This seems to be happening across the board, not just in car parts.

I have been an independent shop tech for almost 30 years. I have had more bad "new" parts in the last year than I have in my whole career. Some brands I refuse to even install anymore.

Ive had a lot higher of a failure rate out of the box from all the in person parts stores and rock auto/ebay/amazon in the last three years. I can only imagine how aggravating this would be if i fixed cars for a living.

When you’re “testing” your new electrical parts, never attach a blade connector or the witness marks on the metal connections (scratches) will prevent you from returning it as an unused part. Use alligator clips!

"No returns" doesn't prevent you from returning a defective part, if the company who sold it wont accept it back then you can file a chargeback with your credit card company.

It's really time to go back to when the local machinist could rebuild the parts locally.

Thanks for another informative video. I am older (73) and much of what you said would have sounded crazy 5 years ago. Dead out of the box?! No way! Sadly, I have come to accept this as a regular occurrence, not just for auto parts but for everything. And every time the new part doesn't work I think I did something wrong. Last month is it was the cable modem. I ordered a new one but couldn't get it to work. I gave up and called Cox Cable. They sent a guy out. The new modem, straight out of the box, was dead. Un-freaking-real. I have had the same thing happen with a half dozen different things. In the past, you went to Western Auto and bought a part from AC Delco, Bendix, or Motorcraft. You knew it would work. And those companies knew it had to work. With offshore suppliers the workers are probably pushed to work beyond their capacity, and the companies don't care about the quality, because if "Tongshui" parts get a bad name, they just rebrand as "Foxpro" or "HongKing."

One of the problems with buying parts online is that they will sell you the same part with three or four different prices from the same seller/company which is crazy SMH

I had a veteran mechanic teach me the best lesson I've ever learned. "Newborn babies die. Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's good." It was a shocking lesson, and it's stuck with me. It's never been more true.

I was just talking about this issue with my wife today. I work in a data center and the crappy "reconditioned" replacement parts we get for our servers are just awful. We have about a 40-50% failure rate, worse with some parts than others. Dell and HP are still great, but pretty much every other vendor we deal with is absolute crap. I'm sick of working 2-3 hours on a fix just to find out that the replacement part I've installed is faulty, and to have to do it all over again. This is becoming an epidemic...

I've worked at a couple auto part stores when I was younger. Last place I worked at we tried to get a cheap version and a "better" version of each part. When it came to electrical parts I use to always suggest the better version because at the time that manufacture still made the parts in the US, and they use to actually be better. They have now switched to an overseas provider, and are just as junk as the cheap version but still carry the premium price.

Lots of counterfeit parts out there too labeled as OEM but they are not!

Those same customers are the same guys who say "why cant Americans make their own stuff anymore?" BECAUSE YOU WONT PAY THE PREMIUM PRICE THATS WHY

At my shop, we're averaging 3 to 5 bad replacement parts a week and an untold amount of lost labor time. We have started ordering and installing a lot more OEM and NOS parts whenever possible. In most cases the OEM parts are getting closer to the aftermarket parts in price but with a higher turn around time.

I’ve had the same problem. Bad seals on all kinds of parts right out of the box. It’s a good thing that Rock Auto covers return shipping for the parts they sell, but I don’t like losing all that extra time and labor dealing with defective parts right out of the box. Sellers should discontinue parts from makers who have high return rates out of the box. Unlike pre-pandemic it’s across brands, which makes it especially hard to know what you’re going to get. It’s become a constant roll of the dice.

Even at the hobbyist level, this is an ongoing issue that has yet to be addressed - there's no care. Time and time again I try to buy new parts for my 01 Jeep Cherokee and half the time they last a few weeks and fail in one way, shape, or form. I've honestly started turning to going used for sensors and whatnot because while these old ones may have a 100,000 on 'em, they actually work. Manufactures need to be held accountable for their shoddy quality control.

