I've learned an important lesson the hard way, and I thought I'd share it briefly with y'all here.
Last November, as my Intrepid approached the 105,000 mile mark, it was time for the timing belt to be replaced. I ordered a fresh timing belt, water pump, and tensioner pulley from discountautoparts.com. I got some radiator hoses and a thermostat while I was at it, too, and decided to make a day of it. It wasn't until Christmastime that I had the chance to do the work, but everything went together more or less easily. I had some trouble reassembling the thermostat/water outlet but figured out how to use strategically placed baling wire as a temporary means to hold things together until I got the bolts started. Worked out, eventually. Had some trouble with damage to the transmission cooler, too, but I got past that with an aftermarket unit. About two months and 1500 miles later, the car broke down on the side of the freeway, after sounding for a short time like it had lost its muffler. To make a long story short, the replacement water pump had failed; the pulley separated from the shaft, and it made a mess out of the timing belt. The loud exhaust was a result of the engine gradually slipping more and more out of time as the timing belt itself disintegrated. This was the Oh Sh*t problem I had hoped to avoid by doing the preventative maintenance in the first place. Little more than shredded fluff was left of the timing belt. The tensioner pulley was extremely suspect. The water pump pulley fell out and hit the floor when I removed the timing cover. The cam position sensor was destroyed in the process as well. Hoping against hope, I reassembled everything, only to discover two dead cylinders. I had six bent valves, so I had to tear down the top half of the engine and have the cylinder heads machined, the valve seats lapped, and the bent valves replaced. That alone cost me $220, parts not included. All together, the parts and machine shop service were just slightly over $900, not counting the orginal outlay for the parts back in November. The car was down for a month between this and that, while I accumulated the parts, waited for the machine shop, and tended to the never ending emergencies that come up with small kids in the house. Fortunately I'm able to work from home, and we have another reliable vehicle. So, after I knew the full extent of the cost to repair this, I submitted my warranty claim, first going through discountautoparts.com, but ultimately going to the water pump manufacturer, Eastern Industries of Panama City, FL, looking for compensation for parts and labor. A couple of months went by after I sent a fully documented explanation of what happened, including every receipt, pictures of the damage, etc. I shipped the defective pump to the manufacturer at their request. Then later, upon their further request, I shipped the timing belt tensioner pulley as well. They wanted me to ship the timing belt tensioner, too, but I balked at this, since the original one was good, and back in service on the repaired engine. Today, after hours of letter writing, over a dozen phone calls, emails, and other red tape, I got let in on something so incredibly unbelievable, I'm still stunned by it: despite the fact that I had ordered the correct pump for a 1998 Intrepid with the 3.2L engine, I was actually shipped a pump for a 1997 Intrepid with the 3.5L. The Eastern Industries part numbers are only one digit apart. The pumps look identical, and they will mount in each other's place with ease. But they're NOT identical. Apparently something about the pulley is different between the two, perhaps the metallurgy. The difference, in this application, is that using the wrong, but apparently identical, pump causes the pulley to fall off in my application. I've sold auto parts for several years in the past, and I can tell you that I never saw this coming. I've never seen two so apparently identical parts with this sort of make or break difference between the two. I'm absolutely aghast. The box the replacement pump came in has long since become part of the local landfill, so I'll never know if the wrong pump was put into the box labeled with the part number I ordered, or if I just didn't catch the difference in the one digit that's different between the two. It remains to be seen what, if anything, becomes of my warranty claim, but I've learned something I won't soon forget: DON'T BUY YOUR PARTS ONLINE TO SAVE A BUCK! The people who sold this part to me are hundreds of miles away. The manufacturer? Over a thousand miles away. If I had stuck with the local guy down at the NAPA, I might've brought in the old pump to match it up with the new, and POSSIBLY have caught the difference. I don't know. But one thing's for certain: if these guys don't decide to treat me right, it's going to be very, very, very difficult for me to put up a fight about it at this distance. Between all of the miscommunication, avoided and unreturned phone calls, and the sheer indifference I've gotten from everyone concerned, I'd just as soon have spent the extra 75 or 80 bucks to get the stuff locally, and have had the opportunity to look the parts counterman who screwed up in the eye and demand he do something about it. Now, I've spent a little time in junkyards, and I've noted the similarity between the 3.5L and the 3.2L as far as the front part of the engine is concerned. I used to think, up until today, that if I found myself in a jam, I might be able to salvage parts off of a 1st generation 3.5L, they look that similar. Believe me, looks are deceiving. Don't mix parts between the two! -- --Geoff MML Moderator/Admin/Occasional SAA '92 Acclaim; '98 Intrepid; '03 Grand Caravan Subscribe to the MML! http://mopar.tamu.edu/mailman/listinfo/mml ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/B9pRWD/3MnJAA/Y3ZIAA/46t0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Web: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dodge_intrepid> Subscribe: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribe: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Moderator: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dodge_intrepid/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
