> I vote with you Duane and also think that it is a myth.
>
>. I & many of our local club members have great
> >success using the standard Heavy TRW or AirTek water pump listed for Olds
> >455 w/air condition. Cost is about $60 w/lifetime warranty.
Pardon for my penny's worth here but I thought I'd jump in and add a bent
penny's worth re lifetime warranties.
Perhaps I'm reading some of these posts wrong but I get the impression that
lifetime warranty and quality are used or implied in conjunction to mean
that if a manufacturer gives a lifetime warranty it must be a quality item
he/she's selling us. In my opinion and experiences nothing could be further
from reality (remember it's JMHO).
Lifetime warranties are pure crock. The manufacturer simply gambles that
only a very small percentage will use the product beyond expiry (failure)
and it's much cheaper to give the odd consumer more of the same crap while
pocketing the profites from the garbage sold to the majority.
I would much rather pay a higher, yet fair, price for a piece of true
quality and have the knowledge that if a failure occurs it is indeed a
failure and not time of expiry reached.
Case in point... my recent purchase of a fanclutch with a lifetime
guarantee. Unfortunately it's life was less than 5000 miles, which in my
case was less than 3 weeks. Now granted, it could've just as easily lasted 3
years, as long as it would've taken me that long to put the 5000 miles on
it. I know that I would have no trouble to get a no cost replacement. After
all, NAPA stands behind what they sell and they truly do, by giving you
another one at no cost. Of course I'm not going to bother. I'm just mad at
myself for running the clutch for that long as I know better from previous
experiences... but it had been a while and time does heal old wounds or
apparently makes one forget old wounds.
Another one... I spent a hot afternoon in the California desert one summer
changing a waterpump by the side of the road. No fun for real, especially as
it was before fan-shroud update. It was absolutely no fun. I was extremely
grateful to one of my customers that came to the rescue with a waterpump and
helping hands. ( I'm still paying for that favor
One of the reasons I
now carry a spare waterpump along. Was the premature failure because the
rebuilder was saving a few bucks? Probably.
In my humble opinion there is absolutely no substitute for quality... after
all, isn't that why we mess with GMC's in the first place? There are no free
lunches. When you buy poor or questionable quality you simply postpone the
true and ultimate cost and usually when the bill finally comes in for the
difference between rapid-fire-mass-production and quality it is usually much
higher than paying for quality up front and that's even without allowance
for the inconvenience that's guaranteed to happen.
Now don't get me wrong guys and gals, I do appreciate the cost sensitive
threads that appear here now and again and also the comparisons that are
frequent, i.e. don't quit. Just because I like quality doesn't mean I don't
want best possible price for that quality.
Perhaps I'm just rambling because I'm still trying to justify paying 399
bucks for a waterpump vs 60 for a lifetime guarateed one
All kidding aside though... many of us are DIY-GMC-Professionals, some by
choice, some due to mental state (me) and some due to some other
constraints. Is a 50% saving on parts at home vs a breakdown away from home
really a saving? Not in my opinion as at that time we just say fix it and
worry about adding to the mortgage after we get back home. Even for the
non-DIY's, do you not feel more comfortable with your regular mechanic vs
some on-the-road-middle-of-nowhere stranger that you know will charge you
more... and perhaps even more than that
Of course the Black List will go a long ways towards preventing the latter.
We have to keep in mind that we have to treat our GMC a little kinder and
perhaps treat them to a little extra once in a while. It's not like our
car... chances are good that when our car breaks down we'll be resonably
close to home. When we travel in our GMC our chances will be just as good to
the contrary... we'll be a gazillion miles (it'll seem that far) from
home... frustrated, feeeling alone and deserted.
Sorry for the rambling, but I just want to reiterate that we all have to
make our own decisions and thanks to the gmcnet we can make those decisions
much better informed.
All I'm saying is to be sure to weigh price against cost, true cost, and
then feed your GMC as you see fit and with what you are comfortable with.
Happy GMC'ing. Thanks to the gmcnet we can all enjoy our GMC's to the best
of our ability. Thanks again Patrick.
