Mike, you’re dead wrong about chain store being only for DIYers. Every one of them here deliver daily to every shop in town, small or large, and including the dealers.
That’s interesting…because the Autozone and PepBoys here in NH do NOT deliver. NAPA does. They have about 10 trucks just for that purpose. The local parts chains like Sanel Brothers and Robins also deliver. The Autozone we have is a very small store…PepBoys is pretty big, but they also have their own bays for mechanical work.
Now why dont you stop giving us a hard time???
Is it that? From my reading of this thread I see the OP having tunnel vision for a conclusion that is based on inconclusive evidence. The many seasoned mechanics on this board are instead trying to offer a balanced perspective.
There was no inclusive evidence. This is a seasoned mechanic with over 20 plus years telling us the part is bad. This had nothing to do with anything esle but a bad part whihc caused other problems.
For those of you who dont beleive us; you can call our mechanic and its also been turned in to Checker to get reimbursed for the new parts.
Lastly ok4450 has no sympathy for anyone most of the time. Its always this is your fault so stop whining. This is a car we have waited a very long time to afford. This car is well taken car of in every way possible but we are not a mind reader when it comes to bad parts or even the wrong part.
Michael; this is a full water pump. This is not the one sold to the ID mechanic as his was only the top half.
Our mechanic told us you replace the entire part as the most commmon leaks are in the back half so while it may not wear out as you state; it does leak. If this wasnt the case; why does Toyota sell the entire piece? and for only $20 more to quote our mechanic. He sees Toys all the time since they deal with mostly Japanese cars. Can you say the same?
There was no improper installation. This was a bad part. We also asked why settle for half a water pump and deal with possible bad installation when you can get the whole piece for $20 more and not have to worry about this issue?
No we dont expect Toy or Aisin to reimburse us for the labour to reinstall a part but we feel alot better as most people would that they are selling better parts then Checker.
The bearing went bad. The shaft went sideways. The shaft then scrapped the timing belt and guess waht our mechanic took a photo of it and put it on his computer so the damage is pretty clear to him and also us. Now you are still unconvinced it was a bad part so would you like to talk to our mechanic? He is there now if you want his number.
You have alot of knowledge along with OK4450 and others but you are not always right on everything you know. Sorry if this is argumentive but we know our beloved SK very well since we practically live in her with the amount of driving we do daily and we are very viligent about everything.
Jmfay3: You created this thread by asking a question. Many very experienced mechanics are providing answers which tend to align with each other. Instead of trying to learn something from the replies, you take the position that they are wrong and you’re right.
If you knew you weren’t going to listen, why did you create the post in the first place?
We have learned alot from this thread.
It depends on where you live as to what kind of parts you have access to.
Your experienced mechanics dont always realise the problems of trying to get good parts in a small town.
Good parts come from CSK / Checker but it depends on where you live and what kind of parts you need.
Our feeling is avoid them so you dont have to worry about it. We spent alot of time in very rural areas so if we get stuck its going to be a long time before we get any help from another car so while its irrational to say this; we wont buy another critical part from CSK or have our mechanic install any critical part from them.
The local AutoZone here has 2 delivery vehicles and in regards to O’Reillys; we have 2 of those. One also has 2 delivery vehicles and the other has 4.
Both O’Reillys have paint shops and one has a fully equipped auto machine shop.
Both AutoZone and O’Reillys also deliver regularly to the “NAPA authorized” service center, which is usually obscenely overpriced labor wise.
We no longer have a CarQuest due to some management malfeasance. It appears the store manager was using some book juggling to cover car parts for his race car buddies with the hugely discounted prices going into his pocket.
It’s like a dentist trying to remove a stubborn wisdom tooth to get info.
Read my post again. Where did I say overheating ONLY? I said overheating AND/OR loss of coolant.
What did I say? Loss of coolant can mean trashing of the water pump in a nutshell.
That other part you mention as being part of the water pump has zilch, zero, and nada to do with the water pump operation. Period.
Now I know you’re going to use the argument, “Well, Toyota sells it as an assembly”. You’re exactly right, but it’s NOT because the other part is needed.
It’s because that with many parts the factory produces them like this and it’s the ONLY way the dealer can get it. They HAVE to order it as a unit.
About 2 years ago a plastic grommet (about 2 dollars worth) broke on the brake booster on my Lincoln. This grommet had the Ford part number embossed on it and no way on earth can this 1 and 1/4" diameter grommet be gotten from Ford. The entire brake booster ASSEMBLY must be purchased to the tune of 350 dollars to get that 2 dollar part. Is the other 348 dollars worth needed? Absolutely not, but the customer has no choice. In my case, I machined an aluminum grommet on the lathe rather than cough up 350 bucks.
