What's the deal with repair parts these days???

[Correus]

that's pretty impressive. i figured something like that would be very hard to find parts for and that you would have to rely on pickers out there finding parts in old barns, etc.
did land rover change parts every 3-4 years like jeep does? like i said, the part i need was only used on three year models before they changed it just enough to not fit other models. maybe that is a greed thing land rover didnt have back then.

Lots and lots of parts out there for the Series Rovers. Most are cheaper than the equivalents for vintage Jeeps, Scouts, Land Cruises and so on. Most of the parts are still made, but there are a handful that are hard to get, and pricey. But all-n-all, I have an easier time than many of the vintage owners of those mentioned above.

 

[Correus]

i really miss the vehicles that had carbureted engines with distributor caps and no abs and all that other mess...

That's why I opted for what I did...

 

[John Bishop]

@grubworm, Did you get your wife’s jk squared away? I ask because a few months ago the dash displays on my ‘17 jk would randomly go haywire. Short story to the solution was cleaning the battery terminals and making sure they were tight. Someone on another forum had similar issues with a bad abs code. He cleaned his battery terminals and the problem went away.

 

[grubworm]

@grubworm, Did you get your wife’s jk squared away? I ask because a few months ago the dash displays on my ‘17 jk would randomly go haywire. Short story to the solution was cleaning the battery terminals and making sure they were tight. Someone on another forum had similar issues with a bad abs code. He cleaned his battery terminals and the problem went away.

not yet...still waiting on the local salvage yard to find one thru their network.
hey, you might be on to something. i have seen crazy stuff like that before, so after i finish my coffee, im going out to clean the posts. how nice if that is the fix. the wife LOVES her jeep and has been pretty bummed that its sitting in the driveway undrivable. that would definitely make her day if it works...


update: downed the coffee and headed to the shop for a wrench and wire brush. popped the hood and viola...a corroded post! cleaned the post and reassured the jeep that i was sorry for all the bad things ive been saying about it. replaced the cable and turned the key....abs, brake and traction light shining in all their glory...

ha. well...it was a good recommendation and i have seen things like that be the fix. step-daughter had a 2015 jk that had issues and she traded it for a forester and loves it. my hardcore jeep lovin' wife is now considering other options.
i had really good electronics training in the military and used to be able to fix a lot of things on a vehicle, but there is no way i would even know where to start with something like this abs module. as a consumer...i think we're screwed!

 

[jeepers29]

My dealer told me a while back that they will no longer take appointments for 2013 and older vehicles due to not being able to get parts.

 

[John Bishop]

Well crap. Sorry the fix wasn’t that simple.
At least you know what the problem isn’t…

 

[grubworm]

Well crap. Sorry the fix wasn’t that simple.
At least you know what the problem isn’t…

true. you are right about corrosion, though. if you pull a wiring harness, there is usually some corrosion on the power pins. being in the swamps where its very humid and there is some salt in the air from being so close to the gulf, im always dealing with that. the power trim on my boat went out. i was thinking the pump was bad and then found corrosion on the power lead and cleaning it did the trick.

anyway, the salvage yard said they have one being shipped to them and after the fleecing of my wallet ($800 for a USED part that was $350 new)...the wife's jeep should be back on the road soon. she's been stuck at home and has been doing a lot of baking since she is homebound. i've been getting homemade sourdough bread and fresh apple fritters...so there has definitely been an upside to all this!

gee...i hope the jeep doesnt have another "failure" right before thanksgiving...

 

[jeepers29]

true. you are right about corrosion, though. if you pull a wiring harness, there is usually some corrosion on the power pins. being in the swamps where its very humid and there is some salt in the air from being so close to the gulf, im always dealing with that. the power trim on my boat went out. i was thinking the pump was bad and then found corrosion on the power lead and cleaning it did the trick.

anyway, the salvage yard said they have one being shipped to them and after the fleecing of my wallet ($800 for a USED part that was $350 new)...the wife's jeep should be back on the road soon. she's been stuck at home and has been doing a lot of baking since she is homebound. i've been getting homemade sourdough bread and fresh apple fritters...so there has definitely been an upside to all this!

gee...i hope the jeep doesnt have another "failure" right before thanksgiving...

I got to say, that is one hell of an upside. Glad to hear you found the part.

 

[Boucher]

When mine went out in My H2 I took it off and sent to UP / FIX they fixed it and sent it back within a week

 

[sfonteno]

For the last 30 years, accountants at every major company have convinced upper management that the ONLY way to properly manage a company is to limit "stock". If you have stock on the shelf, that's money that's not in your pocket.