Not just cars. A watchmaker said he's had multiple instances where new OEM parts were made improperly out of the box, or new movements straight from the factory being duds. Doesn't matter if it's Swiss or Chinese - everything is just overproduced and unfortunately random defects are inevitable. Warranties and return policies are just as important as the parts themselves it seems.

We're having the same kind of problem here in Brazil. Even reputable brands that used to make real good parts are just failing within a few days or weeks. And if the car model is 10+ years old it gets even worse.

I have done a ton of work post covid as both a Mechanic and Electrician. If there is one thing thats coincided, its the fact that the parts quality have gone straight to Chinese quality. In the past 3 years we have replaced more starters, sensors, water pumps, compressors, radiators, GFCI, Outlets and Canlights than we have ever in our family companies career, which spans over 3 generations. We use to *maybe* replace 1 GFCI every year under warranty, it happens so damn much now we genuinely began losing money on installing them.

If you’ve owned a car from new or relatively new you can keep up with repairs as they age. Buying an old car that hasn’t been kept up can be a nightmare 😮

I went through this a few years ago with a rear brake caliper on a late model Honda(Accord, I think). It came in with a soft pedal and brake fluid pouring out around the parking brake lever shaft in the rear of the caliper. Every reman or new parts store caliper we got leaked the same way. We hit all the usual suspects, AZ, Advance, NAPA, Carquest, OReliey, ect, and none of them were any good. We ended up ordering a new caliper straight from our local Honda dealership and that caliper didn't leak. We were lucky the car was new enough that we were still able to get new parts from the manufacturer. My personal vehicles have even been caught by this. I daily a 96 Buick Roadmaster wagon and it had a bad MAF sensor when I purchased it. The little airflow mesh disk had disintegrated and pieces had gotten stuck to the MAF element and killed it. I went with an AZ replacement MAF since the MAF was a common unit used on a bunch of GM cars into the mid 2000s and also because they were our main supplier and I got a discount. After replacement, I still had bogging issues and weird lean running conditions that were driving me crazy. I finally asked a coworker if I could steal the MAF off of his Buick Century(it used the same one) as a sanity check. Like magic, my running problems were gone. I returned the AZ MAF and paid the $$$ for a new Delphi MAF and haven't had any problems since then.

Funny story on that model. The wiring harness comes out of the firewall and travels to the passenger side, then turns and goes toward the front of the car. There's a large plastic connector just past the AC evap housing. After so many years, the plastic fastener can break and allow that harness to hang down with enough stress on the connector that it can cause wires to pull loose from inside. The main power wire is in that connector. If it pulls just enough to lose connection inside the harness, the entire car will lose power. (I'm not sure, but I think the headlights will still have power to turn on, but if they're down, you won't see them light up in the daytime.) Mine did that. I drove it one Friday afternoon and left it parked outside the garage. The next morning, I went to put it back inside and nothing... There was no power to anything. I let it sit for a few days in frustration, then pushed the car back into the garage by hand. A few days later, I started looking for the problem. I checked the battery. It was fine. I checked fuses. None were blown. I pulled the battery and dropped in a known good battery and still had no power. I gave up and put the car aside, as I had several others to drive and enjoy. It sat for 6 years, with occasional attempts to find the problem. The time came when I decided I'd find the problem or sell it and let someone else deal with it. I researched everything that I could find; I tore out the interior to look for security features that may have failed, door key wiring, hood switch, shifter switch, seat switch, etc. I was about to take a break, and while standing at the passenger front fender, I was resting my hands on the fender and looked down. That's when I saw that white wiring connector dangling. I told myself that the factory did a poor job of securing that connector, and reached down to lift it and see where it should have been fastened to the inner fender. The moment that I lifted it, the key buzzer started making noise. I hurried around to the other side and turned the key. The dash lit up and the starter clicked. I went back to that connector and looked at it, seeing a large red power wire ever so slightly out of place. I could see the metal connector sticking out just the slightest bit from the rest of the plastic housing, so I pushed it in to make full contact. When I went back to the ignition and turned, the engine turned over and tried to come back to life. Most of the gas had evaporated over the years, so I grabbed a gas can and put a couple gallons in the tank. After a few more tries with the key, it started, although it was as rough as a wild horse being ridden for the first time. It bucked and shuddered, but it stayed running. I added more gas to the tank and after a little idling time, it cleared up and was ready to go. I was like a kid in a candy store. It sat for 6 freaking years, all because that one wire had jiggled loose maybe 1/8 of an inch out of place. I couldn't believe it!

