why????

[cos124]

Hi all, it's been more than 3 years from my Fiat 500 restoration and happy to see it being used as a daily driver. BUT i had a fair share of new parts failing. The car was sitting un-used for nearly 15+ years, so when the engine was completely restored i bought new parts like sensors (ie.oil pressure etc) from Fiat specialist rather than ebay, and so far i've found that - these basically - fail!
First it was the oil pressure switch after 14 months, then a 18 month electric fuel pressure pump, a 10 month old electronic ignition then a 15 moth old voltage regulator on the alternator. Is it me?
Right now i'm running the 15+ year old original(?) oil pressure switch, the original 126 voltage regulator, the electronic ignition system was replaced free of charge, but what next?
I quized the 126Fiat supplier regarding the electric fuel pump and he admited being imported from China.
So  is this what we should expect from suppliers? New but badly copied replacement parts? From now on if a genuine Fiat parts exist (like old stock) would be my choice, but can you trust even them? It's not that difficult to copy the manufacturers logo now days is it? It makes you wonder if things like spark plugs are the correct spec no matter what is printed on them... It's just that i noticed a lot of members here suffering form nigling electric issues, then they replace the faulty parts and a few moths later something else fails, and you are going around in cirles, not because the car is un-reliable......

[Gadge]

You know how it is, nothing these days are built to last. I've just replaced an oven after only 5 years. If this had been the 1960's stuff would last forever.

[markymarc]

I agree guys. I would like to join in with the "things ain't what they used to be" club.
Washing machines! Throw away now, I had a Hayes manual to repair them but now alot are sealed or can't get the parts!
Bring back the good old days!
Marc

[Rusty's Uncle]

When my microwave packed up I looked inside and found a blown fuse. Went to local spares supplier with the blown fuse and the guy refused to sell me a replacement as he said that the fuse had to be fitted by a qualified engineer. 
I was not going to pay a guy £50 to fit a fuse so was forced to get a new microwave for £25

[gammakeith]

That issue frustrated me after I restored my Spitfire.  The parts looked lovely and shiny but lots of things wore out really quickly.  I even had radiator hoses cracking after less than 2 years.  I guess that's the price we pay for being able to get cheap reproductions of parts that are no longer available OEM. At least those of us running older cars do less miles and tend to know how to use spanners so its not the end of the world......

Keith

[cos124]

I personally think it's all down to greed. Car industry in general has made cars a lot more reliable than a decade ago, with cars typically doing 100,000 and more with minimal faults and breakdowns, depending on maintainance of course!
So it's all down to using the cheapest materials available, as far as i'm concerned. And possibly with no inspection done to see if what they produce works, as long as it looks close to the original.

[Rusty's Uncle]

Well I was just looking at a pair of "new" 126 exhaust elbows at the weekend and the quality is definately not supercalifragalistic as they simply are atrocious 

[cos124]

on top of the repro parts you need to also be aware of counterfeit parts. A few months ago a guy on ebay was selling so called "genuine" Audi filters - he had 20 of them for sale, and when i checked his "other items" for sale it was ladies clothing and hats... hmmmm
He may well be selling "genuine filters" but for some reason the whole thing did not sound "genuine"....
1 filter maybe, but 20?

[baron_matt]

We encountered this issue within the 2CVGB club too, we formed a spare parts organisation where we get hard to find parts re-manufactured more often now where there is a part available through the trade but the quality isn't there.

What the club has to do is feedback its experiences with duff new parts to the traders. They then have to feed that back to the manufacturer. Often there are many links in the chain between you the end user and the manufacturer so the message doesn't get through so you have to be persistent. Also many traders are good at buying cheap and selling it as a premium product. This leads to the makers of the good quality items either making poor quality at a lower price or giving up completely as they can't sell the stuff. Is anyone approaching the manufacturers directly?

Has anyone in the club here compiled a list of known problem parts? Do you even have any idea's on what parts are not available therefore threatening the possibility of keeping the cars on the road?

[cos124]

very good point! totaly agree