The result of that was another realization in 2020 by parts manufacturers, if you buy up all your competition, and governments don't stop you, you can limit supply to take advantage of all these really smart companies "saving" money by keeping part stock low.

Fast forward to 2023, governments still aren't cracking down on monopolies, accountants are still morons, and stock holders are richer.

As someone else put it, older cars are not an issue because those parts were built for years and years under a completely different economic model.

 

[Anak]

as a community that likes to travel by vehicles...we might need to start being a little proactive on how we are going to keep our vehicles working in the near future...

You need to add a metal lathe to your shop. Put yourself in a position to rebuild or make your own parts.

And buy spare vehicles for parts donors.

And periodically go to the junkyard just to collect spare parts you don't yet need.

At least that is the system that works for me.

Newest vehicle I own is an '02. Stealerships hardly ever have any parts for my vehicles. But if I can get the part number from them I can then go search ebay, or find what aftermarket brands are "equivalent" to that part number.

I will not own a vehicle with a screen in the middle of the dash. That right there is planned obsolescence. I will have nothing to do with them.

All my vehicles are ones that I can service myself. And yes, that service has included opening up electrical components to re-flow solder joints or even remove resistors from the circuit board and run wires to remote mounted resistors. Where there is a will there is a way.

As to how we got here, I fully agree that JIT is largely to blame. It is a function of very poorly chosen priorities, largely the consequence of society's failure to teach the value of delayed gratification. Robust systems have been discarded in favor of pushing to see who can build the biggest house of cards. The problem will only continue to worsen until the priorities are reversed.

 

[rgallant]

Well I feel the pain I own a Land Rover Discovery II, any Land Rover models prior to the D2 parts are actually not bad to find but the D2, can be really tough. I mostly order from the UK, but some bits are LHD specfic and a bit hard to get.

 

[Correus]

Well I feel the pain I own a Land Rover Discovery II, any Land Rover models prior to the D2 parts are actually not bad to find but the D2, can be really tough. I mostly order from the UK, but some bits are LHD specfic and a bit hard to get.

Do you check with 3Brothers and RovahFarm?

 

[El-Dracho]

Well I feel the pain I own a Land Rover Discovery II, any Land Rover models prior to the D2 parts are actually not bad to find but the D2, can be really tough. I mostly order from the UK, but some bits are LHD specfic and a bit hard to get.

I am based in Europe and also a Land Rover enthusiast. If you need something special for your LR which is hard to get in the US and you order in Europe anyway, let me know, I can look up the best place to get it here. We also have numerous stores in Germany that stock LR spares for LHD LR. Always happy to help.

 

[rgallant]

For the fellow in the US parts are often available, but shipping to Canada is both slower and more expensive than shipping from the UK go figure. It appeas both UPS and Fedex ship ground to Canada at a higher cost in general. Parts from the UK ship DHL air to Vancouver it takes 5 to 7 days to my door, pretty hard to beat.

 

[Tundracamper]

…Stealerships hardly ever have any parts for my vehicles. But if I can get the part number from them I can then go search ebay, or find what aftermarket brands are "equivalent" to that part number.

And… if you want to know why it’s becoming virtually impossible to buy parts locally, just reread the above. Dealers don’t stock things for you to come browse and then buy elsewhere. Someone has to pay the salary of that employee looking up the part number for you. Ebay sure doesn’t!! If you’re going to be cheap, that’s fine. Just don’t gripe when local selections disappear:)

 

[grubworm]

And… if you want to know why it’s becoming virtually impossible to buy parts locally, just reread the above. Dealers don’t stock things for you to come browse and then buy elsewhere. Someone has to pay the salary of that employee looking up the part number for you. Ebay sure doesn’t!! If you’re going to be cheap, that’s fine. Just don’t gripe when local selections disappear:)

thats not true at all. the dealership i bought from and ALWAYS use, including all oil changes, have gotten 100% support from me and they still dont have parts i need. the parts are DISCONTINUED, so that goes way beyond what @Anak said about getting parts numbers. since the part is not available, i was given a part number to go use myself, so the worldwide problem didnt stem from a couple people browsing parts. very few people fix their own vehicles these days, they go to a dealership or specialty shop, so part selection is generally not something the end consumer participates in, anyway.

also, back when i had my dodge ram with a diesel engine, MOPAR wanted nearly $40 for an oil filter that came in the MOPAR box. i bend over to pay the stealership $40 for the filter only to get home and take the filter out and see that it has Fleetguard stamped allover it. it was a Fleetguard filter that i could have picked up anywhere for around $15 at the time. dealerships dont make anything, they buy and then mark up like crazy. look at how big and lavish a lot of dealerships are...they look like banks and casinos, so they didnt get all the crazy money by NOT ripping people off.

trust me...the dealerships are NOT the underdog...and if what Anak said was the problem...then autozone, pep-boys, napa, advanced auto, canadian tire, any and all quick oil change places, aamco transmission shops, walmart auto, etc...are all guilty since they are all taking away from the dealerships...

what good is the part number if there wasnt a plethora of places eager and hungry to fulfill it???