I’m just starting my career as an auto technician and the amount of comebacks I’ve seen due to brand new defective parts is mind blowing!

Out-of-box failures are a serious problem in the parts industry, no matter what you're working on. Part of it is due to COVID, part of it is due to sub-par assembly, part of it is due to re-manufacturing negligence. The problem is that people aren't taught how to build equipment, they're taught to screw things together.

That’s why refurbishing old parts is actually a preferred choice by many. Seen in on Wheeler dealers many times.

I had my mechanic replace my rear main seal using one that was highly rated from Amazon (that autozone also carries). It was for my 2011 mazdaspeed 3... It started to leak just a few months after being installed and we had to take the entire transmission out again. Needless to say I went back to OEM.

I own a computer and iPhone repair business. I have had to stop repairing so many things because the parts either aren’t available or are such poor quality that it hurts both the customer and myself. It’s happening in EVERY industry

Hi Car Wizard. When I got crap parts from the auto parts stores I filed a labor claim on each and every one! I encouraged local shops to do the same. Eventually I started quoting some OEM parts on my jobs. The way I saw it, the cost of repeat labor and floor space value meant the extra cost for OEM was worth it to me and the customer! Junk parts have been a problem since at least 2015, and I see its only gotten worse! Truth told I'm almost glad 4 mini strokes ended my automotive career. Anyways I'm with you CW! Servicing cars really sucks these days.

Wizard, a lot of these manufacturers have shifted part production to China instead of Mexico. I never thought the day would come where I would prefer AC Delco parts made in Mexico over the AC Delco parts made in China. These Chinese parts are of inferior quality and due to the trade wars going on with China take forever to get here. Extremely frustrating and annoying.

I work in a smaller shop and order from Oreilleys for most parts, I’ve definitely noticed a drop in the quality of dorman and standard parts. Can make you feel crazy when you install 2 different new parts and still have the same issue. Hard to explain to customers as well, just because it really doesn’t make sense.

I got a damaged new coilpack from EuroCarParts in the UK. I was the second person to open it, wrote "FAULTY RETURN IMMEDIATLY, DO NOT RESELL" all over the box.

The worst part of these bad parts is the extra labor that is wasted fixing these no good parts that we buy. Unfortunately, the lost labor cost that you end up having to eat. It must be very discouraging to be running a shop these days

This is why I am a packrat, I never throw away the old parts, you never know if you might have to rebuild it someday

I can relate to this. I just had to replace the starter motor on my 1990 Volvo. I ordered a rebuilt unit from a Volvo specialist parts company. Original Bosch unit rebuilt by Bosch. Both that they had in stock were defective. Sent both back. Ordred a brand new aftermarket starter. The first one was messed up. The solenoid broke the casting. The second was, thankfully, just fine. Insane.

Now I really appreciate you Wizard. Thank you for being so real and honest about what happens there with parts. Keep up the good fight!

Its definitely worse now than in years past but this wasn't unheard of for a long time. About 20 years ago I needed a new alternator for my SVO Mustang. The replacement failed in a week so the parts store replaced it. Then then next one failed within a week and so did the 3rd replacement. The parts store accused me of my car burning them out. I said BS. They gave me a 4th and it failed too. I had had enough so I opened it up and repaired it myself. It had 6 field wires for the windings and they were soldered to a connection post , but the last 2 and longest wires had popped off of the terminal. This happened because the person assembling the alternator used like 1/1000000 of an oz of solder on all of the leads. Pretty much nothing there on all of the field wires holding them to the posts. So I properly soldered all of the wires to their connection posts and the alternator work perfect for years. Still got it sitting around somewhere , I'm sure it still works fine.

