Quality of "OEM" parts from ECS

[No457 Snowy]

OK, all the Timing Belt parts and Diverter Valve arrived from ECS yesterday. Has anyone else ordered one of ECS' T-Belt kits? One thing has me a little concerned and that is the (advertised as OEM) hydraulic tensioner pulley has the VW part numbers and identifying VW/Audi symbols machined off it (unlike the product pic that I clicked on to order the parts which clearly shows the VW p/n and Audi rings symbol). You can actually see where machining has removed identifying symbols/numbers.

The bearings are NTN Japanese which I believe is the norm for these parts even from the factory, so no problem there, although I haven't seen my originals yet for comparison.

So, should I be concerned here? Hopefully not some Chinese copies! or are they OEM parts as advertised and they just machine the symbols and numbers off to allow for separate sale, which is what I hope they are.


Snowy.

[fuzion]

get on vortex and search, im sure you'll get an answer as you wouldnt be the only one

like the BBK, none of their porsche calipers are genuine porsche calipers either. they are from porsche china (genuine as such yes) lol but not germany.

but vw china is one of the large vw producting parts company around these days now!

for me, cupra lip in mail, waiting to put brakes/braided lines on and thats about it. no more$$$$$$$

[bujna]

OK, all the Timing Belt parts and Diverter Valve arrived from ECS yesterday. Has anyone else ordered one of ECS' T-Belt kits? One thing has me a little concerned and that is the (advertised as OEM) hydraulic tensioner pulley and tensioner roller has the VW part numbers and identifying VW/Audi symbols machined off it (unlike the product pic that I clicked on to order the parts which clearly shows the VW p/n and Audi rings symbol). You can actually see where machining has removed identifying symbols/numbers.

The bearings are NTN Japanese which I believe is the norm for these parts even from the factory although I haven't seen my originals yet for comparison.

So, should I be concerned here? Hopefully not some Chinese copies! or are they OEM parts as advertised and they just machine the symbols and numbers off to allow for separate sale, which is what I hope they are.


Snowy.

I got the ECS Kit, and with a stethoscope you can hear some very mild noise coming from the tensioner. Because of that i checked out vortex and found that a number of people had found ECS's 'OEM' tensioners to be failing after 10000kms or so. Mine is so far so good, and my mechanic doesn't seem too bothered about it, so i'm just getting him to keep an eye on it when i take the car in for services. I have done about 20,000kms since the timing belt change btw.

Whether the tensioner problems mentioned on Vortex were actually non-oem or just a bad batch, i'm not sure and unfortunately i didn't think to check the part number on the tensioner at the time either.

[No457 Snowy]

get on vortex and search, im sure you'll get an answer as you wouldnt be the only one

like the BBK, none of their porsche calipers are genuine porsche calipers either. they are from porsche china (genuine as such yes) lol but not germany.

but vw china is one of the large vw producting parts company around these days now!

Yep did search and read a quite a few reports of the tensioners in the ECS kits failing earlier this year, but it was supposedly a bad batch from what I can decipher in the posts I found. I'm in two minds about this now, as I was just expecting to receive the product I clicked on, as per the website pic, but got suspicious when it turns up and I saw all the numbers and logos machined off.

I'm thinking now that I'll replace this tensioner with a part from the local VW dealer and take the $$$ hit, everything else in the kit looks good. It just makes me nervous, lesson learned I guess, I though I was being smart, maybe I wasn't.

I thought some discussion on here might help others.


Snowy.

[bujna]

Good idea Snowy. It's probably best to play it safe. You could post up any differences you see between the two tensioners, if any, too.

I am keen to hear other peoples experiences though.

[No457 Snowy]

bujna, ok thats what I'll do, I'll post up a couple of photos of the difference, maybe even weight the parts etc, to see if there is much difference. I might be over cautious on this but if those suckers let go it's goodbye engine. (or at least valves, and cylinder head).


Snowy.

[Manaz]

I got the feeling when browsing the ECS site that OEM for them means exactly what the acronym stands for - their OEM parts aren't necessarily VW/Audi parts as such, but rather are parts made by the same companies who make the parts for VW/Audi.

