small lesson about aftermarket parts

I am not the one who feeds the dealer if I can get the same quality part elswhere cheaper.
Same quality? Hmmmm, I am not so convinced anymore.

12 month ago I bought a 320d. Engine didn't reach operating temperatue.
So I went and bought a new coolant thermostat. Aftermarket.
Fitted ok but one of the pipe connectors needed a fair amount of persuasion to finally seat. Coolant temperature went up but not as high as I thought it would and reading around on the web seemed to confirm that modern diesels indeed have a problem of generating enough heat in the cold weater. Hence the electric auxillary heater under the bonnet.

forward 12 mont to now. Coolant temperature didn't climb. Hardly left the blue fiel on the gauge. Slightly disappointed with the aftermarket quality I went to the dealer and bought one.

cold and snow outside but I had the change the b****y thing because I was cold in the car! On removal of the aftermarket part I could see the failure straight away, some sort of rubber ring which sealed the metal
insert had popped out and allowed collant to bypass the thermo element!

Examinded the BMW part and surprise surprise, it doesn't even have that rubber ring.

Fitted the BMW thermostat and my coolant temp is now rising fairly fast and sit's just a tad behind halfway (as it does in all other BMW's I ever owned) AND my economy has improved by at least 5-6mpg (on board computer) on the same trip to work.

Conclusion. If I don't get a part which says BOSCH, Jurid, siemens or whatever or whoever supplies BMW, I will refuse to buy it.

I am doing about 2k miles a month, a fair bit of wasted Diesel over the winter that was.

I bought a set of front pads for the 525i last June from GSF and were standard ATE pads for the E39 (even said so on the box). I took the decision to fit them the day I was heading for a ferry to France. 

Peter Fenwick wrote: I just wish I had a BMW now but sadly money is very tight.

"Entering an age of Austerity and now driving a F*cus D**sel"

kbannon wrote: thepits wrote: There's tight and there's tight...........   2nd hand BMW's aren't that expensive   ...but filling them with petrol can be!

kbannon wrote: thepits wrote: There's tight and there's tight........... 2nd hand BMW's aren't that expensive   ...but filling them with petrol can be!

And D**s*l even more so it would seem

Your prices aren't bad, I filled up yesterday at 134.9 or was it 135.9?

totally agree!