first off I must mention that I am a veteran mechanic with over 23 years experience under the hood professionally.
lately I have lost faith in their stuff. they used to be the cat's meow by having things the dealer had but at a great saving and improving on OE designs.
it all started with the coolant elbows for the GM 3800 V6. the O rings were leaking within 3 months. we have replaced so many with them it's scary. now we get them right from GM although they cost about twice. can't take chances with a customer's car.
then we had a set of oil cooler lines on a 2000 Blazer fail with about 7 months and less than 3000 miles. the rubber was cracking and looked worse than a fuel hose exposed to the environment for 30 years. the vehicle lost 4 quarts of oil and the customer saw the wetness on ground as she was walking back to car in parking lot. once again, we replaced with OE at about twice the price but quadruple the confidence.
follow that up with failed wheel studs on a 95 Blazer. we replaced all 10 on the front. I noticed they were severely rusted while I was replacing both front wheel speed sensor/backing plates. I already had the hubs off so I used the shop press to install them. I should note that we use a 4 step process to install wheels so as that we don't have any wheel loss issues. the RF had 4 of the 5 studs just snap while the customer was making a slow left turn. once again, we replaced with OE at a cost to the shop and lost time for me.
is there anything Dorman makes I can trust?
lately I have lost faith in their stuff. they used to be the cat's meow by having things the dealer had but at a great saving and improving on OE designs.
it all started with the coolant elbows for the GM 3800 V6. the O rings were leaking within 3 months. we have replaced so many with them it's scary. now we get them right from GM although they cost about twice. can't take chances with a customer's car.
then we had a set of oil cooler lines on a 2000 Blazer fail with about 7 months and less than 3000 miles. the rubber was cracking and looked worse than a fuel hose exposed to the environment for 30 years. the vehicle lost 4 quarts of oil and the customer saw the wetness on ground as she was walking back to car in parking lot. once again, we replaced with OE at about twice the price but quadruple the confidence.
follow that up with failed wheel studs on a 95 Blazer. we replaced all 10 on the front. I noticed they were severely rusted while I was replacing both front wheel speed sensor/backing plates. I already had the hubs off so I used the shop press to install them. I should note that we use a 4 step process to install wheels so as that we don't have any wheel loss issues. the RF had 4 of the 5 studs just snap while the customer was making a slow left turn. once again, we replaced with OE at a cost to the shop and lost time for me.
is there anything Dorman makes I can trust?
