 Replacement Parts: OEM vs Aftermarket
Posted by carsandtrucks on Tuesday, April 22 @ 08:59:38 PDT
AAA towed the Ford Windstar into the dealership with a no start condition. The owner had called the shop and told the Service Advisor that the no start problem had been diagnosed by another shop as bad Powertrain Control Module, which was replaced to no avail. Our shop went through the normal diagnostics associated with a no start concern. All diagnostics led to a bad PCM. Armed with the information that the PCM had just been replaced the technician ignored what the diagnostic test were telling him and dove into the wiring harness that feeds the vehicle’s power train. After a couple hours of looking for other causes of
the no start problem, the Service Advisor called the customer and received permission to replace the new aftermarket PCM with one furnished by the original equipment manufacturer. Once the new PCM was installed, the engine responded to the ignition key and the no start problem was resolved. The lesson learned is do not distrust your diagnosis just because the part is new. I am not saying that OEM parts are always better than the aftermarket, but in the case of electronic components I prefer OEM. There are many aftermarket parts that perform very well and save the consumer money. In this case the OEM part was more expensive then the aftermarket by a fair amount of money, but in the end the customer paid a lot more in diagnostic time and inconvenience.
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