 

[Downs]

Parts supply situation is crap for most of the reasons mentioned in this thread. Thankfully, my mid 90s Jeeps are still fairly easy to get parts for, you just might not have a selection of brands and have to tough it out with a substandard part sometimes.

Another nutso thing going on, at least in my area, is the price of salvage parts. Salvage engines are almost as expensive as remanned long blocks, can't find a spare 2.5 to overhaul anywhere at the moment that they don't want 1500+ dollars for. Was looking for a salvage AX5 to swap into my YJ since my 5th gear is making god awful noises. I currently drive it around as a 4 speed. Any AX5 I could find in a salvage yard around here they wanted 800-1200 dollars for, as is. A remanned unit is around 1800 dollars. I happened to stumble across a guy on FB marketplace that had a AX5 out of an 01 TJ sitting around and grabbed it for 300 dollars.

 

[jeepers29]

Parts supply situation is crap for most of the reasons mentioned in this thread. Thankfully, my mid 90s Jeeps are still fairly easy to get parts for, you just might not have a selection of brands and have to tough it out with a substandard part sometimes.

Another nutso thing going on, at least in my area, is the price of salvage parts. Salvage engines are almost as expensive as remanned long blocks, can't find a spare 2.5 to overhaul anywhere at the moment that they don't want 1500+ dollars for. Was looking for a salvage AX5 to swap into my YJ since my 5th gear is making god awful noises. I currently drive it around as a 4 speed. Any AX5 I could find in a salvage yard around here they wanted 800-1200 dollars for, as is. A remanned unit is around 1800 dollars. I happened to stumble across a guy on FB marketplace that had a AX5 out of an 01 TJ sitting around and grabbed it for 300 dollars.

Everything is stupid expensive anymore.

 

[Anak]

thats not true at all. the dealership i bought from and ALWAYS use, including all oil changes, have gotten 100% support from me and they still dont have parts i need. the parts are DISCONTINUED, so that goes way beyond what @Anak said about getting parts numbers. since the part is not available, i was given a part number to go use myself, so the worldwide problem didnt stem from a couple people browsing parts. very few people fix their own vehicles these days, they go to a dealership or specialty shop, so part selection is generally not something the end consumer participates in, anyway.

also, back when i had my dodge ram with a diesel engine, MOPAR wanted nearly $40 for an oil filter that came in the MOPAR box. i bend over to pay the stealership $40 for the filter only to get home and take the filter out and see that it has Fleetguard stamped allover it. it was a Fleetguard filter that i could have picked up anywhere for around $15 at the time. dealerships dont make anything, they buy and then mark up like crazy. look at how big and lavish a lot of dealerships are...they look like banks and casinos, so they didnt get all the crazy money by NOT ripping people off.

trust me...the dealerships are NOT the underdog...and if what Anak said was the problem...then autozone, pep-boys, napa, advanced auto, canadian tire, any and all quick oil change places, aamco transmission shops, walmart auto, etc...are all guilty since they are all taking away from the dealerships...

what good is the part number if there wasnt a plethora of places eager and hungry to fulfill it???

Grubworm understands.

Tundra--that bit you snipped off the front in order to quote me was actually essential to the point. I go to the stealership intending to buy the part. They flat out do not have the part. And "do not have the part" means the brand does not have the part. The best I can get from them is a part number. If the brand had the part itself I would get it from them.

The last time I managed to get a part from the Stealership it was a thermostat for my 12v Cummins. They didn't have it in stock, but they were at least able to order it. It was over $100, but I did indeed manage to get an OEM T-stat for my Cummins.

In my experience the OEM parts are the best parts I can get. That is what I want. But it generally cannot be had, particularly from the stealership. So I then resort to the next best option, which is to look for those same parts on ebay. And yes, OEM parts do show up on ebay, from private sellers. After I am dead and gone I expect someone in my family is going to make a bit of money selling my NOS parts that I purchased over the years but never used. That market has been around for a long time, and I expect it will continue that way.

The root problem in this picture is the fact that the stealership does not want to provide parts to maintain older vehicles because they would much rather sell a new car. They don't like people such as myself who keep cars running for multiple decades. That is not nearly as lucrative for them. If they want me to buy a new car they are going to have to build something that isn't a POS. I don't think they are capable of doing that anymore.