Heinz
>
>. I & many of our local club members have great
> >success using the standard Heavy TRW or AirTek water pump listed for Olds
> >455 w/air condition. Cost is about $60 w/lifetime warranty.
Pardon for my penny's worth here but I thought I'd jump in and add a bent
penny's worth re lifetime warranties.
Perhaps I'm reading some of these posts wrong but I get the impression that
lifetime warranty and quality are used or implied in conjunction to mean
that if a manufacturer gives a lifetime warranty it must be a quality item
he/she's selling us. In my opinion and experiences nothing could be further
from reality (remember it's JMHO).
Lifetime warranties are pure crock. The manufacturer simply gambles that
only a very small percentage will use the product beyond expiry (failure)
and it's much cheaper to give the odd consumer more of the same crap while
pocketing the profites from the garbage sold to the majority.
I would much rather pay a higher, yet fair, price for a piece of true
quality and have the knowledge that if a failure occurs it is indeed a
failure and not time of expiry reached.
Case in point... my recent purchase of a fanclutch with a lifetime
guarantee. Unfortunately it's life was less than 5000 miles, which in my
case was less than 3 weeks. Now granted, it could've just as easily lasted 3
years, as long as it would've taken me that long to put the 5000 miles on
it. I know that I would have no trouble to get a no cost replacement. After
all, NAPA stands behind what they sell and they truly do, by giving you
another one at no cost. Of course I'm not going to bother. I'm just mad at
myself for running the clutch for that long as I know better from previous
experiences... but it had been a while and time does heal old wounds or
apparently makes one forget old wounds.
Another one... I spent a hot afternoon in the California desert one summer
changing a waterpump by the side of the road. No fun for real, especially as
it was before fan-shroud update. It was absolutely no fun. I was extremely
grateful to one of my customers that came to the rescue with a waterpump and
helping hands. ( I'm still paying for that favor
One of the reasons Inow carry a spare waterpump along. Was the premature failure because the
rebuilder was saving a few bucks? Probably.
In my humble opinion there is absolutely no substitute for quality... after
all, isn't that why we mess with GMC's in the first place? There are no free
lunches. When you buy poor or questionable quality you simply postpone the
true and ultimate cost and usually when the bill finally comes in for the
difference between rapid-fire-mass-production and quality it is usually much
higher than paying for quality up front and that's even without allowance
for the inconvenience that's guaranteed to happen.
Now don't get me wrong guys and gals, I do appreciate the cost sensitive
threads that appear here now and again and also the comparisons that are
frequent, i.e. don't quit. Just because I like quality doesn't mean I don't
want best possible price for that quality.
Perhaps I'm just rambling because I'm still trying to justify paying 399
bucks for a waterpump vs 60 for a lifetime guarateed one
All kidding aside though... many of us are DIY-GMC-Professionals, some by
choice, some due to mental state (me) and some due to some other
constraints. Is a 50% saving on parts at home vs a breakdown away from home
really a saving? Not in my opinion as at that time we just say fix it and
worry about adding to the mortgage after we get back home. Even for the
non-DIY's, do you not feel more comfortable with your regular mechanic vs
some on-the-road-middle-of-nowhere stranger that you know will charge you
more... and perhaps even more than that
Of course the Black List will go a long ways towards preventing the latter.
We have to keep in mind that we have to treat our GMC a little kinder and
perhaps treat them to a little extra once in a while. It's not like our
car... chances are good that when our car breaks down we'll be resonably
close to home. When we travel in our GMC our chances will be just as good to
the contrary... we'll be a gazillion miles (it'll seem that far) from
home... frustrated, feeeling alone and deserted.
Sorry for the rambling, but I just want to reiterate that we all have to
make our own decisions and thanks to the gmcnet we can make those decisions
much better informed.
All I'm saying is to be sure to weigh price against cost, true cost, and
then feed your GMC as you see fit and with what you are comfortable with.
Happy GMC'ing. Thanks to the gmcnet we can all enjoy our GMC's to the best
of our ability. Thanks again Patrick.
Heinz
