Meaning of OEM

[march]

Does anyone know the true meaning of OEM? I have just bought some OEM Land Rover parts that have turned out to be pieces that are of a lower quality than the parts I am replacing (oil pump gears so fairly important) and made in China. Is it legitimate to call a part OEM if its not as good as the original and a Chinese knockoff. I thought I was buying a part that was manufactured by the 'Original Equipment Manufacturer' but not labelled as Land Rover and would be of equal quality as the original.

[jep]

Only OEM if manufactured by the company who made it for the marque. 

That may have changed over the years but OEM means a part as used or recommended by the car manufacturer. 

Justin 

[TAR]

I imagine that anyone can call their parts OEM or OEM standard as it's not a legal description  

[Elite 4.9]

Original Equipment Manufacturer 

[r3nault]

There are unfortunately a lot of counterfeit parts out there masquerading as OEM. Some Toyota dealers have even been caught out in the past with oil filters!

[exeterjeep]

I have also found that OEM does not mean what you think it should, looking on eBay I usually will select a manufacturer by name rather any generic part.     

Or they do make parts for some manufacturers but may not be the parts that you are looking at, eg manufacturer A makes bearings for a 'down market' cheap car , and claims his bearings are fine for your upmarket car as they are the same size but turn out not to be the same quality,

[Kimbers]

15 hours ago, jep said:

Only OEM if manufactured by the company who made it for the marque. 

That may have changed over the years but OEM means a part as used or recommended by the car manufacturer. 

Justin 

"Sold by the manufacturer or its representatives". Is how we see it. It may not be made by the Manufacturer but they may use it or sell it e.g. Castrol Oil sold by KIA. There is a wide range of quality and supply. For example during 2020 after lock down we were being supplied non-Kia branded oil filters by KIA dealers as they had a shortage of their own.

[march]

Thanks for the above - I think its fairly safe to say that a 'Britpart' part made in China is not an OEM piece of kit. This was supplied by Rimmer brothers so not a supposed fly by night company, I will contact them on Monday as I have just gone down with a nasty bug and talking on the phone is a bit of problem. Not very hopeful as I have found Rimmer's do not have a particularly good name for customer services.

[Kimbers]

No its not OEM or even OEM recommended.

[exeterjeep]

1 hour ago, march said:

Not very hopeful as I have found Rimmer's do not have a particularly good name for customer services.

Ordered a MG ZS v6 exhaust they sent the wrong one , earlier this week, it was    marked with the right part number but defo wrong, getting refund and they say it is not economic to pick up so I can get rid. But looking at it, it fits the MG ZR 1.4 - which my son has - bonus.....No problems with their customer services lady Stephanie..

Rimmers supply Xpart parts for MG/Rover that should be fine and some are original old stock bits. Tried to deal with Britparts for my neighbour but they did not have what was wanted - but would have been much cheaper than the LR genuine part.

 

[Escape]

Strictly speaking OEM should mean parts made to the exact specification of the client brand and supplied by them as original parts or replacements. But in reality it seems much less strict. It's not because a manufacturer once supplied a batch of parts to a certain brand that all parts they make are up to the same standard. But they will likely all be marketed as OEM.

Things have taken a turn for the worse lately when it comes to Land Rover parts. Britpart has taken over once major competitor a few years ago and last year another one went out of business. Which means they pretty much control the market. This doesn't seem to affect prices (yet), but they've never been known for their quality. With little or no alternatives, I often prefer to use old, proven parts rather than new ones of uncertain quality. 

Which engine are you working on Marc? I can't complain about Rimmer Bros, I use them mostly for Triumph and Jaguar parts. For Land Rover they seem to offer mainly Britpart (or LR). That's one of the reasons
I prefer LR Direct. They do sell Britpart, but clearly labeled and often have several alternatives, including from well known manufacturers for stuff like brakes, oil filters, bearings, ball joints etc. Which is what I like to get.

Filip 

[march]

Well I have spoken to Rimmer Brothers, all very nice and civil but basically amongst all the statements made it boiled down to OEM doesn't really mean anything at all. It all seems a bit of a con to me. Anyway I need to send photos into customer services and see what happens from here on.

Worst case scenario is that I have an expensive bit of scrap metal as the parts will not be going into the engine but hopefully they will take them back.

On 18/03/2023 at 08:39, Escape said:

Which engine are you working on Marc?

Rover SD1 going into a TR7 V8.

Edited March 21, 2023 by march

[Escape]

That sounds like a nice project! 🙂 But oil pump gears for the the older V8 are getting hard to find. No problem for the later serpentine front end, and a better oil pump as well. But I guess you want to use a distributor?

I agree OEM doesn't mean much, which is a shame and a bit of a scam. 🙁

[march]

23 hours ago, Escape said:

That sounds like a nice project! 🙂

It's turning into a bit of a nightmare at the moment (this one was meant to be a quick fix) with lots of poor quality parts being supplied, bodges being found (who fits 2 right hand race calipers onto a car) and incorrectly made specialist parts having to be modified.

[Escape]

It often takes a turn for the worse once you need to dig into a project someone else started. Luckily I don't intend to ever sell my Esprit or Range, I'd probably have to write an addendum to the workshop manual to give a future owner any chance of making sense of some of the mods. I've even rewired part of the BECM in the Range Rover. 😁

[DDubya]

One word. Chinese!

[march]

The good news is that Rimmer Brothers have been excellent, they are going to refund me the order and pay all postage. They say they are also going to take up the quality issues with Britpart. Just need to send it all back and get some real Land Rover parts.

[Escape]

I've had a quick look at my usual suppliers, most also offer Britpart. There is an Allmakes alternative as well, but no guarantee that will be better quality. Though I've never had problems with Allmakes parts in the past.

V8 tuning (of the late Paul Blackman) does have some alternatives: https://www.v8tuning.co.uk/oil-pump-repair-and-upgrade
His wife is now running the Shop as best she can, not easy without the technical expertise Paul had.