I always purchase engine mounts from the dealer. Just because something is made by an OEM supplier does not mean it is made to OE specifications unless it is made for the OE manufacturer. Engine mounts are one of the more significant items where this holds true.

John Roncallo

interesting.

i will remember this.

tom w

I wouldn't remember it for too long. It's one of those great Mercedes myths. OE manufacturers make parts to OE specs. They don't go to the trouble of dumbing down the production line so that the non-dealer parts can fail prematurely and damage their good name that was on the box. Premature motor mount failure at the dealership is very common especially on heavier motors. This is not to say that there aren't bad motor mounts, or other aftermarket parts, available through non-dealer sources.

My dope dealer told me in advance that fixes don't last. He said I'd be back. He was right.:D

All joking aside, OEM parts are not necessarilly the same quality as MB parts stamped with the star on the same product. I have been asking the question of why for 30 years. You can buy a Whaller thermostat for example, and it comes 3 ways. If you buy from a dealer, it will have a star and part # on back and packaged in MB box. If it comes in red and blue Whaller box it will have no inscription on the back or it will have the star and MB part # scratched out with an electric pencil. It may or may not perforn as well as an original. I don't know if the QC inspectors were pulled off the line at the end of the MB run or if the non marked ones didn't meet specs. I don't know the answer, but I've been dealing with it for years.

i wonder if there are any other vehicles which use the same design motor mounts? so that they could be making similar mounts to different specs.

some of the mounts have a very different appearance than others.

tom w

They probably just sell the parts that don't quite meet spec aftermarket.

The ********AZ website actually commits in writing that the parts are the same - that they stock "the exact same parts as the local dealer", and that the parts are "in fact, the very same part, manufactured by the very same company." I suspect that Phil would tell you the same thing. The notion that these huge German OE vendors would stop the production line and retool so they could make inferior parts and then put them in boxes with their good name on them seems to me sort of silly. But that's not to say none of these manufacturers ever make parts for the traditional aftermarket - i.e. without their company name.

well, there may be some aftermarket mounts NOT made by the OE manufacturer too. the original statement was regarding parts made by the same company as the oe equipment.

my late uncle was a manufacturing engineer. to be sure, he worked in the US for several different large companies in his career, not germany. we once were discussing cars and the mercury cougar came up. in all my twenty something wisdom i stated that the 289 small block ford engine that was in the cougar was the same motor as in the mustang. he just kindof rolled his eyes. he believed that the big us manufacturers DID use different quality parts in a 289 destined for a cougar (higher quality) than in a 289 destined for a mustang. now personally, i always had a hard time believing that they were different but he was an extremely knowledgable, smart guy and an engineer involved in the us automotive scene, so it is one of those little things that has remained unresolved in my mind for the last 30 years.

he used to drive oldsmobiles but one of the last cars he owned was an 82 300sd which he owned when he died.

when a new engineer was sent him as a little test he always would ask them how to figure a rear end gear ratio. if they didnt say "count the gear teeth and divide" he figured they weren't too bright.

one of the things that he did in the late stages of his career while working for the DANA corporation, was, and i am not sure of the title of his position, folks would call him in his office located in the Ft. Wayne Indiana area with a problem with a machine that they used to make one of their products. they would describe the problem to him over the phone and he would talk through it with them and often he could help them fix the problem over the phone. if it didnt work he would jump on a plane and go there to help them.

kindof like what we do here but he did it for money.

tom w

tom w

With any manufacturing plant their are a certain number of parts that just do not come up to spec. Its part of the cost of making things every industry has X percentage of goods that fall into this catigory. For example say ATE is running 100k front brake rotors for W210's. MB probably specs that their rotors have X run out, ect. Knowing MB there specs are probably very tight. So what if 95k of these brake rotors meet MB specs but 5k are just off a bit? Those 5k are stuck in the blue ATE box and sold through Worldpac ect.

My wife swears I was on crack:rolleyes: when I bought my former Jeep Grand Wagoneer. A great tow vehicle with ice cold a/c, but 6.5 mpg doesn't cut it nowadays.

Yahtzee !!!

All aftermarket parts suppliers DO sell the parts that don't meet specs, unless they come in a sealed O.E. MB box. Watch out, my local dealer just sold me five generic Bosch glowplugs as O.E. for my '84 300D.