RE: O/T: Time Will Tell

[Lew Hodgett]

I have a 1999 Toyota Tacoma P/U truck with 128,000 miles on it.

Today it started running "Rough" so stopped by my mechanic to have it checked out.

Turns out that a spark plug wire had shorted out.

An after market set of four (4) wires were $48 while wires from Toyota were $83.

Looks like a straight forward decision, after market parts are the way to go, but there is one more piece of information that is needed to be known.

The original wires lasted 90,000 miles with no problems when they were changed out with an after market set of wires which only lasted

38,000 before failure.

Based on that information, the Toyota set of wires for $83 looks like the best deal, and they were installed.

Time will tell if I made the correct decision.

Lew

[krw]

I had a '93 Eagle Vision TsI that threw a set of wires every fall[*]. The difference between the aftermarket and OEM wires was ~$20 ($80 vs. $100, IIRC). The kicker was that *every* brand of aftermarket wire had insulators that were 1/4" too long. The OEM ones fit.

Every year I'd go through the game of trying to convince the guys at the parts stores that their wires really didn't fit ("See! "They're TOO LONG!").

[*] Turns out that the plug gap spec on the engine label was wrong. It specified a .062" gap, which I thought was a little big, but "what the heck...". The gap *should* have been .035". Doubling the spark wasn't doing the wires any good. :-(

[woodchucker]

Typical American Shitbox, they couldn't even get the label right.

[woodchucker]

Geez you don't drive much. My 2004 cars are over 190k. My 2010 is at 64k... and that's with lots of unemployed time.

[Lew Hodgett]

------------------------------------------------------------ After averaging 35-40,000 miles/year for over 35 years, I retired.

Today, I drive less than 2,000 miles/year and don't miss it at all.

Lew

[krw]

Certainly not typical. Chrysler makes a special class of shit box.

[Gordon Shumway]

Actually I think it's Fiat now. But yeah, it's a shit box.

[none]

On Mon, 23 Dec 2013 21:39:32 -0500, "Mike Marlow"

Sounds to me like you've just convinced yourself to buy Festool.

[Bill]

Speaking of higher prices, I received the 2014 Grizzly catalog today and they are. Even higher than the regular prices shown at their web site. I can't blame them, but gee...

[Leon]

There is a reason that Toyota is one of the most reliable brand vehicles on the planet. Toyota does not use after market parts to manufacture their vehicles. I think you made the right decision Lew. Other brand vehicles, maybe not.

I in another life made my living exclusively with selling parts and repairs and warranty work on GM vehicles.

When I was the service sales manager for an Olds dealer I was once advised by the Oldsmobile service hot line to use aftermarket parts to solve a brake problem on a customers vehicle while it was still under warranty.

Our warranty department literally had hundreds of parts, replaced under warranty, waiting to be inspected by an Olds service rep. Our next door Toyota dealer had 3 items waiting to be inspected.

Our latest Toyota vehicle that my wife drives has about 15,000 miles on it and is 16 months old. We have yet to have any warranty work performed on it.

[Leon]

It "threw" a set of wires???

[Ed Pawlowski]

on my third Hyundai Sonata since 2007. First two had 70k, present is

30k. No warranty work. Meantime my Buick was just falling apart in the driveway.

[Keith Nuttle]

I had a 1976 Dodge Aspen I got 200k on it before I got rid of it. I have had a 52 Ford, a 68 Buick, 73 Buick, and several GM vans, and never had less than 150 miles on any or them. I have never had any problems except batteries, tires, and a couple of alternators.

I consider a car with 70k just broke in and ready for the next 100k of trouble free driving.

[woodchucker]

I was looking at their web site and thought the prices were higher than the past. They are starting to price themselves at higher end pricing. Not yet at the prices for jet but getting there.

[Swingman]

Not bad, since you only drive it to WoodCraft for Festools. (g,d&r>

[Ed Pawlowski]

At 70k my Buick was not broken in, just broke. Transmission, heated seat, climate control, brake lines, dash lights, steering wheel controls and more. Had I known you loved cars like that I'd have given it to you. I did give it away as I felt it unethical to sell it.

At two years and 40k miles the seat heater burned out. To have it fixed, dealer wanted $672 to replace the entire seat bottom, not just the element. Since it was under the 3 years but over the miles, I asked GM for some help. They would give me $500 off if I bought a new car. Last GM car for me.

[Leon]

FWIW, I, being an ex Olds service manager, still see the things that went wrong in the 80's still being built the same way in the current vehicles. This is especially true on interiors. Same cheap crap.

When we bought our last Toyota in August of last year I had a heck of an incentive to buy a Buick. The new car sales manager at the dealership is a customer of mine and he offered me a deal that was hard to turn down. AND on top of that I had an additional $2300 credit on my old GM credit card to take off of the total agreed to price.

The Buick was going to be approximately $5000 less than the Camry that we bought. And we got to take the Buick home for 24 hours as a test drive. Actually that test drive is probably why we did not buy the car.

[woodchucker]

When I was youn I built a Camaro race car, I raced it at a road racing track. not an oval.

I also bought a used BMW 2002.. I never went back to American after that. When I opened the engine, there was a major difference in machine work. Americans were like clunkers and the BMW was all machined.. Same with the Honda.

I went to Honda's next for quite a while until I had a problem with undersize brakes and they kept telling me that no one had that problem.. During a Honda club meeting everyone was complaining about it. That was my last Honda, as there way of dealing with the problem was to say it wasn't happening. My wheel would shake violently from undersize rotors heating up.

I have been in Toyota's camp for a while now.. they are not perfect either.. But it's been a solid vehichle .... the last 4 have been very good.

I used to compete against many of the engineers for GM and Chrysler at the nationals.. They explained how Toyotas and Hondas fell apart in the first couple of months.. I asked them if they had ever been in one.. They would never step foot in one. I told them they would never understand, and as engineers they should rent one to understand, give it a month... Very closed minds, and that's why our car makers lost the Car battle..

In order to know the competition sometimes you need to embrace them... in their case they just assumed they were better.

[woodchucker]

My sister has a Buick, I too have a Camry, when taking a ride in their car, I could not believe how bad a pot hole felt. My Camry on that same pothole barely notices. The setup on the suspension for the American cars is still lacking. My Camry SE handles way better than that Buick... night and day different.

[krw]

Ate them? Um, they "failed"?