pheller
UltimaDork
2/24/19 9:45 a.m.
So one of my coil packs on the Tundra quit the other day, and a replacement at NAPA was $100. Ridiculous. It wasn't even Denso, it was Napa's house brand "Ecklin".
I hop on RockAuto for future spares and the prices range from $17 for "Economy" and $55 for "Standard Replacement"; ie Denso and NGK.
In the list of Standard Replacement options is United Motor Products at $28. Essentially it's billed as a "Standard Replacement" alongside Denso, but at Economy pricing.
Regardless of how Rock Auto rates the parts it's sell, I would assume that a domestic manufacturer is just not going to match an OEM, right?
I don’t cheap out on ignition parts, but I won’t get ripped off at a dealer if I can buy the same part from RA.
The original part is a Denso. It's molded on the top. Ask me how I know. Anyway, I had codes on the 2uzfe in the ZAV, won't get into it, but "codes." I put a $100 top of the line at O'Reilley's coil in for the one throwing the coil code. No difference in the problem than with the original one with 230K on it, only now it threw codes for 2 coils, the new one and another. I said screw it and bought 8 of the super cheap on RA. Put them in along with new plugs and the problem still exists, but I have no codes. The super cheap looked identical to all the others, just not with a name molded on them.
I paid dang near 100 bucks apiece for noname Chinese coils at the local parts store for the MPV. The last time one went bad, I had the luxury of another vehicle to drive, so I ordered the Denso from Rockauto for less than $30. It's not just the dealerships that are ripping people off on parts.
I'd figure RA's super cheaps as equivalent to what you'd get at Advance Auto or the like. I figure I'll pay the extra for the Denso's and still pay just 1/3 of what I'd get skewered for at the local store. I tell ya, not needing it "like today" is a wonderful thing.
Edit: FWIW, I've now replaced ALL of the OEM coils on the MPV (Ford Duratec 3.0 mfd. in Lima, OH) with aftermarket coils. The OEMs lasted from between 90k-170k miles. None of the replacements has failed. Yet.
Ford mod motors eat coils. It doesn't really matter who they are made by. It's a fact of life. I bought a $50 set the last time in yellow. They work. None of them have failed in the last several years. 8 of them were cheaper than one from Ford.
In reply to Toyman01 :
Odd. I've had opposite experience with "yellow" coils on the Ford mod motors I've had. Ended up going back to Motorcraft.