Comments by "Curlyjo Robbie" (@claztube) on "The Car Care Nut"
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I hate to tell you that I bit the bullet, paid the dealer's price at their service department, on an OEM part for what had been a constant failure with a particular after market part.
Well in just over a year the part failed. Now outside of a one year manufacture warranty for defects, even though this was all done at a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Salantis local and once reputable dealer (there's an oxymoron) I'm screwed.
So in this case the OEM part is as cheap as the Auto Zone/Car Quest/O'Reilly's/Evil Bay & the Jungle Web Site part.
OEM part from the dealer cost $160.00, and the labor at the dealer's service shop cost $200.00.
If you've read this far I have to share which model and year Chrysler at 105K on the clock I have been going to this much time to write about. In every other way besides this one annoying part failing, of which there are three on board, this car has served my needs well.
It's the 2013, 4 cylinder VVT, Chrysler 200 which has had a tough life, starting in a rental fleet in California.
The part, you guessed it is made in Mexico and no where else. Yes, I'm talking blend door actuators.
Poor design and just cheap plastic materials.
So nik, don't break a sweat "thinking" too much about part quality, it's a crap shoot either way.
@NorthBoundoverland
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Case in Point:
100K on the clock it's time to R & R the serpentine belt and two iders and a tensionor on my 2013 Chrysler 200 with the 2.4 VVT engine.
I had an independent mechanic that I felt I could trust to do proper maintenance on my cars due to our first interaction where I had been steered to this shop by a friend. The shop did me a solid by allowing me to make a partial payment and take the car out of the shop to get to work daily and settle the remainder of the bill a week later because I was there on the recommendation of one of his customers, my friend.
There after any work I needed I returned to have the work done by this mechanic.
In time, over the course of two years I spent hundreds of dollars of my hard earned money at this shop keeping two vehicles maintained there with satisfaction.
When it was near time to do preventitive R & R of the serpentine drive belt I also decided to have the idlers and tensionor done by this shop.
This shop owner was fine with having me supply the parts so I did through my O'Rielly's online account purchase said parts. Incredibly cheap, not OEM but a Gates belt was part of the package and likely for the limited use of this car all would have been fine except...
It all went south.
The idlers were inversed, as there is a difference between which one fits up top v down below on the block.
Again having not driven the car much the poor alignment of inversed idler pulleys did not affect the car's performance more than another problem that surfaced upon taking the car back after the service was performed.
Having another vehicle and issues of logistics I put the Chrysler on the back burner until months later I was moving away and needed to transport the car 1,300 miles on a car carrier. The belt by this time was not remaining on the pulleys upon start up the belt would begin to work itself off the idlers.
No time to deal with it the move was on schedule, it has to only run long enough to get on the trailer. A belt wasn't needed for this so again I put off dealing with the problem until my move was done.
Then I went ona DIY mission even at 66 years of age in poor health, I was determined to do the job myself. It looked simple enough on You Tube.
But not one of the content providers mentioined that there was a difference between the top v the bottom idler placement which was critical.
When I finally bit the bullet and purchased from the Chrysler Dealership the OEM parts, I happened to ask if there was a difference between the two idlers. Without really close inspection you'd not notice a slight difference as I found out, only because a light bulb maybe went off in my brain, IDK.
And folks this was the issue the entire time! When I returned the O'Rielly parts for a refund and explained that they were not what I needed, they refunded me the $80.00 some dollars. The OEM parts BTW cost near $250.00, and I explained to the O'Rielly's associate once the money had been returned that the serpentine belt from the dealer was also a Gates belt and likely the problem wasn't so muich an issue of these parts being incorrect for my purpose but instead there was another issue that no one, not O'Rielly's nor You Tube cared to explain.
I then said to the kind associate that I'd not be divulging the simple facts as for the fact it seemed to be a closely guarded secret...
I now had the key to the proper manner of installation and I also would keep the secret close to my chest, protected from the general public that frequented O'Reilly's. Wink, Wink and now my Chrysler 2013 4.2L four banger runs like a top.
Just steer clear of the later models and all the six cylider models.
This 2013 with what I believe is a 6 speed tranny is a good fit on this VVT 2.4L engine but the BLEND DOOR acuators are SHI#...Seriously!
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