DNJ Timing Belt Kit Parts Failure
01-11-2014
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DNJ Timing Belt Kit Parts Failure
I'm an electronics tech and part time shade tree mechanic.
Christmas 2013 my daughter came in for the week with her 2005 Honda Civic VP, so I decided to take care of some oil leaks, replace various seals and gaskets, a bad engine mount, alternator and power steering belts, water pump and timing belt since it had 170,000 miles on it. I used the Haynes Service manual Part Number #42026 for the procedures and torque specs etc. I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to things like this because I don't want my baby girl breaking down on the highway somewhere. I even had my torque wrenches calibrated prior to starting. I purchased most of my parts from RockAuto.com. Now I've got to pause for a minute and say I've done a bunch of business with RockAuto and their customer service is excellent. I've done many repairs myself and even done timing belts before. Anyway, I replaced all that stuff, we drove the car for a few days and everything worked great, so we went on with the Christmas festivities. On New Years Day at about 10pm, my daughter was 6 hours away, she called and said her car was making a loud squealing and popping noise and that she had to drive 2 hours to get home. I told her to turn her car off immediately and have it towed to a dealer. She had to rent a car to get to work the next day. Now I want to say that the service manager Steven at Curry Honda in Chamblee Georgia is super. Most of the time I've had to deal with dealership service departments I've felt like I got ripped off. I called the dealership the next morning and Steven worked with me and kept me informed every step of the troubleshooting process. I told him about the service I had completed just days earlier and his tech knew to go directly to the lower timing belt cover to start looking for the problem. What he found was the brand new DNJ tensioner spring jammed into the bottom of the timing belt cover. With less than 600 miles on it the spring had broke off and bounced around down inside the timing belt cover: See attached pic Spring.jpg The spring got caught up in the crankshaft gear and damaged it: See attached pic CrankGear.jpg. The spring caused the belt to skip a few teeth. Thank God my little girl called and we had it towed. This is an interference engine and a few more teeth and the engine would have been destroyed. The spring lodged against the belt and timing belt cover, destroying the belt and melting into the cover: See attached pics Belt.jpg and BeltCover.jpg. As the service tech was taking out the bad parts when he removed the bolt from the tensioner it fell apart: See attached pic Tensioner.jpg. I attempted to contact DNJ but I didn't get any response so I contacted RockAuto instead. As I mentioned before RockAuto has super customer service. They not only emailed me but called me. They explained that DNJ's warranty would only cover the price of the kit if I could return all the parts. I couldn't because some of the seals were still in the engine. They also said that DNJ's warranty wouldn't cover any of the labor since I wasn't a certified mechanic. RockAuto offered to give me $25 out of their own pocket just because they felt bad about what happened. How cool is that. They're willing to eat $25 just to try and help out. Well I explained to them that I wanted to talk to DNJ about the failure because I was worried about this defective spring causing other people the same problem. At the last communication RockAuto couldn't contact DNJ either. In the end I spent $845.77 on the service, $50 for the rental and $75 for the tow that my insurance picked up. The good news is that my daughter broke down at a friends apartment in the parking garage and not out on the highway somewhere.
Christmas 2013 my daughter came in for the week with her 2005 Honda Civic VP, so I decided to take care of some oil leaks, replace various seals and gaskets, a bad engine mount, alternator and power steering belts, water pump and timing belt since it had 170,000 miles on it. I used the Haynes Service manual Part Number #42026 for the procedures and torque specs etc. I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to things like this because I don't want my baby girl breaking down on the highway somewhere. I even had my torque wrenches calibrated prior to starting. I purchased most of my parts from RockAuto.com. Now I've got to pause for a minute and say I've done a bunch of business with RockAuto and their customer service is excellent. I've done many repairs myself and even done timing belts before. Anyway, I replaced all that stuff, we drove the car for a few days and everything worked great, so we went on with the Christmas festivities. On New Years Day at about 10pm, my daughter was 6 hours away, she called and said her car was making a loud squealing and popping noise and that she had to drive 2 hours to get home. I told her to turn her car off immediately and have it towed to a dealer. She had to rent a car to get to work the next day. Now I want to say that the service manager Steven at Curry Honda in Chamblee Georgia is super. Most of the time I've had to deal with dealership service departments I've felt like I got ripped off. I called the dealership the next morning and Steven worked with me and kept me informed every step of the troubleshooting process. I told him about the service I