Rock Auto buyer beware

Doppleganger said:

I used to buy Airtex in tank pumps alot - when they were still made in Canada. Now all chicom and junk. I've even had them wired backward from the factory. OE Volvo intank pumps are reboxed Airtex with 90 day warranties and 3x the price.

Typically what I have done is go buy one at Autozone.....someplace thats a tad higher price, but no qualm lifetime warranty....that, and they are everywhere if ever there's a problem. Did that with the 2 Delco Pro pumps for my FI conversion.

Warranties, having to ship the parts back (I've had to cover shipping on THEIR mistake / defective parts out of the box), convenience, etc.....is why I dont buy more at Rock.

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We ride with Oreillies around here, we'll see you at the riot... watch your back!

Joking of course, but yes when it comes to a part that you intend to keep for a while, especially if its in normal stock near you, getting local never hurts. However, damn near anything i get from a part store these days beyond normal maintenace item(except oil filters for a prev car of mine... seriously?) i almost always need to wait half a day to come from hub, half the time arriving damaged or just standard shipping which at that point i could use amazon for 15 dollars cheaper.

I do always check one or two auto parts stores, periodically ill find random stuff they just happen to carry cheaper than even most bottom of the barrel online retailer, like when a bought a turn signal cam for a 1977 ford LTD

Ricko1966 said:

Thanks man.lesson learned.The bitch is it says right on their site limited lifetime warrantee.I thought I was safe.Also didn't know Airtex had a bad rep I saw reviews that looked good on Summit and Amazon, thought I'd save a little at Rockauto. I don't even buy their cheap stuff because I don't like problems,but I guess that's not the only thing to look out for there.

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I put a delphi fuel pump in my 99 park avenue and its treated me well so far, but the real test would be if it could go 208k miles like the original delco from 98 that only needed replacement because the fuel lever sender wouldnt read under half.

If Walbro is available, that's what I get. If not, Delphi.

I rarely buy consumables online - water pumps, fuel pumps, alternators, etc. due to the PITA if you have a problem.

I would like to adapt the setup that's in my Vortec trucks where the pump sits in a "basket" and has a bypass on the pump that keeps the basket full. No fuel starvation, no hot fuel pump since it stays submerged. The basket acts as a sump for cornering as well. I have one square I'm working on now that'll need a new tank, maybe I can get 'er adapted. I'll post here if I do.

Ricko1966 said:

I 99.9 percent of the time will run an OE pump if it's electric.I even arguebwith my friends.No that's not a Chevy pump it's a cheap aftermarket pump that kinda fits your Chevy.The fuel pump lobe went flat on my cam 190k I'm cool with that I have a fresh shortblock on my engine stand now just gotta finish it up but need the truck in the mean time.Who makes a decent affordable universal electric pump that will keep my truck mobile until the engine swap.Was the guy at Airtex full of excrement, buying one from Summit won't be any better.

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Like I said, I have bought ALOT of Airtex pumps (50 maybe?) - E8186's to be exact. These were intank pumps for older Volvos - they run one intank and one chassis. Intank is a PITA if anything for the contortions to get it out, especially if its a sedan (there is an access panel a hair larger than the sending unit). Started having issues with them about 5yrs ago - thats when 'china' started appearing on their housings. Original Canadian made ones would last 20 yrs. and be quiet, smooth - no issues. Newer ones began making noise in 6 months - in fact I have one that was noisy out of the box - but worked. I use it for pumping fuel out of 55 gal drums. So I bought an OE blue box pump - they were originally made by VDO (or Delphi) so figured I would pay extra (3x AZ price) for one that was known good. Uh....no. Out of the box, on the side of the pump was etched E8186 CHINA - course, Volvo is chicom owned now too. Installed it and car would almost start. Pump was quiet but could hear it run. I pulled it and put it in a bucket of gas....they are clearly marked + / - and wires are all very color coded. It was running backwards. I posted this on another site. Within 3 months, there were 6 posts from others saying they checked theirs and they were also wired backward. Sum Ting Wong wasn't paying attention that day.

