Why buy Lincoln OEM parts vs aftermarket????? lil help??

[Foz]

Why should I spend the extra money on OEM Lincoln parts when I can get the same parts from say.. Advance for less?

I'm going to do the traditional Valve Cover Gasket this weekend, and am going to go pick-up the covers from Lincoln, however The coils are 30 bucks cheaper more at Lincoln than Advance and I only need one. The guy at advance told me that they will replace it once for free for the first yeat

Which also leads to my next question. The print out at Advance said that I am misfiriing Cylnder 7. Can I trust the accuracy of their scan machine? Or should I go drop the money to have the Stealership scan it?

Thoughts????


TIA

 

[Calabrio]

Some parts are just a higher quality when purchased from the dealer. When buying parts, the best option is to contact Max at Five Star Ford for his prices. Often times, I find that his prices are about the same as the off-brand stuff from the chain stores. It's not a myth, those stores often sell products that are simply inferior to the OEM parts. I've bought those lifetime warrantied starters that needed to be replaced annually in the past.

And the scanner should be accurate, it'll give you the right code. I would double check "why" it's misfiring with someone other than a store employee though.

 

[Foz]

I'm farely positive it it's the coil gone bad, I've been putting off changing the Valve Cover Gasket for a little longer than I should have. It just started to act up this last week, so I'm going to change the gasket this weekend, and while I'm at it I'll replace the bad Coil.... and correction I can get the coil for less than 50, a friend who works at Advance is going to help me out, and the Dealer is around 80...

Anyone had bad luck with Advance coils?

 

[LSC_YA]

O'Reilly's has Borg Warner coils for 41.00 and Motorcraft for 53.00...Borg Warners lifetime waranty and Motorcraft 12 months...later

 

[Jim Henderson]

Some aftermarket is OK some is terrible. The dealer parts are alsways to spec but usually cost more, but not always.

I once spent a lot of time and money and a miserable drive from LA to New Mexico in August because I bought store brand ignition points. They arced and caused all sorts of problems until the dealer replaced them with OEM.

I usually find the "universal" part like some water hoses, fan belts etc are not very good and often have enough slop in fit that they cause problems.

I do like aftermarket NAME BRAND gaskets, filters, plugs and other common parts. Less common things I find are better purchased at the dealer.

Some lifetime parts really need the warranty. I would be OK with lifetime warranties from a reputable brand but noname brands and rebuilds are sometimes a gamble. Once went thru 3 alternators in a month, yeah great warrant but a PITA to replace everytime, but I became expert at it.

On an LS not many aftermarket parts are going to be available. So other than plugs and filters and maybe name brand coils I would stick to OEM.

Just my experience while tinkering since before I could drive.

Jim Henderson

 

[Roadwarrior50]

I would spend the money on quality, even if you get free replacements the labour to change parts isnt worth it. I had to change the alternator on my 97 Mercury mystique with the 2.5L. If you want a hard job than give that a try and look up the how to's.

 

[SoonerLS]

Sometimes parts are worth what you pay for them. I know there have been a few "lifetime warranty" parts that more than made up for their cheapness with the number of times I had to replace them.

I can tell you there's nothing like lying on asphalt in a puddle of someone else's oil while you reassemble that *^&$ing DuraLast Lifetime Warranty starter that just spontaneously disassembled itself AGAIN. (Ahh, to be a starving college student again.) I can also tell you that my LSes have only seen aftermarket parts superior to OEM (strangely, none of them had lifetime warranties ), never "store brand" parts.

 

[NYC LS8]

Sometimes parts are worth what you pay for them.

Yup. You get what you pay for!

 

[Machspeed]

I can tell you there's nothing like lying on asphalt in a puddle of someone else's oil while you reassemble that *^&$ing DuraLast Lifetime Warranty starter that just spontaneously disassembled itself AGAIN. (Ahh, to be a starving college student again.)

Man, ain't that the truth....been there on all accounts....LOL!

 

[Jim Henderson]

Sometimes parts are worth what you pay for them. I know there have been a few "lifetime warranty" parts that more than made up for their cheapness with the number of times I had to replace them.

I can tell you there's nothing like lying on asphalt in a puddle of someone else's oil while you reassemble that *^&$ing DuraLast Lifetime Warranty starter that just spontaneously disassembled itself AGAIN. (Ahh, to be a starving college student again.) I can also tell you that my LSes have only seen aftermarket parts superior to OEM (strangely, none of them had lifetime warranties ), never "store brand" parts.

Whine whine whine, at least the oil was probably warm.

I changed the first of the three alternators I mentioned while lying on my back in a tee shirt in snow in a parking lot in Mojave Calif during a light snowstorm at 10 at night after finding the autopart store owner's home # and getting him to sell me a lifetime alternator for only double the daytime price. Then of course replacing that alternator a week later and then that replacement a day later.


Whine whine whine ;^)

Jim Henderson