If you’re looking to do some DIY car repair, you may not want to rely on Amazon for sourcing your parts.
That’s the warning that came from a mechanic who “went down a rabbit hole” trying to fix a Cadillac that was running poorly, only to find that the owner put in some Amazon-purchased car parts that physically fit the car but didn’t work.
The team at Royalty Auto Service (@royaltyautoservice), which does a series of videos chronicling their St. Marys, Georgia-based shop’s repairs, clocked in at nearly seven and a half minutes on this particular tale. It went up Saturday, and as of Sunday morning, had drawn more than 747,400 views.
“Amazon strikes again,” they declare at the start of the video, before noting, “We’re not hating on Amazon. There’s nothing wrong with Amazon. It’s just the people that are on the sites, selling stuff.”
Owner Sherwood Cooke, Jr., who narrates the majority of the Royalty videos, proceeds to discuss the 2018 Cadillac Escalade that initially had a misfire on cylinder seven. The owner put in a new coil, a new plug, and a new wire on that cylinder, and when that didn’t fix the issue, he replaced a fuel rail.
The fuel pressure sensor read abnormally high, it ran rich and had a number of codes on it. Cooke notes, of the lengthy process to diagnose all that was wrong with it, “This one was really painful.”
Upon discovering that the part the owner installed wasn’t right for the car, Cooke contacted the owner.
“208 bucks for everything from Amazon with the wrong sensor, probably the wrong fuel injectors,” he discovered. “Gotta be the wrong fuel injectors. That’s why it’s running rich.”
Though he determined what needed to be replaced and he believed the issue would be resolved within a day, he remarked, regarding the time and energy spent on the diagnosis, “This video cannot do it justice.”
More warnings about Amazon parts
On the r/MechanicAdvice forum on Reddit, one person inquired about getting car parts through Amazon and got an earful from fellow Redditors.
“Don’t buy any car parts on Amazon,” said one. “Lots of fakes and cheap junk.”
“It is tough to give a generalized answer,” another said. “Amazon (as well as other online drop shippers) is flooded with counterfeit goods. In addition, well known name brands have been riding name recognition over declining quality. Lots of big names now produce inferior goods from China.”
Someone else cautioned, “Do not trust their ‘this fits your vehicle’ recommendations,” repeating the advice Cooke gave.
Commenters have their say
Commenters chimed in with their thoughts on Amazon-bought parts.
“I usually buy off of RockAuto,” said one, echoing recommendations made in the Reddit forum.
“When you want to save a buck, it’s going to cost you more down the road,” another said. “That’s why I NEVER buy parts on Amazon.”
“You can find the factory part number and then search it on Amazon,” someone else suggested as a possible means to getting the right part, though at least one person answered back warning against even trying that.
“I’d call him to see if still had the old parts,” one advised.
That led Royalty to respond, “We did. And he didn’t. When we replaced everything the cylinder 7 misfire wasn’t there and the vehicle ran perfect. Didn’t have time to make video showing that.”
@royaltyautoservice Just glad it was fixed after this! #mechaniclife #automotive #cadillac #technician #foryou #fyp #viral #amazon #tips #stitch #cartok #truck ♬ Pop beat BGM / long version(1283324) – nightbird_bgm
The Daily Dot has reached out to Royalty via TikTok comment and online form and to Amazon via email.
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