had completed just days earlier and his tech knew to go directly to the lower timing belt cover to start looking for the problem. What he found was the brand new DNJ tensioner spring jammed into the bottom of the timing belt cover. With less than 600 miles on it the spring had broke off and bounced around down inside the timing belt cover: See attached pic Spring.jpg The spring got caught up in the crankshaft gear and damaged it: See attached pic CrankGear.jpg. The spring caused the belt to skip a few teeth. Thank God my little girl called and we had it towed. This is an interference engine and a few more teeth and the engine would have been destroyed. The spring lodged against the belt and timing belt cover, destroying the belt and melting into the cover: See attached pics Belt.jpg and BeltCover.jpg. As the service tech was taking out the bad parts when he removed the bolt from the tensioner it fell apart: See attached pic Tensioner.jpg. I attempted to contact DNJ but I didn't get any response so I contacted RockAuto instead. As I mentioned before RockAuto has super customer service. They not only emailed me but called me. They explained that DNJ's warranty would only cover the price of the kit if I could return all the parts. I couldn't because some of the seals were still in the engine. They also said that DNJ's warranty wouldn't cover any of the labor since I wasn't a certified mechanic. RockAuto offered to give me $25 out of their own pocket just because they felt bad about what happened. How cool is that. They're willing to eat $25 just to try and help out. Well I explained to them that I wanted to talk to DNJ about the failure because I was worried about this defective spring causing other people the same problem. At the last communication RockAuto couldn't contact DNJ either. In the end I spent $845.77 on the service, $50 for the rental and $75 for the tow that my insurance picked up. The good news is that my daughter broke down at a friends apartment in the parking garage and not out on the highway somewhere.
01-11-2014
#2
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: DNJ Timing Belt Kit Parts Failure
What he found was the brand new DNJ tensioner spring jammed into the bottom of the timing belt cover. With less than 600 miles on it the spring had broke off and bounced around down inside the timing belt cover:
when he removed the bolt from the tensioner it fell apart
when he removed the bolt from the tensioner it fell apart
warranty wouldn't cover any of the labor since I wasn't a certified mechanic.
RA warranty info: http://www.rockauto.com/info/FAI/warranty.pdf
DNJ warranty info: http://www.enginecomponents.com/wd.html
If that tensioner failure had caused catastrophic engine damage, the warranty would never cover it.
Besides, the target market of Rock Auto does not appear to be professional mechanics.
certified mechanic.
Most states (USA) have no special licensing requirements to work on cars. Any schmo with a shoebox full of tools can call himself a mechanic.
RockAuto offered to give me $25 out of their own pocket just because they felt bad about what happened. How cool is that. They're willing to eat $25 just to try and help out.
They sent you discount parts...cheapo, made in China.
It nearly cost you an entire engine....
It nearly stranded your daughter 6 hours away from you...(could have been BFE at 3AM, you lucked out on that one).
You spent an additional 845 on additional repairs that shouldn't have happened at all, had they provided top quality parts in the first place.
They gave you a measly $25 and you are on here crowing about their 'customer service', when in reality you got ******.
JMO. YMMV.
Last edited by ezone; 01-11-2014 at 12:47 PM. Reason: Word
01-11-2014
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First of all I want to thank EZONE for making me out to be an idiot for using aftermarket parts and for liking RockAuto.
I have been using aftermarket parts for years. Prior to ordering parts from a company I spend time checking forums such as this one and searching on line for peoples experiences with that companies parts. Also on the DNJ website: http://www.enginecomponents.com/Aboutus.html They state: "We are proud to say we have chosen to associate with manufacturers who are certified with ISO9001, ISO9002, and with the prestigious QS9000 certificate. We are proud to say that all DNJ Engine Components meet or exceed O.E. Quality."
Whether that is true or not, I don't know. In this case I clearly would question that. This is the first and last time I will be using DNJ parts. For the record their warranty isn't all that different from Honda's when it comes to the time the part is covered and the fact that labor won't be covered for parts installed by an individual:
http://www.myhondapartsstore.com/myh...sp/warrant.jsp
ASE certification is considered the industry standard for automobile service mechanics. You are correct, most places don't have a requirement. It should be. DNJ's Warranty states "DNJ Engine Components, Inc, Inc will not be responsible for any labor" but then it says, "The maximum labor on a claim to be paid is $300.00". So I'm assuming that RA has more information on the DNJ warranty coverage and that they would have partially covered the labor if a "certified" mechanic had done the job. That's pretty much how Honda covers their parts and labor warranty. But, DNJ's warranty does not state that they would under any circumstances cover labor.
