Why You Should Use Genuine Toyota Parts (and how to save $$$)

Another example of why go Genuine OEM.

I Just swapped out my Coils (denso), Plugs (denso), Wires (sumitomo), and PCV at 160k miles. The PCV looked like the original and somewhat still worked but I decided to replace it. I bought a PCV kit on eBay that included the grommet, Genuine Toyota PCV hose, and a generic PCV Valve. (It was cheaper to buy the kit than just the hose by itself haha). Luckily I also bought a genuine Toyota part PCV valve. Heres the kit I bought and Heres the genuine toyota PCV I bought.


Comparing the two in the pics below, the Toyota one was significantly beefier, better plastic molding, and the base was made of metal. It also fit snug into the generic grommet. The generic PCV is cheap and I fear it would have broke trying to squish it into the engine let alone last very long. I know its not a critical part but it goes to show that you get what you pay for!

Along those same lines, Save $$$ on Genuine OEM Parts. I didn't know this for awhile so maybe it will help someone new to the trucks save $$$. Toyota hires out a lot of their parts to Denso (mostly), Sumitomo, NGK, etc. Most genuine Toyota parts also show the name of the manufacturer (helpful for when you need to replace a part). A quick search on ebay or parts store of your choice for the part and manufacturer name and BOOM=OEM parts at a fraction of the dealership price. Just look at how much I saved changing the coils, plugs, wires, and air filter using the same manufacturer parts but without the Genuine Toyota label (Prices exclude tax):

Ignition Coils x3
Denso $183 (here), Dealership $387

Spark Plugs x6
Denso $18, Dealership $24

Spark Plug Wire Set
Denso, Sumitomo, NGK- $30-$50, Dealership $90

Air Filter:
Denso $13, Dealership $22

Total for same parts:
Denso= $254, Dealership= $523

When I went the route of Denso over Genuine OEM, my TOTAL SAVINGS= $269 or over 50%!

Obviously you have to beware of cheap Chinese knock-offs/counterfeits, so buy from a reliable source. I buy Genuine OEM as much as I can when price is negligible or when there is no actual manufacturer option available. There will be people who argue that there are quality differences but IMHO it's just Toyotas marketing and Denso trying to keep their number one distributor happy haha.

 

Depending on the part the only difference is the letters on the side. The biggest upside to going through the dealer is you reasonably know the parts aren't fake. Counterfeits can be very convincing. But for non critical parts, parts is parts.

 

I use Denso parts, and have an independent mechanic do all the stuff I can't do myself! Screw the stealership!

 

Box and everything look OEM? damn...

 

Sure the ad has it..but did it delvier to you in the box?

If it doesnt come in a toyota box. i return it.

 

I dont think Toyota is in such a rush to label their boxes that they would misspell throttle

 

Yep. I bought the bank 1 upstream O2 sensor from ebay for $45 a year ago. Thought I was getting a deal compared to the ~$110 sensor on Rockauto and elsewhere. The packaging and everything else seemed legit. When I installed it and cleared the codes, the O2 bank 1 sensor code was gone but some new ones popped up soon after. Started noticing the truck having random variations in rpms while at idle (something I'd never experienced). Said F that and ordered a new one from Rockauto. When the new one arrived, I compared both and noticed how the new one felt better in terms of quality of materials (specifically the rubber on the cables and the plastic material of the insertion/connection slot). When I installed the new one and cleared the codes, I didn't get any other codes other than three codes for an evap leak I knew I had beforehand. The truck idles smoothly and runs fine to this day.

 

I learned the hard way years ago with splice to fit “universal” O2 sensors on a GM import. A nightmare that was finally fixed by getting genuine GM.

If the price is too good to be true, then it isn’t true.

 

I bought that same PCV kit on ebay

 

Why do people insist on buying parts on eBay? There are great uses for eBay, this isn't one of them.

 

The eBay part that really has me perplexed is the $10 Tacoma fuel pumps. Who in their right mind thinks a $10 part is the equivalent of a $200 ++ genuine pump.

I guess dropping fuel tanks becomes as routine as oil changes : /

 

Yeup there are a lot of counterfit OEM parts on ebay AND Amazon. No online market is immune to them. A ton of denso counterfeits too to the point that there are tutorials out there on how to tell the difference.

The problem is, that counterfeiters have internet too so whatever tricks people use to identify the parts, the counterfeiters continue to improve their skills and packaging to fool more folks. Here's a link from 2 years ago so I wouldn't be surprised if it is now out of date and all the fake mistakes have now been fixed.

https://www.driven2automotive.com/blog/how-to-spot-fake-denso-iridium-power-spark-plugs-2017/

 

Using something that's made by the same manufacturer is NOT always the same as buying a genuine OEM part (that happens to be manufactured by the same company.

