bradland

Is this a joke?!? How many people at McGrath Lexus are rolling on the floor laughing right now????
Sorry I didn't think to WEIGH my water pump. I didn't necessarily mean heavier in a literal sense but you know a cheap part when you hold it in your hand.
You were at the dealer did they not have a 400 or 430 Toyota/Lexus pump to weigh........?

YODAONE

You mentioned (in this LS400 forum posting) the "substantially heavier" water pump.

The context taken was to mass.

Thought perhaps you had some info.

No worries.

peterls

I also did not expect ANY difference between a Mitsuboshi belt and Mitsuboshi belt with Toyota logo on it,but there was a substantial difference quality, I can tell you that!
For aftermarket, they cut corners.
It seems to me that aftermarket is now aimed at people who want to fix up their car and sell it. At that point, who cares if the new part of bad quality fails in less than a year - by that time, the car is already sold.

python

iTrader: (4)

u can get oem japan made aisin kits at napa auto parts..i know this,in fact you can get a lot of oem stuff such as akebono pads,denso starters/alternator...02 sensors. so some of this thread is conjecture. and im lmfao at people who would go buy this stuff from ebay when its readily available locally.

430SLOwner

Have you thought about taking a Midol and using a hot water bottle...?

peterls

Well, not all of us like to waste money. I buy on E-bay because it is cheaper, not because I cannot walk into the Lexus dealership and get it there at 200% markup. Local Napa or O'Relys is more expensive than E-bay almost always. Not to mention that most of the time, they don't have the part in stock anyway.
The only time they are cheaper is when it is a sub-par quality part.

peterls

I am reading this and i don't get it. What is wrong with checking if two pumps are identical weight? Are you psychic and you KNOW for a fact that they are identical? Didn't you say yourself that one felt different, or cheap or whatever? Then, putting some factual number on that would help back up your claim. Maybe it is lighter in weight, which would make sense and explain a lot. Or maybe it is not - in that case, we can measure other things.
No need for "ROTFLOL" when discussing in a civilized manner. There are plenty of grease monkeys out there who love to laugh at others, while they themselves are often clueless even though their entire life and career is about fixing cars.
My Toyota specialist, mechanic, who owns the same car and has recently retired laughed at me when I expressed doubts about his diagnosis for my failed smog test. He thought it was a combo of old cats and bad o2 sensors. He wanted 600 bucks to replace two sensors. I walked out, changed the sensors on my own, and diiscovered that it was a waste of money and effort (luckily, doing it myself I only wasted $100 bucks for 2 o2 OEM sensors). But then, after some study I figured it must be the coolant temperature sensor and after I replaced it the car passed smog with no problem, and the guy who did the test told me that the numbers are surprisingly good - like a new car.
Who should be laughing? That Lexus specialist or me? Don't forget, I am an absolute amateur. He should be the pro.
ps. OTOH, no one should assume anything. Yes, I am an amateur, but I also had a chance to work with the biggest car parts supplier in the world, working with top notch engineers, and learning things that would sound like science fiction to pretty much most mechanics and other engineers. Those signals built into the exterior mirrors? I worked on that decades ago. Prismatic mirrors anyone? Hydropressure forming? Always best to keep ones ego in check.