Had to choose between a 3-hour drive for the right part or using a local 'close enough' gasket and I went with the drive... | Auto Mechanics - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Had to choose between a 3-hour drive for the right part or using a local 'close enough' gasket and I went with the drive...
The 'close enough' one from the parts store down the street was $12 cheaper, but after seeing three cars come back with oil leaks from that brand last year, I drove to the next city over for the OEM one and the job went perfectly.
Come on, that's just fear talking. I've used plenty of those "close enough" parts without a single problem. A gasket is a gasket. Those three cars with leaks? Probably installed wrong, or the engine was already junk. You just wasted three hours of your life and a ton of gas. Most of the time the cheap part works fine and you save the trip. People get too hung up on brand names.
Remember my buddy trying to save time with a generic thermostat. Thing stuck closed a week later and cooked his engine... that extra hour drive for the right part suddenly seemed cheap.