At the end of my restoration days, I would occasionally see an old stock with the maple leaf and CANADA on the sides on feebay....those I would pick up. But the new ones I wont touch. I should also note....the newer ones - if they ran low or dry ONE time, 75% chance they were done.

I've been purchasing from Rockauto for probably 7-10 years and have a good hundred plus magnets to prove it. Yes, I've had to eat it and throw away probably a hundred dollars worth of parts that were defective, wrong, etc but I've also probably saved a few thousand.

Personally, losing $35 and having to toss one fuel pump is no big deal considering, I typically save that on every order. It still hurts, it still pisses you off but at the end of the day, looking at overall purchases, you probably are ahead.

Anything, that I think, I am going to have to warranty, I typically buy local. But for AC Delco parts, RA is hard to beat.

Lmfao. Call them back and say oh man. I was mistaken my trucks actually ( Insert covered vehicle here). How do I return it? I think a big company that won’t just accept a 35 dollar part is a lame ass company. They make more by honoring a warranty and and keeping a customer and not losing more from threads like this one. I mean, you’re prolly talking almost 1k from people who have already read this and plan on going another direction.
probably spent the money on the lame ass commercials.

eskimomann209 said:

Lmfao. Call them back and say oh man. I was mistaken my trucks actually ( Insert covered vehicle here). How do I return it? I think a big company that won’t just accept a 35 dollar part is a lame ass company. They make more by honoring a warranty and and keeping a customer and not losing more from threads like this one. I mean, you’re prolly talking almost 1k from people who have already read this and plan on going another direction.
probably spent the money on the lame ass commercials.

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Part of the problem is that they don’t provide a phone number.

I rarely buy from RA, shipping cost usually kills the deal for me.
I did buy a set of KYB shocks with a rebate that made it worth my while, otherwise, I shop local for my parts to insure I can get warranty replacements if ever needed.

I try to buy from the local small town parts store whenever possible. I do not mind paying a few bucks more to keep it in the community

I also try to buy locally, especially during these challenging times and I try to avoid anything made in China as much as possible. The scary part is China is buying everything like factories, land, buildings etc.....

Buy the same one from summit and wait a week and use the warranty on the bad one.airtex eats it.

Bennyt said:

I've been purchasing from Rockauto for probably 7-10 years and have a good hundred plus magnets to prove it. Yes, I've had to eat it and throw away probably a hundred dollars worth of parts that were defective, wrong, etc but I've also probably saved a few thousand.

Personally, losing $35 and having to toss one fuel pump is no big deal considering, I typically save that on every order. It still hurts, it still pisses you off but at the end of the day, looking at overall purchases, you probably are ahead.

Anything, that I think, I am going to have to warranty, I typically buy local. But for AC Delco parts, RA is hard to beat.

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This was kind of my point. The last brake job I did on my wife's Sequoia I did the whole job, specialty truck towing line pads from raybestos and raybestos rotors shipped to my house in a rural area for less than white box rotors were going to cost me at the local chain auto parts stores if I drove the one hour round trip to get them were going to cost. A(yes it was the lower quality line of rotors raybestos makes but this Sequoia is so hard on brakes if this set is anything like the last two sets I will be doing them again in 16-20 miles anyway.)

I just had to plan it out a little and buy them and wait the three days. I was a few days behind cause the pad got into the rotors and ground it out and sounded horrible. But I didn't care I was putting new rotors in anyway. I figured old ones were out of spec, but more importantly I had to do the job on the weekend and there is no where close to turn them on a Saturday and I couldn't pull them during the week cause she needed the car. New ones are only like $7 more each.

Avoiding Chinese products is like trying to avoid white on rice.

Don't worry about whole grain rice, that isn't Chinese.

Red Rex said:

I try to buy from the local small town parts store whenever possible. I do not mind paying a few bucks more to keep it in the community

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All my local parts stores are chains. One is like, locally run but a franchise. He's also the one closest to me. He also has very Puritan hours.. no Sunday, no Saturday after noon, nothing after 5pm

Bum deal.

Thanks for posting it.