Holy crap, Wizard! I am sooooo glad that I am retired from the industry. Didn’t realize that it’s that bad out there. I would be kicking trash cans all day long.

You are absolutely right, I'm a shade tree mechanic for my own stuff and my family. I can't count the times I've gotten bad (new parts) especially with starters and alternators, it's pitiful having to replace the bad parts 2 or 3 times. Love the show keep up the great content.

In May of 2022, I purchased two wheel hubs for my 2005 Suburban from Ebay. This past June during a state inspection my mechanic showed me the left front wheel bearing was bad! The warrantee was for a replacement which was to involve a letter from my mechanic and shipping the part back at my expense! I decided to buy a different brand of wheel hub. I purchased an alternator for my 2008 Focus from Amazon. Paid the mechanic to install it, it was bad. He would not put the old one back on for he felt bad to charge me the labor cost. So my son put the old on back on the car. My mechanic has faced the same frustrations you have.

Like in everything else these days, I imagine there's a lot of counterfeiting going on in the production of auto parts. I've even read about how they've found counterfeit parts in airplane engines. Think about THAT the next time you're waiting to board your flight.

This was a video I can totally relate to. I recently paid over $300 for an OEM GM alternator. The difference is that I will have only had to install it once.

There are so many specialty vette parts suppliers that you should not be using any generic suppliers....and you can get a warranty too !

Dealt with this many times. Glad it’s not just me. Reading the part reviews sometimes helps and leave a review to help others when you get something good or bad.

That 82 'vette is absolutely a stunning classic example of those years.

The other problem is counterfit parts. I purchased a pair of knock sensers that had GM package and part numbers, but were fake knock-offs from china.

This is why I’m beginning to stock all OEM parts for our older vintage vehicles. Just had a brand new Febi clutch slave explode in the bell housing while bleeding. Thought I somehow missed the alignment and blown the piston but I threw the old 220k one back in and it worked! Took the Febi back to my local euro parts store for an exchange and they refused to exchange it and instead refunded me. After asking why they said the at was the 3rd Febi clutch slave that came back that week. Last I checked they were scrambling to find another distributor. Crap thing is since the slave exploded in the bell housing, trans had to come down. Clutch slave turned into a entire trans out clutch job. Regarding countries, I try to stick to US, UK, CA, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. I’m probably missing a few other countries but I’ve just found over the years these countries tend have less out of box failures. Because I believe in supporting your own countries industrial base, I always try to buy US made when possible.

Wizard I feel you on this one! Parts seem to come broken from the factory lately! I just replaced the alternator on my truck and it is already going bad again, it's about 2 mo. old give or take a week. It's the same for things like electrontics (sensors, relays, etc) the QC seems crap lately, it's like a plauge of gremlins in the warehouse. I agree on the middle level parts, they are usually decent for the money and do pretty well but even those have had problems in the QC area lately. I end up frustrated even as a DIY mechanic at this so I can certainly sympathize with you and your crews frustrations at this and thanks for the PSA to watch out for pre-broken parts.

It's really bad right now. Hate dealing with this shit. Even top name brands now losing quality

For some parts on older cars it would appear you should just rebuild the original parts yourself considering you already have to rebuild the one that was supposed to be rebuilt.

Crazy that in this modern age that we can't get good simple parts. Brake calipers and master cylinders should be good, but oftentimes, they are not. I find, in many cases, for classic cars that rebuilding is the best viable option for repair. The need for real technicians, with actual hands on skill is growing rapidly, despite popular belief that AI and modern updates are going to take our jobs.

There's a KZfaq channel called "Project Farm". The channel owner does several tests with competing products. Last Sunday he took a test on repairing automotive glass. Of all the brands he tested, at least 3 of them had the SAME PART! They were identical! And all of them were BAD in the tests... Here in Brazil we suffer from the same problem: parts and brands that were previously a reference, started to import products from CHINA and the quality plummeted! I'd rather go after USED parts and fix them than buy something new, because I know it's going to be a headache...

