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[flyer 0712]

Yep  learnt my lesson....omega 2.2,,,,after market cam cover fitted leaked within 12 months...replaced with genuine 2 years ago still ok....cam sensor fitted went faulty after  3 months...fitted genuine one 18months ago still ok....coil pack fitted in 2008 lasted 12 months..replaced with genuine still ok....always use g.m.oil and filters....ok i have not loads of cash but weekly put some in my car fund  thats how i can afford genuine  the best  and is not false economy as is some after market crap that does not last....so i am in total agreement with the wise ones on here about replacement parts and if i ask a question,i may not like the answers but i do heed the advice every time....because they know far more than i do..its called experience and you cant buy that.

[feeutfo]

Far too ambiguous Mr Bug.


Take exhausts, we're lucky that eternal make a cat back system worthy of the name, and for a reasonable price. If they didn't whats the alternative?

GM used to make the oe system available on tc for £300 quid odd. No brainer, 7 years life, quiet, reliable, chromed slash cut tail pipes, clam shell design, double skinned. Excellent quality for the 3.0/3.2 etc.

They didn't tell anyone, but they reduced the quality of the cat back system to an appalling level. All for the same price.

Do we recommend vx for exhausts now? No. We recommend eternal. Because they likely last longer, for almost a third of the price.

It's not a question of using pattern parts out right, or only ever using vx parts because they must be best, right? Wrong.

We recommend stuff here from experience. The life of the part v the cost of the part.

NOT the cheapest old shite that last two minutes and causes more damage in the brief time it's on the car than a bunch of vx "mechanics" at £90 an hour.

And if iirc, it was James who recommended Eternal, and good on him. But he only went looking knowing the GM ones where crap. And iirc it was one of my post that contributed to that.

That's how it works. Experience. Hard earned. We air a problem, and usually we collectively find a solution.

What we don't do, is post flippant rubbish to "help" others based on a whim.

Re cc seals, if we find a cheaper alternative i'd strongly suggest posting that they are unproven, or reliability unknown, or even better, i've tried these myself and they are good/bad/indifferent over the life of the product, or similar. Because there would be a risk to fitting that part, therefor the owner will need to keep a close eye on oil leaking into the plug wells and causing miss fires.


Certainly if I posted some of the crap advise seen here I would expect a bollocking later when it all goes wrong from the owner. Be careful please... IMO. 

I'd like to think the above was stating the obvious tbh, but there we are.

[dbug]

Far too ambiguous Mr Bug.


Take exhausts, we're lucky that eternal make a cat back system worthy of the name, and for a reasonable price. If they didn't whats the alternative?

GM used to make the oe system available on tc for £300 quid odd. No brainer, 7 years life, quiet, reliable, chromed slash cut tail pipes, clam shell design, double skinned. Excellent quality for the 3.0/3.2 etc.

They didn't tell anyone, but they reduced the quality of the cat back system to an appalling level. All for the same price.

Do we recommend vx for exhausts now? No. We recommend eternal. Because they likely last longer, for almost a third of the price.

It's not a question of using pattern parts out right, or only ever using vx parts because they must be best, right? Wrong.

We recommend stuff here from experience. The life of the part v the cost of the part.

NOT the cheapest old shite that last two minutes and causes more damage in the brief time it's on the car than a bunch of vx "mechanics" at £90 an hour.

And if iirc, it was James who recommended Eternal, and good on him. But he only went looking knowing the GM ones where crap. And iirc it was one of my post that contributed to that.

That's how it works. Experience. Hard earned. We air a problem, and usually we collectively find a solution.

What we don't do, is post flippant rubbish to "help" others based on a whim.

Re cc seals, if we find a cheaper alternative i'd strongly suggest posting that they are unproven, or reliability unknown, or even better, i've tried these myself and they are good/bad/indifferent over the life of the product, or similar. Because there would be a risk to fitting that part, therefor the owner will need to keep a close eye on oil leaking into the plug wells and causing miss fires.


Certainly if I posted some of the crap advise seen here I would expect a bollocking later when it all goes wrong from the owner. Be careful please... IMO. 

I'd like to think the above was stating the obvious tbh, but there we are.

