GTA88

I'm looking at a computer-generated 'repair order estimate' I got for replacing the fuel pump. The shop owner told me he uses only Delphi and AC Delco fuel pumps.

Looking at the repair order today, I noticed the pump number was SP1121. Looked it up on the internet and SP1121 is a Spectra !!

Maybe I'm just paranoid. I'm going to ask the owner why the order says SP1121 (Spectra) as the part number. Maybe that's the default part number that pops up from their software. I think he just typed in '88 Trans Am electric fuel pump' and the repair order printed out with SP1121 as the pump number.

Not trying to get in an argument with the guy at this point since I had already planned to have the car done there, especially since he gives a 2 year warranty on parts AND labor.

What if he says Spectra and AC Delco and Delphi are all the same?

Is Spectra really that awful?

2 year warranty sound pretty good even with a Spectra pump?

Drew

iTrader: (58)

And that is just another reason I don't take my car in to a shop for anything I can accomplish on my own.

When you're dealing with a third party performing a repair, you're best off not to look too close, and just accept that you're there to sign the credit card slip, and if it works when you get it back, you got your money's worth. Otherwise, you're just going to end up dissatisfied and upset with whoever is doing the work. You're always going to find someplace you're getting screwed if you take the time to look for it.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Delphi is a company that GM spun off a bunch of "bad GM" parts suppliers into. The AC/Delco replacement brand is part of it. Meaning, AC/Delco == Delphi.

That said, given the global nature of the auto parts mfr business these days, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to find that there's only ONE mfr of ALL the fuel pumps for the replacement market, let's call it the Acme Fuel Pump Co.; and EVERYBODY - Delphi, Airtex, Spectra, WHOEVER - just buys and boxes the exact same Acme part. It's more common than you might think. Try looking inside a bunch of brands of suspension parts next time: I looked at center links for my car once, and found 2 "levels" of parts at NAPA (their "gold" and "budget" lines), Moog, and AZ's McQuay-Norris; looked in them all; the EXACT SAME physical part was in EVERY ONE. Had the Dana "diamond" on it so no doubt if I had looked at a Perfect Circle one it would have been the same as well. Only differences, other than the printing on the OUTSIDE of the box, were the price, the warranty, and whether it was in stock down at the corner. Not saying that's necessarily true here, but I wouldn't rule it out.

nhgator

You ain't kidding,I go to a lot of factories repairing scales and weighing equipment,they build a lot more than Fisher brand plows in the Fisher plant and Robitussin brand cough drops are the same as CVS brand cough drops just a different wrapper.

AlkyIROC

Looks can also be deceiving. A long time ago when I was still running a SBC, I had a few sets of rockers. I had some Crane Gold rockers and some Crane Energizer rockers. They looked identical except for the color and the gold rockers cost more.

When I broke a gold rocker trunnion due to an engine failure, I popped out the trunnion from the gold and popped out a trunnion from the Energizer to fix it. That's when I finally noticed a difference in the rockers. The Gold rocker had a beefier trunnion. I decided to take the rocker back to the speed shop and they replaced it under warranty.

So something that looks the same may not be as identical as you would expect. As for the fuel pump, it will probably work just fine. I hope you have at least a 1 year warranty on it though. If you put a Spectre pump beside a Delco pump, you would probably say they look identical but chances are there are a lot of shortcuts done to the cheaper pump just to make it cheaper.

Go to the other end of the scale. The most expensive item may not be the best. A lot of times, a brand name can charge a higher price to justify the brand name, advertising costs etc to sell the product while a basic stock replacement house brand can do the job just as well for less cost.

Repair shops are trying to save you money by using house brand parts. Very few people will specify a specific brand when they want something fixed. You're paying them to fix your car and they'll do that with parts they know are readily available. I replaced a worn out ball joint on a pickup truck I had many years ago. Saved a few bucks and put a house brand on. A few years later, it wore out again. This time I put on a Moog part and it lasted until I finally sold the truck. So much for saving a few bucks.

I work on heavy trucks and normally, they're dealer specific items for each brand of truck. Customer usually doesn't get much of a chance to get something cheaper because the parts are not made by anyone else.