Should you buy car parts on Amazon? This mechanic warns no

If you want to do a car repair yourself, you may not want to rely on Amazon to source your parts.

Featured video

That’s the warning that came from a mechanic who “went down a rabbit hole” to fix a Cadillac that was running poorly, then discovered that the owner had installed some car parts purchased from Amazon that physically fit the car, but didn’t work.

The team at Royalty Auto Service (@royalautoservice), which creates a series of videos chronicling repairs at its St. Marys, Georgia, shop, had almost seven and a half minutes to write this particular story. It went live on Saturday and had more than 747,400 views as of Sunday morning.

“Amazon strikes again,” they declare at the start of the video, before noting: “We don’t hate Amazon. There is nothing wrong with Amazon. It’s just the people who are on the websites selling things.”

Owner Sherwood Cooke, Jr., who narrates most of the Royalty videos, goes on to talk about the 2018 Cadillac Escalade, which initially had a seventh cylinder misfire. The owner installed a new coil, connector and wire on this cylinder, and when that didn’t solve the problem, he replaced a fuel rail.

The fuel pressure sensor was reading an unusually high value, it was running rich, and there were multiple codes on it. Cooke notes of the lengthy process of diagnosing everything that was wrong with it: “This one was really painful.”

When Cooke discovered that the part the owner had installed was not suitable for the car, he contacted the owner.

“$208 for everything from Amazon with the wrong sensor, probably the wrong injectors,” he discovered. “These must be the wrong injectors. That’s why things are running rich.”

Although he identified what needed to be replaced and expected the problem to be resolved within a day, he noted, given the time and energy spent diagnosing, “This video doesn’t do it justice.”

More warnings about Amazon parts

In the r/MechanicAdvice forum on Reddit, one person inquired about getting car parts through Amazon and received a sympathetic ear from other Reddit users.

“Don’t buy car parts on Amazon,” said one. “Lots of fakes and cheap junk.”

“It’s difficult to give a general answer,” said another. “Amazon (as well as other online dropshippers) is inundated with counterfeit goods. Additionally, well-known brands have pushed awareness over declining quality. Many big names now produce inferior goods from China.”

Someone else warned: “Don’t trust their recommendations, this will suit your vehicle,” echoing the advice Cooke gave.

Commenters expressed their opinions on the pieces purchased on Amazon.

“I usually buy RockAuto,” one said, echoing recommendations on the Reddit forum.

“If you want to save a dollar it will cost you more later,” said another. “That’s why I NEVER buy parts from Amazon.”

“You can find the manufacturer part number and then search for it on Amazon,” someone else suggested as a possible way to get the right part, although at least one person responded warning against even trying.

“I would call him to see if he still has the old parts,” one advised.

This prompted the royal family to respond: “We have. And he didn’t. Once we replaced everything, there were no cylinder 7 misfires and the vehicle ran fine. I didn’t have time to make a video showing that.”

@royalautoservice I’m just glad it was fixed after that! #mechaniclife #automotive #cadillac #technician #foryou #fyp #viral #amazon #tips #stitch #cartok #truck ♬ Pop Beat BGM / long version (1283324) – nightbird_bgm

The Daily Dot reached out to Royalty via TikTok comment and online form and to Amazon via email.

Internet culture is messy – but we’ll break it down for you in a daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter Here. Get the best (and worst) of the internet delivered straight to your inbox.