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Just recently my astra after 80,000 miles had a timing belt changed, i was quoted £13.00 for the original vauxhall part and £8.00 for a oem part belt, I chose the vauxhall part, are there any differences in quality from geniune and oem parts?
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It varies depending on the part and the manufacturer. Some are exactly the same part, just re-boxed whilst others can be down-spec'd.
With the small cost of the belt, and such a big cost if it goes wrong I'd have chosen the genuine part too. Unless you can get access to the engineers at the manufacturer, in most cases you won't really know what the difference is.
Gareth
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agree, 5 quid difference for what could be an effect of hundreds if it fails, its a no brainer.
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Sajid, were you not advised to also change the belt tensioner? One of the main components that cause belt failures in Vauxhall engines.
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Just the belt was changed, not the tensioner, what part is the tensioner??
where exactly is it..
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Just the belt was changed, not the tensioner, what part is the tensioner?? Where exactly is it..
Sajid, just a thought, what age is your Astra? It may or not have one. Earlier Vaux engines (pre 1992 I think) use the waterpump to tension the belt, unless of course yours is the 16valve engine, in which case it will more than likely have a separate belt tensioner.
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dd, my car is a 94 model, does replacing the tensioner mean the belt has to be removed??
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dd, my car is a 94 model, does replacing the tensioner mean the belt has to be removed??
Not removed as such. It will need to be slackened off to change the tensioner though. Who changed the belt; was it yourself or a garage? If it was the latter, I would question why they didn't change the tensioner. I believe when you buy a new cambelt from Vauxhall nowadays you have to actually buy a cambelt kit, which comprises of the tensioners as well as the belt.
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I quite agree with everyone here.
Headgaskets, timing belts, oil pumps and suchlike cost a lot of time and hence money to fit. I would therefore fit the best you can.
The trouble is "OEM" means original equipment manufacturer. This is the same company that made the bits fitted on the production line.
You can look through the Eurocarparts and German and Swedish catalogues and see the proper parts available at half price or less compared to the dealer's price. These are the bits to go for.
You also see the pattern bits which are not oem. Avoid in the areas I wrote, for the reasons everyone is telling you.
DD is spot on about your plastic pulley. If not changed, DEFINITELY DO IT. They break up quite frequently
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Sajid,
I have posted on this some time ago - I spent 40 years in the bearing industry including 15 years in mechanical power transmission - chains and vee belts etc.
Some of the failed wheel and transmission bearings I have seen from 'third world' countries I would not put on my Tax Inspectors car.
You get what you pay for with very few exceptions!
Matt35.
PS - know the connection between a pengiun and a Tax Inspector?
They can both stick thier bills up thier pfds.
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OEM vs car-make-branded:
Assuming you do mean really OEM, i.e. NOT copy pattern parts. As Sean said, the key is the meaning of OEM - original equipment manufacturer. In my book, it OEM is no different to original vuaxhall part. The only difference is OEM will come in a box with the part makers name, and the Vauxhall one will be the same part they make with a Vauxhall logo stamped and in a Vauxhall box.
pulleys/tensioners/etc. : as HJ has advised consistently, you must get these replaced.
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I agree with you eMBe - if I say OEM I mean it's the same part from the same line in a different box.
Sometimes though (i.e., if you're a slippery parts counter guy) OEM means anyone who makes any orignial part for any manufacturer, e.g., Bosch and Valeo might both make parts for a Peugeot but only one of them is likely ever to come in a box with a lion on it. Even so, both could conceivably be described as OEMed.
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Why the difference in price then..
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Why the difference in price then..>>
Its the same reason as why supermarket "own-label" goods are cheaper than "branded" products even though they come off the same production line. The reason is called branding, commerce, business, profiteering, rip-off-britain, overheads, double-handling, or any other excuse you wish to call it. After all your corn-flakes are made from the same corn.
It is the same/similar reason as why a TATA Rover costs more than a TATA-Indica. Or why a VW Polo costs more than a Skoda Fabia.
As for DavidHM's point on "fake" OEM parts, that is of course a different matter. The parts I refer to as OEM are those that are taken as read to be genuine OEM.
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Sajid: can you clarify one point - presumably the vauxhall part price was from a Vauxhall dealer and the OEM part price was from an Independent suplier? AFAIK, Vauxhall branded parts cannot be bought from Independents.
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both parts available at corner garage shop, embe, I only bought the belt, but not the other bits like tensioners.
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Why dont OEM cornflakes taste as good as K******s then? and the OEM ones get soggy faster!!!!
Sorry but own brand thing with foods is slightly different. Yes they in the same factories, sometimes on the same lines but they are batched. The quality of the raw product is frequently poorer.
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Are you using OEM milk?.
A friend runs a small independent repair shop and uses a trade only parts supplier. He recently got in a Mercedes that needed a new fuel pump. The part price quoted was $135, if I remember correctly, which he thought was high. As the car was for a friend, he did some searching and found the original Bosch part number for the pump.
He called the same supplier and placed an order using the Bosch part number and the price was considerably less. As he knew the order takers there quite well he mentioned to them that when he called a few days earlier, they quoted a much higher price. They told him that asking for a Mercedes part, using a Mercedes part number brought up a set price on their computer, but entering a Bosch part number brought up a different price.
The kicker in all of this is that both the Mercedes and the Bosch fuel pumps come in the same identical Bosch packaging, regardless of which price you paid for it.
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Sajid: you said "both parts available at corner garage shop, embe".
I am puzzled. I have never ever found Vauxhall or other Car manufacturer's own-name branded parts sold anywhere other than their own authorised parts shop. OEM parts on the other hand can, and are, sold by any parts seller.
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Its the same reason as why supermarket "own-label" goods are cheaper than "branded" products even though they come off the same production line. The reason is called branding, commerce, business, profiteering, rip-off-britain, overheads, double-handling, or any other excuse you wish to call it. After all your corn-flakes are made from the same corn.
Hmm - not sure about that eMBe. Invariably "own-label" goods are different. Not necessarily "worse" but in the case of say toothpaste, when manufacturer X is producing for the supermarket instead of his own brand, a different recipe and often cheaper materials are used.
I worked for a paper manufacturing company. Both our own products (toilet rolls!) and supermarket products came off the same production line. As Renault Family says though, the raw materials were cheaper and of lower quality for the supermarket brands and other things apply (such as less sheets per roll etc for SM production).
This is how the SMs want things - They want to have some "bargain" stock on the shelf which is cheaper than the brands. They do not want high quality produce, identical to the brands, as noone would buy it.
For the record, I cannot actually eat Supermarket cornflakes or baked beans, they taste revolting! Likewise cheap coke :) Never concerned me about bog roll though...
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"For the record, I cannot actually eat Supermarket cornflakes or baked beans, they taste revolting! Likewise cheap coke :) Never concerned me about bog roll though..."
I've never tried eating bog roll - is there not that much difference between branded and OEM roll??
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