[highfigh]

Is this valve just a POS or is there some way to make it last longer? I bought one from Rock Auto and it lasted a couple of years before starting to leak and it only had a 1 year warranty. The longest warranty I have seen is two years- why so short? All kinds of parts that cost more have a longer warranty and under the right circumstances, the engine could cook if it fails.

Why? WHY????????????????

Sorry.....

What part number seems to be the better choice? I used the UAC HV1233C and now t hat I see the current price, I guess I got what I paid for- it's $8.99. I don't remember it being that cheap, but I guess it was worth every penny.

 

[chevymaher]

The lumsters ball valve set up last forever.

 

[ehbrown1]

The sad part is that nearly all replacement parts, especially electronics - even Genuine GM parts are now made in china. They are cheap pieces of shit and have been known to be defective right out of the box. I just replaced a blower motor resistor pack, I was missing high speed on mine, installed chinese replacement part and I had no fan speeds whatsoever. Ordered another replacement and that one had 2 out of 4 speeds. Sent that one back and went to junkyard, got a real GM part, nice and old, dirty and it worked perfectly.

Ordered 2 new AC Delco battery cables for a Silverado 1500 for $130. Genuine GM parts, were made in china. You can definitely tell the quality, or lack of.

Also had issue with a crank sensor about a year ago. Ordered a new one, installed it and went from intermittent misfire to a no fire at all condition. Ordered another one, that one worked for about 2 days. Finally after two more, I found and ordered a Dorman which was NOS and actually made in USA. Has worked great ever since.

Many of these companies are selling factory seconds as new and we pay dearly for garbage.

Better parts USUALLY have longer warranties. If it's dirt cheap with short warranty, you get what you pay for. Sometimes not even that.

 

[MechBob]

There are usually 3 grades of replacement parts, almost any store/seller. You get what you pay for, to an extent, AC/DELCO has gotten crappy, yet way overpriced. Generally,It is not the "made in China" issue, it is the company that is purchasing the parts, for sale, they "spec" out the part, on how it is to be made, what it is made from. BUT, I don't mind cheaper shorter lasting parts, but only in certain situations, usually stuff that is easy to replace. For instance, one van needs a starter before next winter. I have a brand new one sitting here for it. It was not cheap, even though they are easy to replace, and is high quality. Why? Ever put a starter on, laying in snow, -30f??? Also, watch out for "closeout specials" sometimes bad, sometimes OK. Heck, China now makes custom precision machines for Germany, for jobs like making ball bearings and such, because they also foolishly sourced out manufacturing to other countries.

 

[Sailing_Faith]

I have to say that other then fuel pumps and (very few) other parts, the cult of AC Delco is not really a club worth joining…

 

[AstroWill]

Is this valve just a POS or is there some way to make it last longer? I bought one from Rock Auto and it lasted a couple of years before starting to leak and it only had a 1 year warranty.

Where is it leaking from?

 

[highfigh]

Where is it leaking from?

One of the joints in the plastic- when I looked on Rock Auto, it indicated that the warranty was over and in looking for a replacement, nobody has one with a long warranty- at most, I saw 2 years. Mine is in there with no stress caused by the hoses and nothing can hit it from below.

 

[highfigh]

The sad part is that nearly all replacement parts, especially electronics - even Genuine GM parts are now made in china. They are cheap pieces of shit and have been known to be defective right out of the box. I just replaced a blower motor resistor pack, I was missing high speed on mine, installed chinese replacement part and I had no fan speeds whatsoever. Ordered another replacement and that one had 2 out of 4 speeds. Sent that one back and went to junkyard, got a real GM part, nice and old, dirty and it worked perfectly.

Ordered 2 new AC Delco battery cables for a Silverado 1500 for $130. Genuine GM parts, were made in china. You can definitely tell the quality, or lack of.

Also had issue with a crank sensor about a year ago. Ordered a new one, installed it and went from intermittent misfire to a no fire at all condition. Ordered another one, that one worked for about 2 days. Finally after two more, I found and ordered a Dorman which was NOS and actually made in USA. Has worked great ever since.

Many of these companies are selling factory seconds as new and we pay dearly for garbage.

Better parts USUALLY have longer warranties. If it's dirt cheap with short warranty, you get what you pay for. Sometimes not even that.

I saw parts with one year warranty priced at close to $75- AC Delco were close to that price, mostly in the >$50 area.

If they're selling seconds, they're supposed to mark them as seconds.

 

[AstroWill]

One of the joints in the plastic- when I looked on Rock Auto, it indicated that the warranty was over and in looking for a replacement, nobody has one with a long warranty- at most, I saw 2 years. Mine is in there with no stress caused by the hoses and nothing can hit it from below.

That sucks, I have been fortunate with mine so far. At one point someone was looking at metal alternatives, I don't remember what thread that was in, or even if anyone ever figured out the perfect replacement.

Like ChevyMaher mentioned, could go with ball valves that you manually switch over. Or if you live in a cold climate, I had used some PEX fittings as a temporary fix until I received replacement parts.

 

[gwd]

If you can figure the type of plastic material, you can add a bead of glue around the joining parts..
Experiment on old broken part and see what welds the plastic together.
It might be PVC , ABS or some other type of plastic.
If there is a way to anchor the hoses so they do not move the valve will help.

 

[highfigh]

That sucks, I have been fortunate with mine so far. At one point someone was looking at metal alternatives, I don't remember what thread that was in, or even if anyone ever figured out the perfect replacement.

Like ChevyMaher mentioned, could go with ball valves that you manually switch over. Or if you live in a cold climate, I had used some PEX fittings as a temporary fix until I received replacement parts.

This isn't for some mild place where either hot or cold is needed and even in a warmer climate, it's still necessary to defog the windshield. This is the replacement for the cable-operated valve that did the same thing, but in their finite wisdom, they chose vacuum as the method used to open and close the valve. Ball valves? Under the hood? Mine has six hose connections- I should install a manifold and three valves?

 

[ehbrown1]

Good luck attempting a repair on the original valve. Trying to glue it from the outside is fruitless as that valve is always under pressure when operating. The only way we found to attempt that is to remove the valve, sand the leaking flange, make certain it's clean (use thinner or brake cleaner) and use PC7 on it. Force some into the groove where it was leaking. Just make sure you give a few days to dry COMPLETELY before putting it under pressure again. If it's an internal failure like mine was - don't bother, just replace it.

Save the creativity headache and replace with the same valve. My latest 2002 has 120k with the factory valve before it leaked, so the original can't be all that bad. Why would you want manual ball valves and another manifold in that position anyway? The factory valve sucks bad enough to replace there, let alone more complicated setup. However, if you change the hoses and the valve location, that's another story. Whatever works for you. We all love and admire creativity - mostly!