So I’ll ask you again. Did you run the car low on coolant?
Next I’ll ask this. Since you claim they sell only junk parts then provide a link a lawsuit that has been filed against Checkers in regards to defective parts.
Checkers has 1200+ stores and 1200 stores would translate to millions of defective parts just in the last year alone.
Let’s see it.
We seem to have two different Autozones. If your Autozone was like ours you probably would feel differently about them…And if my Autozone was like yours I might actually buy from them. They don’t seem to carry the same brands. As for NAPA…I RARELY buy from them. I find their prices too high.
Do you have LOCAL auto parts stores in your area. We have 2 local chains (about 20 stores each). Both carry good quality parts and their prices are as good or better then Autozone. However they’re NOT like the Autozone’s shopping market type store. Very few shelves in the front of the store. 99% of their parts are behind the counter. But they carry pretty much EVERYTHING. And if the store doesn’t have it in stock they’ll usually have it the next morning or later in the afternoon. Just and example of the parts they carry…They have one row that has just sparkplugs. The row is at least 30’ long and 10’ high. Both sides are filled with sparkplugs. They carry Autolite, AC, Champion, Motorcraft, Denso, Bosch, NGK. When I bought the sparkplugs for my new 4runner I had 5 choices for sparkplugs.
jmfay:
Yes I can say the same. After spending 25 years as a certified mechanic I can safely say the majority of the repairs I do are to Japanese cars. I would love to speak with your mechanic to get a justified answer of why you need to change the thermostat housing as well as the water pump. As you can easily see in the photo I provided in my earlier post the thermostat housing has no moveable parts. In fact by changing the water pump only you deal with 1 joint. If you change the entire housing as well you have 4 seals you are disturbing creating 4 possible leaks instead of 1.
As far as Toyota an Aisin selling it as a unit there is a logical explanation you are missing. As a unit this water pump fits multiple applications, as a pump it fits one. This is what Toyota says “w/ Housing - This pump will replace the original pump # 16100-79135 on Celica models GT & GTS - 09/89 to 07/91 with 5SFE engine”
You are also claiming “this was a bad part”. How was that determined? Given the history of driving with a bad radiator and an obvious coolant leak that can cause premature failure, no indication on your part about the quality of the timing belt idler or tensioner, no indication of how much timing belt deflection, and no guarantee the pump was not mishandled before installation you are faulting the store that sold the pump. How come no bitch about the manufacturer of the pump they are the ones that built it not CSK?
As I mentioned I have been working in the automotive field for 25 years that gives me more experience then your mechanic, I am also sure that OK4450 has more experience then I have. Ok4450 and myself use parts from CSK as well as others. I mentioned in an earlier post 3 faulty NAPA fuel pumps in a row what about that? Parts are not always perfect but you can not hold a retail store responsible for a defect in manufacturing. If the pump lasted a week or you went through multiple pumps from the same company in a short period of time you might have a justifiable complaint. A failure 11 months and 11,000 miles ago is not CSK’s fault.
~Michael
Japanese Specialists Talk to Randy. 303-781-4313.
Ask all your questions to him and then post it and see if he still has the belt photo to also post that.
Ask him how long he is fixing Toys / etc.
tell him how insistent you are that the part didnt fail too; that it had to be something else.
Pls be honest as you are on this site.
We didnt drive with a bad radiator. The drive from Thermop to Denver is about 8 hours ? using straight motorway. The car didnt overheat and she didnt lose coolant. This was all checked before we continued since we had to wait for the sheriff report to get it to the state police. This occured in June 2006 so if there were any problems; they would have surfaced a long time ago and they didnt.
JM
Dont forget Michael to ask his opinoion about CSK parts too.
I’m still curious. You had a hole in the radiator and lost no coolant? How so?
Should have asked; did this radiator hole occur after the pump replacement?
I’ll also ask this again. You claim their parts are junk so where are the lawsuits? Link us to just one. Surely you can come up with one?
(Also, and this is in regards to the attitude of your mechanic about CSK. It is quite common for many mechanics to “just not like” a certain parts store and lay the blame on shoddy parts. No factual basis, just a biased view is all it is. This may be surprising to you, but it’s also somewhat common for a mechanic to bad mouth another shop or mechanic in kind of an egotistical game of one-up.)