Couldn't agree more Chris - I wasn't having a go re the advice given or the experience on here - I too am very experienced on working on cars from full race Cooper "S" 1293cc, MGBs with overbored 4 pots and tuned V8s, Jags, TRs, E-types incl a 400bhp "sprint", Ferraris, and so on. . .  - I was really commenting on attitudes to the less experienced and saying that we should not dismiss non genuine Vx parts out of hand, rather use cheaper proven parts.

Agree re Vx V6 cam cover seals, but found & used Eternal good quality exhausts (from OOF), QH water pumps OK, pattern drop links, pattern track rod ends and other pattern ok.  Stick to oem cam belt kits (Contiech), and many other Vx parts (oil, plugs, filters etc).  Found refs to TC on here - saved me ££££s - recommend to all OOFers to save money on genuine Vx parts.

Hope that clarifies Chris

[feeutfo]

Sorry Dbug, only the top line was for you specifically. The rest was for .... Newer members. Apologies.

[Kevin Wood]

My recollection, for what it's worth, is that the Elring "they make gaskets for GM" cam cover gaskets have been tried, and failed, and were marked as just as rubbish as any other aftermarket gasket years ago.

Yes, Elring do make gaskets for GM, just not cam cover gaskets. I wonder why GM sourced them elsewhere, then? 

Cam cover gaskets are a part where there is conclusive evidence on this forum, and already was 5 years ago when  I joined, that pattern parts don't last.

I don't see how one can argue against that much experience, TBH. Yes, you might come along with another opinion. One or two may be lucky, or may not have noticed that their pattern gaskets have already failed, but the fact is that, in the case of this part, not buying genuine is a waste of money. Dozens and dozens of forum members have gone down that route and ended up doing the job twice in the past.

Not wasting money is more important if you are short of it, of course.

[kcl]

Especially in cam cover gaskets, how much you wold be saving using pattern gaskets? 10 EUR? 20 EUR? Not more in any case. So, what's the point in risking anything? I've learnt my lesson in rear wheel bearings sitting three nights in a row in garage wondering that what on earth is wrong until I encouraged my self to get a decent branded bearing. I would have never ever thought that it mught be an issue as I have ever had any problems with any bearing in any car before (and have had quite a few).

As said above, we do learn and most of us, like me, the hard way and we do want to share our experiences

[Marks DTM Calib]

As a little input to this, I, at an early stage tried numerour gasket suppliers which I will summarise as follows:

1) Basic no name cheapo ebay - Lasted around 1-2 weeks before failing, they were more of a plastic feel and quite firm

2) FAi Ones, basicly the same as the cheapo ones!

3) Elrings (from Autovaux), these lasted maybe 3-4 months but soon went quite hard.

4) Vx ones, fitted a set to my V6 around 5 years ago and were still fine when it was sold.

[Webby the Bear]

Been reading all this..... so are we saying pattern parts are ok?







hahahahahahahaha sorry couldn't resist.

[Elite_L0ver]

Been reading all this..... so are we saying pattern parts are ok?







hahahahahahahaha sorry couldn't resist.

You trying to cause WW3 LOL

[tunnie]

I think that Bear needs to be put down 

[Elite_L0ver]

I think that Bear needs to be put down 

 

[omega3000]

The longest cam cover gasket post in the world 


More popcorn

[feeutfo]

Anyway, this mobil oil...?

[Steve B]

i think its a great read..so many diff opinions..

makes you too scared to ask about pat parts lol

[TheBoy]

In this case - Omega V6 Cam Cover gaskets, the only sane advice, with the experiences we have gathered, is Genuine GM parts. Sadly, as they certainly are not cheap.

If you have to pay someone to fit them - about 2hrs labour - then even attempting non GM is likely to prove an expensive mistake.  If you DIY, and are happy to check the plug wells every couple of days, all you lose is your time, and the cost of the gaskets and O rings...  ...that's when you can experiment.


Elring V6 Cam Cover gaskets, as sold by the likes of those lying scumbags at Autovaux as Genuine (based on Elring being a GM supplier, but not for that part), are known (based on numberous reports here) to fail very prematurely.


I'm all for reducing my motoring costs. I buy many pattern parts if they are cheaper than I can get genuine parts for, but there are some things I will only buy genuine. GM V6 Camcover gaskets being one of them.