Just because Denso makes parts for OEM, doesn't mean the aftermarket parts are the SAME. You can have two parts coming down the same production line and be completely different. OEM has different QA requirements, so one part that didn't meet those requirements may not qualify to have the OEM stamp, but it is still likely going to be sold as an aftermarket part.

Aside from quality control requirements, the other possibility is that OEM simply has specific design specs for a specific part.

Classic example: TRD Bilstien shocks. Although this is a specific case where aftermarket is BETTER than OEM.

Both made by Bilstein, one supplied as original OEM equipment, the other is aftermarket. Even if the internals are identical, the added diameter of the aftermarket part here makes it a better shock.

From: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/comparison-trd-bilstein-vs-4600s-rear-shocks.472585/



So it comes down to the specific part, your budget, and what you're comfortable with.

 

Break the bank once.... cry once.... but get it done right !@
I lose 600 on axel seal rear driver side parts and labor of Joe Shop
Gotta go to Stealership quoted 2000 but cry out for rebate , then $1,400 with new axle included.

GOING FOR OEM ... was for me enough of the lesson !

Hard to know what is real on ebay or somewhere else...IMHO.. why to risk , again ////

I rather save on my beer.... six pack international beer at ALDIS 5.99 , WAY better taste than ' LITE" domestic..... got a 23 of budweiser ( yeah open box missing 1) for $12,44 clearance at store.... that's when I feel... Score !!!

 

That is true. Definitely a red flag if a $200 part is selling for $10!

Thats alright, just get the Toyota PCV and you'll be set! Unless you installed it already that would be a bummer

Yep, I saw all the videos before ordering online, hence why its critical to get to know the distributor/seller and make sure they are credible. I prefer eBay over Amazon for parts, due to the fact that you can see the seller and read their reviews. I stay away from sellers who sell from California import cities or with chinese seller names or punctuation in the listings. On amazon, any Chinese counterfeit factory can send products under one listing to be fulfilled by amazon, so you never know what you are going to get. Its pretty unreal these days.

I agree with you to an extent, those shocks look like toyota wanted a bilstein to do it but for a certain price per shock (cheaper than the aftermarket obviously). It's hard for me to believe that Denso just rolls out a batch for Toyota and Toyota only when they can easily make a batch for themselves. Granted, the denso ones might be factory seconds or blems but function the same.

Thats why I always compare the original part to the new one bought. The Denso coils I bought were identical to the Toyota OEM, with the same molding marks from the factory and everything, truck runs better than before replacement.

In the end, not looking to save mass amounts of money by going Denso or through eBay. What's important is being smart about the whole thing.

 

Agree 100%

The lesson, really, is: don't buy critical car parts from Amazon/Ebay if you can at all avoid it, or at least not without doing your due diligence.

Another example is our 1st gen lower balljoints. I see many posts of people buying a full set of BJs and TREs off Amazon for like $45, and that's scary as hell. I'm not the guy to insist you ONLY buy OEM BJs, but something like 555 (who, iirc, make the OEM ones) are certainly acceptable and are nearly half the cost of OEM. I've used Moog BJs too, and those are acceptable, but the extra $20 for the 555s is a no brainer (imo).

But with the Denso stuff, I can easily see them making a run for Toyota at a certain QA level, then keeping the ones that don't pass muster for themselves. It's actually a really common manufacturing process. You either throw away the rejects, or you sell them for a lower price. Kinda like clothing outlet stores do.

 

Watched a good video not too long ago about this. It's called the "gray" market and it's just like you said. There are products that don't meet the standards that are supposed to be destroyed but they usually disappear out the backdoor and reappear on the ebay page of an employee's cousin. Or sometimes brands will cancel their contract with a factories because of issues or failed negotiations so what does the factory do with all this tooling, designs, and raw materials? They pump out a bunch of counterfeits and sell them, it's not like they are bitter or anything that their contract got dropped lol

A lot of times people will argue that gray market items are "just as good" as the actual brand name items because they use same stuff basically but if I think we can all agree that most manufacturers are always pinching pennies where they can while maintaining a certain level of QC. Do you really want to risk buying something that even the bean counters at the company headquarters weren't willing to bless off on? Apologize for the rant but just agree with you and did the old fashioned "in addendum".

Also found the video, great youtube channel if you are a bike rider as well.
https://youtu.be/O2pss4xWZ4w?t=303

 

Honda is having problems even with some parts from the dealership being faulty.

 

I agree 100% I run into this all the time just because a company had the correct bid to build a part 20 years ago.

Does not mean the part now 20 years later is built to the same standards in China .

 

A little different from what I was talking about, but definitely good info to be aware of.

However, if a product doesn't meet specific qa controls from, say, Toyota, doesn't mean that is a counterfeit product, or even an unsafe product. QA can just be fit and finsh that's not up to snuff for oem.