Original BMW Warranty parts.

Ohmess

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Yeah, and when I was looking for a rebuilt alternator, I found the majority of the alternator rebuilds take place in the same factory in China. Bosch does all their alternator rebuilds, including those sold to BMW as OEM replacements, in that factory. I think Delco does too. If you want well made bearings and diodes and whatnot, you need to search out the few remaining local small alternator and starter rebuild shops. Or source the parts and rebuild them yourself. I decided to pay the local guy to do it hoping to help keep him in business.
 

m5bb

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FYI- I own a Black/Black M5

I keep this car up very well and got tired of the heater control valve problem almost every year. I read on myE28 that the aftermarket replacement valves are not designed correctly and that's why they fail. Some say the MB valve is better. So I decided (while you can still get it) to buy a whole new valve from BMW. Yes, it was $300. Installed it last Monday drove the car a little on Friday and then went for a spirited mountain drive on Saturday. While I was waiting for the rest of the cars to show up I parked on a little bit of a hill in a mall parking lot. I looked back 20 minutes later and see a puddle running down the hill. Looked at valve and see water coming out a seam just above where the hose attaches. Looks like valve is bad. I did get to do the drive. It was not leaking that much and drove for a couple hours and then added some water. Email parts guy at dealer and here's the biggie. I have to bring the car to the dealer and let a mechanic look at valve and make sure it was installed correctly before they will replace it. They order part and replace it. Needless to say I'm not very happy to take my show winning car to the dealer. I do all my own work and always have. We'll they have a mechanic that has been there since 86 and he has worked on an S38 engine before???? I told them the only way I would do this is if I can be there when he looks at the valve. Here's a photo taken with my bore scope. So just be aware of the potential downfalls of warranty on parts. Can you imagine if this was and expansion valve or rear main seal. We'll see how this ends.
View attachment 33085

Update- 12/7/17
Part was replaced at dealer. Drove car home about 7 miles. Put car in garage and did some other work on it not related to heater or valve. The work was off and on for about 2 weeks. When finished I started the car up and let it run for 15 minutes. Found water puddle on the floor. Valve is leaking again. Must be a defective valve.
 

Ohmess

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You mentioned earlier that the e28 folks were warning that the aftermarket valves are defective. I wonder if the aftermarket valve and the valve BMW sells are actually the same valve.

Crazy? Consider the auto industry parts supplier who sells a part for BMW, and is then approached by an aftermarket parts company to design and manufacture a cheaper version of the part. After doing this, an auto parts store chain requests an even cheaper version of the same part that they intend to sell under the store brand name. Your ISO whatever process tells you that each of these parts is a quality part. Each version of the part is going into a car that is very old so if the part holds up for a short time you are probably off the hook for warranty claims. And it is expensive to have different manufacturing processes for a similar part and to maintain three different inventories. It sure would be tempting to make just one part and supply it to all three of your customers.
 
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