I bought my car back in April and have been mechanical restoring in since. I seem to have a case of “while your there” and end up replacing things that didn’t have any issue but might as well. I have always replaced the removed parts with parts from Mercedes or a German equivalent(mahle, behr, Bosch Ect)
About the beginning of winter my car decided to not want to fully warm up. I diagnosed it as a stuck open thermostat, but “while you’re there” I bought all new parts for the coolant system.
Radiator, fan clutch, water up, mono valve, electric water pump, all hoses, expansion tank, cap, level sensor thermostat cover, new Mercedes coolant, and of corse, thermostat.
Taking it apart last night I found the thermostat wasn’t stuck open...


It had totally broke.
There was no brand stamped in it, so god know if this came from autozone or Napa.
Just thought I would share what I found.

Also, the water pump on a m103, I have done many water pumps in my life, that was by far the worst


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1989 Mercedes 260e
1972 GMC shorty van
1982 Harley Davidson Ironhead

any part can break, fail, have manufacturing defects, be installed improperly, etc...

Its all a balance between availability, cost and ease of install IMO. Something simple like a thermostat, if thats whats on the shelf and will keep you moving for a couple years why not?

I won't buy anything from communist china

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

There’s a lot of parts out there that’ll never give you an issue. Like mentioned above it’s a mechanical part and everything mechanical has the potential to fail. If the oe part is destined to never fail then by that logic the car will never fail..

As an experiment I use only oe parts on my 95..and the rock auto cheapies on my 94. Both cars run pretty equal without issues

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

The worst part about it is getting to the 2 back bolts.

The trick is to use a 3/8 wobble a small extension and a u-joint.

I did a few of these water pumps and by using this method it's relatively quick and painless.

Then you are out of luck. A lot of parts in new cars are made in China, plus lot of replacement aftermarket parts.

I buy the cheapest part to maintain my cars except parts that take a lot of my labor to get to. Say engine internal pistons or the like.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

I was able to get the front 2 and the rear lower just fine, but the upper rear that you can see through the intake was laughing at me, I could see it but the bolt on the back of the pump that hold the sealing plate(?) wasn’t allowing any combination of Wobblies and extensions to go on straight. I finally was able to move an ac line more out of the way and get to it but I spent more time then I’d like to admit at 1am trying to use a wrench through the intake runners only moving it 1/16 a turn at a time haha.

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I get that a cheaper aftermarket part in most cases won’t fail right away. But I’d rather spend the extra $ with the expectations that the time it will be in working order will be more then the cheaper part for my time sake.
Your 100% that all parts do fail in time. But I have taken parts off my car that are dated so they show they were the original part. My car has almost 300,000 miles so these parts have seen use and like I said, I have been replacing purely out of preventative maintenance sake and boredom.
Years back I worked at a small independent European parts shop, and I saw the warranty rate of brands like Uro compared to a OE equivalent brand. Things like the water pump, that is a pain in the butt job, I’d rather spend more to get a better brand in the hopes to not have to do it sooner.
Is a eBay special $3 thermostat better then a broken one, totally. But if this snapped in a way to prevent it from opening up and cooking the engine then it would have been worth is to spend the extra 20. Could a Mercedes brand one break and do the same, sure but I think as car guys and gals we know which would have a faster fail rate.
Time is money, I’d rather replace something once every 5 years then five times in 5 years.

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I agree, most stuff is gonna be made in China, can’t beat those wages, but I would assume for example behr quality control of their parts made in China would be better then China parts direct $3.99 special


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1989 Mercedes 260e
1972 GMC shorty van
1982 Harley Davidson Ironhead