By inference, these parts although they may not be genuine VW/Audi parts should be made to the same standards, using the same designs, on the same manufacturing lines, and there shouldn't be issues with them. It seems from some of the reports that are surfacing that this may not be the case though - it might be worth approaching ECS directly, and asking them exactly what the status of the parts is, and what their response is to the perceived lower quality.

[No457 Snowy]

I got the feeling when browsing the ECS site that OEM for them means exactly what the acronym stands for - their OEM parts aren't necessarily VW/Audi parts as such, but rather are parts made by the same companies who make the parts for VW/Audi.

By inference, these parts although they may not be genuine VW/Audi parts should be made to the same standards, using the same designs, on the same manufacturing lines, and there shouldn't be issues with them. It seems from some of the reports that are surfacing that this may not be the case though - it might be worth approaching ECS directly, and asking them exactly what the status of the parts is, and what their response is to the perceived lower quality.

I agree mate, OEM parts should be parts that a manufacturer of another brand name makes for VW at a VW governed spec. I tend to associate OEM with the idea of several manufacturers making a given part to VW spec and on the production line on Monday VW could elect to use the part from manufacturer "A" and on Tuesday swap in the same part from manufacturer "B" and keep going.

I'm hoping that's the case with these tensioners as they are assigned OEM status on the website but as for the machining off of the part numbers and logos I can't work out why they would bother removing those details if VW was happy to allow them t manufacture the part with the copyrighted logos etc on there in the first place.

The other scenario I thought was that maybe the machining marks are just there to make one think the Audi/VW part number was there, when in fact it never was. (I guess also I think clicking on a part to order it and seeing Audi/VW part numbers/logos that help reinforce your decision to buy it, and then actually getting a part where someone has gone to the trouble to remove those details is a cause for ????).

You're right I think I'll email ECS and just see what they say, I could be worrying about nothing after all.


Snowy.

[No457 Snowy]

Guys, I just received this from Gary at ECS.Tuning. Kudos to him for taking the time to address my concerns and allaying the scenarios I had spinning around my head. His response is straight up and genuine, and I'm sure answers a few questions for others on here as well.

Hello-

My name is Gary, and I work for ECS Tuning. I wanted to take a moment and address your concerns about the tensioner you recently received from us. The OEM symbols have been ground off by the manufacturer due to the fact that they weren't being sold directly to VW/Audi. Rather than create another cast, they are simply machined down. Buying directly from VW's suppliers allows us to purchase at a lower price than buying directly through VW/Audi, which in turn allows us to offer our customers a lower price. I can assure you that these are not Chinese copies. Euro Automotive in Girraween has been purchasing our timing belt kits for many years and has yet to have an issue with these parts failing.

I will also be happy to clear up the issue of how the parts are advertised on our site. OEM, OES, and OE are interchangeable acronyms for a manufacturer or supplier that provides VW/Audi with parts. The parts in our Mk4 1.8T Timing Belt Kits are listed as OEM or OE, and if you look at the bottom of the page, you can see specifically which manufacturer they are coming from. Please use the following link for reference:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-...Timing/ES1052/

We also sell Genuine VW/Audi Timing Belt Kits, which as you will see are significantly more than the OE kits, but contain parts that will all come packaged just as they would directly from a dealership. Please use the following link for reference:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-...ming/ES261230/

In regards to the pictures, those have been on the site for a number of years. At the time these tensioners were added to the website, we were purchasing the parts from VW/Audi. I thank you for bringing this to our attention, the pictures have been removed, and will be retaken with the current item to avoid confusion.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us by email at sales@ecstuning.com, and feel free to post this message for your fellow forum members to read.

Best Regards,
Gary

[quozl]

I find for OEM stuff I just order from TMTUNING in Germany and you know you are getting genuine VW parts from Germany. I just ordered all my new close ratio gears from them and where as VW here wanted around 600 bucks AUD a gear they cost me 160.00 USD from TMTUNING even with the exchange rate and shipping I saved heaps and know they are the real deal.

Cheers Al