When to buy Genuine

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
I was thinking it'd be a good idea to have a thread of when aftermarket parts are to be avoided. It sucks learning through trial and error. It would be nice to buy Genuine all the time, but often it is cost prohibitive and I'm guessing most of use would rather spend that money elsewhere. This is not meant to trash our vendors (RN, L8, AB) as I buy Genuine parts from them.

The first thing that comes to mind is aftermarket swivel balls. I saw a bunch of pics from Winter Romp where an aftermarket swivel ball cracked. I know of a handful of other people this has happened to. Failure in this manner will leave you completely stranded and it could be very dangerous if the failure is at speed.


Photo by Ed Tatton (stolen from WR Facebook group)

The next one is the clear aftermarket expansion tanks on a D1 (may also be the same ones on 300 Tdi Defenders). The clear ones crack at the seam and will leak the coolant. This happened to my wife's D1. The ones I have seen have not been catastrophic failures. If you still have the old style Genuine one that is black, I would recommend replacing it as they often split but much worse than the clear aftermarket ones. The one to buy is the beige Genuine one. The only bummer about this one is you can't see the coolant level easily without opening the cap.







The last one that I'll add for now is the aftermarket Range Rover Classic 11 blade fan. These can be fitted to Defenders for better cooling, but can also have dire consequences. When these fail they explode taking out everything in their path. I know of 3, including my own. First one was Jason England whose exploding fan took out his radiator, fan shroud, and hood (large dent). Mine and the other one only took out the fan shroud. Mine exploded at 3am in Manhattan right before going over the Williamsburg bridge. I've been running an original used fan out of a RRC for a few years now. The Aftermarket ones last less than a year.

 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
That must be one old aftermarket swivel ball , they haven't made chrome aftermarket balls in at least a decade.

Whoes truck was it ?
 

Red90

Well-known member
The new genuine balls are failing as well. Unfortunately buying genuine these days does not mean much. They are not the same as the original parts.
 

Red90

Well-known member
A good example is suspension bushings. The original ones lasted a very long time. The new genuine ones do not.
 

Z.G

Well-known member
That was a relatively new(couple years old) swivel ball, it is the teflon style, the photo is just weird. The truck in question has now broken both sides, and is an earlier 130 with a Tdi(which could be contributing to the problem). That being said, it's why I decided to go genuine when I did mine.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
That's a bummer then , just not like what they used to be...or this guy is pushing really really hard
 

Z.G

Well-known member
Both times he(Chris - Rovertek) broke them, was driving the truck into a "wall"(rock ledge/ice wall at Romp). Even then, they still shouldn't break.
 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
Both times he(Chris - Rovertek) broke them, was driving the truck into a "wall"(rock ledge/ice wall at Romp). Even then, they still shouldn't break.

Thats the kind of failure that I would, if the other swivel was installed at the same time, replace both and keep the "good" one as a spare. When there is a batch of parts with evidence of catastrophic failures like that, all the parts in that batch become suspect.
 

bearskinrug

Well-known member
Genuine defender V8 distributor cap is worth the price. Aftermarket is poor quality and fails quickly, at the worst possible time, in my experience.
 

AdamSanta85

Well-known member
OEM 200TDI thermostats suck. 1 that wouldn't open at all, 2 that made the truck run hotter then they should. All while trying to convince myself that the OEM must be better because it is OEM. Bearmach or Britpart works better IMO.
 

luckyjoe

Well-known member
Callsign: KD2PXL
The new genuine balls are failing as well. Unfortunately buying genuine these days does not mean much. They are not the same as the original parts.

Man. That used to be a reliable, quality product. Is that all genuine bushings or are there still good sources?
 

Maine57S1

Well-known member
Suggestions on ignition components?

a 94 D90 with brand new genuine cap and rotor died on the trail this weekend. An old spare rotor from a fellow owner got the truck running again. The guy couldn't believe a genuine rotor would fail that quickly.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
I use aftermarket urathane bushings but , I do use genuine lift pumps.

Everything else sans head gasket is aftermarket
 

Red90

Well-known member
OEM 200TDI thermostats suck. 1 that wouldn't open at all, 2 that made the truck run hotter then they should. All while trying to convince myself that the OEM must be better because it is OEM. Bearmach or Britpart works better IMO.

You do know they use the same thermostat as Ford modular V8/V10s? Commoner than dirt. Get a Stant Superstat.
 

AdamSanta85

Well-known member
You do know they use the same thermostat as Ford modular V8/V10s? Commoner than dirt. Get a Stant Superstat.

I do, you told me this a while ago. I have both the 180 and 190 Stants in my thermostat inventory. My preference is to the Bearmach and Britpart still. The 180 Stant runs too cool, and the 190 runs a little hotter then the BM and BP.
 

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
Unfortunately buying genuine these days does not mean much. They are not the same as the original parts.

Totally agree with this. In many cases I would rather have a used original part instead of a new one. The point of this thread is just to point out which ones to definitely not buy.
 

Coniston

Member
Suggestions on ignition components?

a 94 D90 with brand new genuine cap and rotor died on the trail this weekend. An old spare rotor from a fellow owner got the truck running again. The guy couldn't believe a genuine rotor would fail that quickly.

There's some major quality issues with Genuine rotors the past...2-3 years at this point, maybe? A few years ago, the "most reliable rule" was to go all-Genuine to reduce the "theoretical more likely issues" that might creep up with generic or Lucas-brand components, but that logic doesn't seem to apply to Genuine rotors of late.

Not sure what the game is on Genuine caps now.

Haven't tried the SimonBBC/Powerspark rotors, actually I feel like I looked at the site recently (the past few months) and they didn't supply them for the RV8? Is that a really new product?
 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
Wonder how many original genuine parts manufacturers have so gone out if business. Replaced by some third party from wherever...
 
Top