Do you ever look at the parts you fit ?

[johnsco]

One of the occupational hazards of the job that I do (Inspection Engineer) is that I tend to look at the parts that I fit.
The photos show a drop-link for the E300TD.
The weld at one end is garbage.
If you look closely, you will see that the toe of the weld is not fused to the stem of the link for about 20 per cent of the circumference.

Will it fail in service ?
Probably not.
However, the lack of weld fusion presents a clear stress-raiser on a load bearing suspension part. This could initiate a crack which could propagate and cause a failure of the part.

The link I bought for the other side clearly says "Germany" on it and is a much better job.

One of the features of my work at the moment is sorting out rubbish like this, that is made in the cheap-labour corners of the world, in factories where the technology of what they are doing seems to be little-understood.

The lesson ...
Look closely at your safety-critical parts before you fit them.

Cheers
Johnsco

 

[jaymanek]

so where did you buy it from?

 

[johnsco]

I was wondering who would ask that.
It came from Andrew Page's in Bradford (as did the "Made in Germany" one).
The maker's name "Delphi" is clearly stamped on the stem.

I'd be interested to see what the Euro Car Parts equivalents are like.

 

[Sp!ke]

I recently had a similar experience with a genuine mercedes part.

Many months ago, my clutch went funny. I immediately diagnosed it to be the clutch slave cylinder so bought and fitted the part.

Randomly, the problem reocurred, damn I thought so I bought and fitted the clutch master cylinder.

A few days later the problem reoccurred... nothing left but the clutch itself now I thought. So I ended up removing the gearbox and changing the clutch.

Two weeks later the problem re-occurred again.

This time I decided to inspect both the clutch master and slave closely and found that the casting of the *new* replacement slave cylinder was less than perfect and the bleed nipple thread was slightly off centre resulting in the bleeder not seating correctly. It didnt leak but it was ever so slightly drawing air in to the system when you released the clutch.

So the whole excercise cost me over ten hours of labour time due to the faulty part, it also caused much frustration and angst trying to get home on multiple occasions in rush hour with a failing clutch. To make matters worse, I couldnt find the receipt so had to purchase another part.

 

[jaymanek]

Delphi is a large OEM supplier!

 

[johnsco]

Yes - I know.
If you look into the engine compartment of my car you can clearly see the name DELPHI on several of the original wiring loom bundles.

Spike - Most castings these days are being done in China.
Some are done in the former East Germany and other East European countries.
In all fairness - Some of them are pretty good.
After all, casting of iron or aluminium alloy components is not exactly rocket science.
But - Some of them are just pretty hopeless.
In the case of the clutch slave cylinder, it sounds like the machining alignment was up-the-creek.

Some years ago, I bought some replacement front discs for a Jeep Cherokee.
When I bought them, they looked pretty poor.
The machined surface was a mottled range of colours and textures.
So I dye-penetrant tested them (looking for casting porosity), and could not really reject them.
My mate who got them for me rolled his eyes and told me that virtually all brake discs were now made in China.
He admitted that some of them were not so good.
I fitted them, and within 12 months the disc surface was simply breaking up.
At this point, they were returned and the supplier changed them without comment.

It's not easy to inspect every part you buy.
All the suppliers should have already passed them through their "final inspection" department.

Main dealer parts are not exempt from this warning.
MB clearly sources many of its parts from all corners of the world.

 

[trapperjohn]

As Johnsco says a lot of firms now go for "verified components" (inspected at the suppliers by their own QA and perhaps the odd visit from the customers quality engineers) So there is no "in inspection" prior to accepting "goods in" Not the best way of doing things IMOO, but it floats the boats of accountants. In the world of "Just in Time" and LEAN it can cause horrendous problems when things do go wrong on an assembly line. At least if you are an end user for your own car you can check stuff personally prior to fitting it.

 

[st13phil]

I've seen rubbish components manufactured in just about every country at some time or another during my time, but with automotive components the problem is rarely with "OEM" sourced parts, it's the forgeries that look "just like the real thing" that are the real issue, and there's one region of worldwide manufacturing in which that practice is particularly prevalent: China. I work in the high value capital goods manufacturing sector and a very large proportion of parts returned to us that have suffered premature failure, or are dimensionally incorrect, superficially look like our parts but on close examination they were most certainly not manufactured or supplied by us. It's no coincidence that most of these returns come from a particular region of the globe, either.

 

[GazCaff]

Anyone remember the problems Vauxhall had with bottom arms failing on Astras, Cavaliers and Vectras?

 

[johnsco]

The UK has produced its share of rubbish over the years, as have many manufacturing countries.
Even the Germans don't always get it right.

The sheer quantity of dodgy stuff arriving from China is a major worry.
Many importers, stockists and users of semi-finished raw materials can only see the £££ signs.
I am involved in the inspection of materials for safety critical applications, mainly in the marine, aerospace and medical areas.
I can't be more specific - Except to say that the day I get my job seriously wrong - You'll all hear about it.

Up to a couple of years ago, we would typically reject 5 to 10 per cent of a particular type of safety-critical marine tube.
From two "manufacturers", we are now rejecting of the order of 50 per cent of many batches.
One admits that they are now sourcing their "start" material from China.
If you dig a bit deeper, you find that strenuous efforts are being made to make it look as if the product is wholly of European manufacture.
The other manufacturer swears that their product is wholly of European manufacture.
However - The defect types evident in their product follow exactly the same pattern as the product from the first manufacturer that we know originates in China.
So - We don't believe them.

Clearly - There are a lot of lies being told.

The mass-produced components for the vehicle industry are ripe for this type of deception.
So - Beware.