I picked up some off brand rotors for an Odyssey. Opened the package and found huge voids in the rotor surfaces. The appalling thing is that these were cast, checked off, and then surfaced and boxed. Made in China kwality.

Back in 1974 I had a great Auto Mech teacher (HS) He taught us about 'you get what you pay for'. When we worked on cars there were brands of parts he said we needed to use. There were lots of good brands. Some of those 'good' brands have been removed from that list. Brands are sold, parts cheapened. One I still trust is FEL-PRO.....I find there stuff is still great, cost more, harder to find sometimes, worth it. That goes for all parts. Thanks

Great video. Thank you. I am an X gen and I still do my oil changes on all my vehicles. One of my boys took his truck to some oil change place and the oil filter was lose to the point that most of the oil leaked out. Thanks to me for checking his vehicle and double checking the work.

we had a similar issue with napa rear brake calipers for a prius. leaked out of the box twice in a row and they gave us lip when we warrantied it. the bigger issue has been with brake rotors that rust out within a year. located in vermont, we perform annual safety inspections. napa rotors replaced for inspection won't pass the following year. we get stuck with the warranty clam because we guarantee every repair for a year. started ordering from worldpac, quality is excellent. only textron or akebono brake parts, oem suppliers. as for the cruise control, i had a similar issue with a personal vehicle. 1990 ford econoline campervan, steering all over the road. got an autozone steering gear, same slop. ended up finding redhead steering gear, they actually rebuild the gear instead of just resealing it. pricey but worth it. highly recommend

I have, for a long time, resorted to retaining used parts, unless they are catastrophically buggered beyond any useful purpose. And I have used said parts to replace the failed 'new' parts to get something back operational! The manufacturing sector is going with a global supply approach to anything. It's growing more and more apparent that things are being made with items manufactured elsewhere and assembled here in North America. Not just USA cuz I b from Canada eh 🍁

Glad you understood Danielson's frustration. I've done far worse. Unfortunately, we aren't all as mellow as Wizard.

There's a serious problem with spare parts these days. Had a 2011 Escalade where the seat actuator failed for the recliner and no one had the actuator. Not GM, not aftermarket companies, no one. Luckily, I was able to find it used in good shape on eBay but the part cost as much as a new actuator.

I keep hearing that more and more auto mechanics are leaving the career field. Now I know a good reason why.

Im sure that cross fire injection was a treat to work on. Rebuilding the original caliper will always be the safer bet on older parts IMO

One thing I've had a lot of trouble with from Parts Stores is their Power Steering Pumps especially the remanufactured ones. You might as well pick up 3 of them and hoping 1 of them is good, I'd say 9/10 times I've installed parts store pumps this has happened! Not far behind on the list of 'might as well pick up a couple' is their Alternators and Starters...

I can relate. I may only be a 6month lawnmower mechanic that's still learning the ropes but even in the lawnmower world this is a problem.

04:30 that’s 40 something years for an 82 model Wizard, time flies 🙈 It’s my birthday in a few days and I’m approaching 50! 50 years is around the corner!!!! I was 18 and 21 just the other day!!!!

The biggest problem is , you might find a shop that has good parts, but those parts will run out eventually, and they will replace it with the same junk everyone else has 😢

Recently listened to a Cooper Bogetti podcast with JH where they talked about these issues. It's extremely expensive and a lot of liabilty for all shops these days, where the shop has to eat costs to maintain customer satisfaction...absolutely insane. Keep it up Wizzard!

This has been an issue in the vintage VW world for over a decade now. My local shop closed its doors in part because the aftermarket parts quality was so bad, they were losing their ass in warranty repairs labor. The only way to really keep an old car on the road is to hoard NOS or decent quality rebuildable original parts.