Actually Mike, I do not have a love affair with AutoZone. They do have a cheesey atmosphere and many of these chain type places have a TBA store type of layout. I don’t care for a lot of the garbage they have on the shelves but I can see why they do it. Profit, especially from those exhaust tips, windshield banners, etc.
About 15 years ago the local AZ here was bad, real bad. Nothing but a bunch of MTV rejects who knew absolutely nothing about a car. They’ve improved a bit with older guys (some ASE certified) and they at least know an air filter from a headlight bulb.
The NAPA store here is also very high and I’ve about given up on them. It seems that whenver I needed something it was always “don’t have, can’t get, etc”.
We do not have any of those stores you mentioned (Robins?) around here. We used to have some long time (old days type) of “real” parts stores around here, but the chain types drove them bankrupt. Public demand, and not always for the better IMHO.
Everything here is a chain store now but I do give our local O’Reillys an A.
Almost everyone there is a holdover from the original real parts house that got bought out. These guys have 30-40 years in the auto parts business and know their stuff.
At least they don’t give you that deer in the headlights look like some of those AZ kids do! 
We hit an antelope but it glanced off the bonnet so everything was fine until we got to Denver and dont ask us why it started to act up right by where we live and right by the Sears store. YOu couldnt even look at SK and see we had hit an animal but when you open the bonnet; the radiator was bent. Could have gotten the head mounted as the deputy was skilled at cleaning him too.
We dont know where the lawsuits are with regards to CSK. We just know we used to buy batteries frmo them and had so many problems we went to Sears (before we had the store by the house when they brought out kmart) to get one.
We know y’all one up each other but Randy has no beef with any of you so why is he going to lie to us??? especially when we had so many probelms with the accord ? The fact is he is not the only one who doesnt use Checker in CO. Craig58 lives here too and he doesnt buy frmo them according to his posts either. Napa maybe high here but they dont sell junky parts and we never have any problems when our car is fixed with thier parts or Toys parts so why mess with a good thing?
There is one thing we need to add. Its pretty clear from all these posts that people are going to buy parts frmo the store that they are most comfortable with depending on the factors they use to evaluate the store; the parts and what is available in the area they live in. This needs to be respected but you also need to respect that people are irrational when it comes to their cars and getting them fixed so they have a right to the particular parts they want for their babies; no matter where they when the need to get them fixed comes up.
I am NOT trying to be as combative with you as much as you think I am, so please don’t take it as such. Just trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
You do realize that most batteries are made only by a few companies, don’t you? One battery company may be supplying batteries to Sears, CSK, NAPA, and who knows how many others. The only difference is the label on the side.
Chronic battery problems are usually not the fault of the battery and is usually related to battery cables/ends/fusible links, a voltage draw in the electrical system, or an alternator (even an erratic one) that is under or overcharging the battery.
I’m not saying your mechanic is lying to you at all; just saying that as of this point no one knows what caused the pump failure. YOU are assuming it’s a bad pump and your mechanic is assuming the same because he does not like CSK.
So I could ask. Has your mechanic verified the belt was not overtightened? If it’s trashed from the pump failure, then how could he be expected to?
See where I’m going. The original root cause may have been the pump installer’s fault from overtightening the belt and both you and your mechanic are just assuming the fault is the pump itself.
You mention your mechanic has 20 years experience. Michael has stated his and I will only say that mine is about 35, mostly on European and Asian cars and I’m also a licensed aircraft mechanic, so the point is?
The design of the pump used on your vehicle is very common and is used on many, many cars. It’s nothing new and has been around forever.
I will reiterate that the pics you’ve been shown is the only part that counts. The cover behind it is irrelevant, and especially so since it is stated the pump and shaft are gone.
Let me ask this. Is your mechanic saying that failure to replace that cover behind the water pump means you got an “incomplete pump” basically, and that this had something to do with the pump failure?
jmfay:
Just got home and saw your post. Obviously it is to late tonight to call Randy. I will give him a ring in the morning and see what he has to say.
~Michael
Since Michael is going to call Randy in the morning; it would be easier to wait unitl he does as we cant be any plainer in our explanations and you are still not understanding.
Michael dont forget this is Mtn time.
NO what he is stating is the part failed; the bearings or the shaft failed. What he also said was that our car needs a complete water pump and we were sold only part of one. Dont know why he wanted a complete one since Michael says it would leak faster if you replace the entire one but that is what he wanted.
Toll free and I’d do the same! Otherwise…
Very interested in hearing an explanation to a qualified tech such as Dartman.