Any aftermarket part will always be a crapshoot, regardless of what it is.
I've had both good and bad luck with cheapo eBay/Amazon specials, and both good and bad luck with the more expensive AutoZone parts.
OEM is the only guaranteed fix (minus lemons, or course).
For example:
- My $13 Amazon MAF is going strong after 2 years.
- My $35 IAC idled way too high. I ended up cleaning the living snot out of
my 200k original IAC and it works great now.
- Just a couple weeks ago, I tried my luck with a $50 eBay special brake
booster and it came out of the box bad (hard pedal). I used the $300
Advance Auto part and it works great.
- My Walker QuietFlow cat works great, and my no-name $88 muffler from
eBay works great too (just sounds very slightly throatier).
- I have 1 AutoZone fuel injector because I broke the head off one of mine like a dipshit. 3 years later and counting and working great. Everyone says STAY AWAY, but mine is fine.
- I've never had any issue with FelPro gaskets (and some people are replacing their valve cover gaskets every year due to failing FelPro gaskets)
Pretty much, if you have a spare vehicle and don't mind possibly wasting a little time, there's no reason to NOT try cheap parts. Just buy from a decent seller. If it works, great, and if not, return it for your money back. Just say it didn't work (which it truthfully didn't) and you'll get no hassle.
Last edited by AntleredRuin; 04-24-2019 at 01:52 PM.