Hi Car Wizard, fellow professional technician here. You are so spot on with these problems. OEM new is really the ideal solution, but, you're right in that for some vehicles this simply ISN'T an option for varying reasons. At least it's not like my truck, where I CAN'T use anything but OEM, 7.3 diesels don't like anything that isn't OEM for engine controls. Prime example verified through scanner, Injection Pressure Regulator for oil pressure control on the HEUI injection. Idle pressure desired is 500-700, which you GET with the OEM. I got one from Carquest, idle oil pressure was showing 2900! Warrantied it, second one did same thing. Ultimately, the quality just is not the same is my point. Also, I subscribed because I enjoy your way of presentation on here. Fascinating cars, and great subjects in a very good show.

Ive been waiting for someone to bring light to the degrading quality of car parts these days. Thanks Car Wizard!

You can only get quality parts by salvaging them off of other cars. OEM older excellent Metal

I totally agree with this. I have getting my 92 blazer going. I did a motor swap a few years ago and I ran into the same issue with bad parts on the build. Part store parts, online I’ve fond terrible quality on parts which didn’t work or worked poorly.

An old timer mechanic I used to know would rebuild everything in house. He was nearing retirement when I new him and he did his time in the 60’s. He worked alone and just did everything himself and reconditioned his own stuff.

part quality has taken a hit. I had a weird one, I ordered a set of upper control arms off rockauto, and lower control arms from fcp euro. What I got was so bad, I only had 1 set of upper control arms between the two sets, and had to one from one company on the left and one on the right, and the 2 odd ones didn't fit anything. This was on a 2009 c63 amg. That's the weirdest thing I've ran into with parts before!

I live in a remote, rural part of Canada and either I take the risk on online parts at a discount, but if I get something bad I have to wait a couple more weeks to get a replacement OR go to the local stores, pay 3x the price and still have to wait for it to get shipped in (5-7 days vs. 10-15 days) and it might still be a bad part. Trying to fix things myself on any strict timeframe is a dream at this point.

He's right, I've retyped this like 4 times because I keep thinking of times this issue has infected our shop. Thanks for making a video about this.

This is very interesting and troublesome as I also am seeing more and more of this. I do all my own work on my vehicles as my father was a mechanic and taught me. I believe this is exactly what the manufactures have been working at for years. They want you to buy new cars because you are unable to get reliable parts for the old ones.

I truly admire your willingness/ability to make it work, it's not cheap and it shouldn't be with the additional steps you have to go through (including the online research time you devote)

😮 what a nightmare, I had no idea it can be that bad. Thanks for the heads up 👍🤗

Like I said about rebuilding a 1957 Beetle...Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Wizard! I guess we're almost in the Mad Max/Cuban Vintage Vehicles fix-ups...✌️❤️🇨🇦

My issue was just a minor one, but my fuel door actuator went out on my 18 civic that made this loud awful sound when the doors locked. At the time, rock auto was out of stock, autozone/oreileys didn’t sell that part, local Honda dealers were also out of stock and had them on back order. My last resort was buying one on Amazon for about $35 for it to fail within 3 months. I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be on your end as a mechanic. Keep up the great work wizard. I always look forward to watching your guys’ videos.

Wizard, I just did (all) four ball joints on a Wrangler. What a sea of brand choices. I ignored the hype brands, went with OEM (Dana Spicer) and had zero problems pressing them in and no problems aligning it. Drives like it did when new. The OEM was barely a premium price, and in some cases was cheaper.

Trying to buy an AC compressor for my 99 Trans AM and there's nothing but cheap junk available on the market. It's infuriating!

The main problem I am encountering is wrong parts in the box. Standard hardware year parts getting mixed with metric, power steering pumps with ports pointing in the wrong directions, parts for non A/C vehicles listed as for A/C ones, and things like that. The current rebuilders are just not familiar with the nuisances of this stuff and I suspect once that part number sticker goes on the box it’s very hard for the distributors to un ring that bell with the volume of parts in the system. I got a Napa rebuild GM brake booster recently and didn’t bother looking at it until it was time to mount it when I realized it was so bent it would not actually sit flat on the firewall. It’s like they did not even look at the thing while rebuilding it. Oh. Also I see a lot of concealed damage particularly in radiators.

You do absolutely need your A/C to work in the winter. Not only does it run when in defrost it also works with the heat to keep the humidity down. Modern cars also will randomly cycle it even when not on to keep everything moving and fresh. A/Cs do not make cold air. They remove heat and humidity.

Back in the day I tried hard to stick with OEM parts, or NAPA. I have upgraded to all Toyota now, and don't have to worry so much about break downs.

Thanks Wizard. This is a problem in many industries.

I've noticed this more with sensors lately, literally we'll buy a new sensor and it'll be worse than the half-dead original!

As someone working in the automotive industry (for an OEM), I can give a piece of information to explain the situation. I can also confirm this experience as someone restoring a 1972 Datsun 240Z for the last 3 years. To the "Why?": - Since the COVID, A LOT of suppliers just died. From there, the companies can either discontinue the product, or try to find asap a new supplier. The new supplier will either be a cheap one that makes a mediocre job, but still kinda makes it, or it will struggle to get up to speed to match the requested quality. Usually, the product wouldn't be put on the market until the quality matches the brand expectations. But everything happened very fast during the COVID, and many (MANY, including OEMs) took shortcut in order to keep the supply going on with minimum disruption. - For the ones that didn't died but "just" suffered, they had to find new ways to produce the same parts for cheaper. That meant going to the same mediocre suppliers I mentioned. - Others just decided to stop producing parts. You probably noticed that for the last few years, some parts became impossible to find. That's because aftermarket parts is really not all that profitable. Brands and suppliers decided to switch their focus on a smaller, more profitable portfolio (like producing parts for OEMs only). For example, try to find a simple, very famous, Bosch red coil. It is N/A worldwide... The the "I can confirm", here is my experience in the last 2-3 years: - 3 different mechanical fuel pumps, all from very trusted brands. The first was mounted backward (meaning it didn't pull gas from the gas tank, and pushed air towards the gas tank). I unmounted it and fix that. But it then leaked oil from the bottom (bad oil seal). Sent it back, got another. Same issue. Sent it back, got a refund, went to another brand: this time, it couldn't build pressure (or vacuum), since the main seal was mounted backward. Again, I fixed that and it finally works (for now). - KYB suspensions: rear right failed completely after less than 1 year. Got a new one under warranty... - Rear right wheel cylinder: umbrella seals deteriorated in just a couple thousand miles. Got a new one, checked the seal out of the box: it wasn't even on properly. - SU Carburetor fuel lines: cracked in less than 1 year - Tension rod bushing: failed in 2 weeks! - Gearbox mount: did not fit. The pin that locks it in place was maybe 1/8inch off. I had to make a new one myself - Accelerator cable: failed in barely more than 1 year - Distributor rotor: massive play in a few hundred miles - Coolant temp sensor: read a completely wrong temp. Sent it back, got another: better, but still not good. Eventually went OEM... It's mind blowing. Hopefully this will go back to normal in a few years...

The future (now) is not good for small shops or mechanics. Beyond the common wear items, tires, brakes or plugs, parts will not be available for old/older cars and limited for newer cars still under warranty. Welcome to Cuba. It’s just economics!

I enjoy watching your videos. It is eye opening to see what mechanics deal with to manage their businesses. Thank you for sharing.

Been a mechanic here in England for 33 years, seems to have been last 5 to 8 years where part quality has reduced, have learned not trust ANY new parts from ANY source, causes many difficult times!

This is an excellent video to show and prove even newer isn't always better,I worked at Ford for few yrs and a very very large family owned which owned multiple brands,and we had to jump start 3x and had to replace a battery 2x on a brand new Ford flex,so yes new does go bad

Just went through this (again) with replacing the front calipers on my 2006 GMC Sierra. My preferred shop is excellent: they do great, quality work, and stand behind it. Feel bad when they have to repeat their work to account for bad parts. In this case, the pistons weren't retracting to spec, causing the pads to hang, heat up, and smoke. As you pointed out, Mr. Wizard - I'm not sure it matters where you buy your parts from, if they're all coming out of the same 3 factories?