Over the years I have had very good luck with aftermarket parts purchased though RockAuto and other companies. In fact this is the first time I've had such an experience. I have in the past had issues with a component crossing wrong, or the wrong size and RockAuto has always had excellent service when it comes to getting me the right part or a refund quickly. I used aftermarket parts from RockAuto to change the timing belt, tensioner, water pump and seals on my wife's highlander and got more than 130,000 more miles on it before trading it at 280,000+ miles, still running like a champ. For the record, I didn't take the $25 from RockAuto because it should not be their responsibility that a suppliers part failed. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I believe in being fair. You said "RA giving you $25 is like a pacifier, and it's working. Read your own post." I'm going off my past experience with RA. This is just another example of them trying to do what they can to help me out. I asked the RA customer service rep that called me directly if they had any returns or complaints about that kit. Her response was no. Could she be lying? Yes. But based on my experience with the company I don't believe she is.
As far as using parts from the dealer, I do from time to time, but being on a budget you have to look at the fact that a Honda tensioner set cost $158.63 and an aftermarket Gates tensioner set cost $62.79. The Honda tensioner has a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty, the Gates has a lifetime warranty. I have had great luck with Gates parts. Obviously I wish I had purchased the Gates for this job.
I've been working on mechanical and electronic stuff for over 30 years. Sometimes mechanical things and electronic things just fail. That's why I have a job. Posting on this forum wasn't to open myself up for jabs and scrutiny about the intelligence of purchasing aftermarket parts. I think you missed my point. It was/is my hope by posting this info on this forum that others will be warned about this particular kit and the possibility that some inherent flaw or weakness in that part won't cause someone else the same problem or worse.
You said "...when in reality you got ******. "Yep, I took time away from my family on the Christmas holiday. Three days working very hard on that car, being as meticulous as I could so that I wouldn't have to worry about my little girl out there on the road by herself. That was much more important to me than the money.
Yep, indeed I got lucky that my daughter didn't get stranded in BFE at 3am. My wife and I have both thanked God for that one.
I have been using aftermarket parts for years. Prior to ordering parts from a company I spend time checking forums such as this one and searching on line for peoples experiences with that companies parts. Also on the DNJ website: http://www.enginecomponents.com/Aboutus.html They state: "We are proud to say we have chosen to associate with manufacturers who are certified with ISO9001, ISO9002, and with the prestigious QS9000 certificate. We are proud to say that all DNJ Engine Components meet or exceed O.E. Quality."
Whether that is true or not, I don't know. In this case I clearly would question that. This is the first and last time I will be using DNJ parts. For the record their warranty isn't all that different from Honda's when it comes to the time the part is covered and the fact that labor won't be covered for parts installed by an individual:
http://www.myhondapartsstore.com/myh...sp/warrant.jsp
ASE certification is considered the industry standard for automobile service mechanics. You are correct, most places don't have a requirement. It should be. DNJ's Warranty states "DNJ Engine Components, Inc, Inc will not be responsible for any labor" but then it says, "The maximum labor on a claim to be paid is $300.00". So I'm assuming that RA has more information on the DNJ warranty coverage and that they would have partially covered the labor if a "certified" mechanic had done the job. That's pretty much how Honda covers their parts and labor warranty. But, DNJ's warranty does not state that they would under any circumstances cover labor.
Over the years I have had very good luck with aftermarket parts purchased though RockAuto and other companies. In fact this is the first time I've had such an experience. I have in the past had issues with a component crossing wrong, or the wrong size and RockAuto has always had excellent service when it comes to getting me the right part or a refund quickly. I used aftermarket parts from RockAuto to change the timing belt, tensioner, water pump and seals on my wife's highlander and got more than 130,000 more miles on it before trading it at 280,000+ miles, still running like a champ. For the record, I didn't take the $25 from RockAuto because it should not be their responsibility that a suppliers part failed. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I believe in being fair. You said "RA giving you $25 is like a pacifier, and it's working. Read your own post." I'm going off my past experience with RA. This is just another example of them trying to do what they can to help me out. I asked the RA customer service rep that called me directly if they had any returns or complaints about that kit. Her response was no. Could she be lying? Yes. But based on my experience with the company I don't believe she is.
As far as using parts from the dealer, I do from time to time, but being on a budget you have to look at the fact that a Honda tensioner set cost $158.63 and an aftermarket Gates tensioner set cost $62.79. The Honda tensioner has a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty, the Gates has a lifetime warranty. I have had great luck with Gates parts. Obviously I wish I had purchased the Gates for this job.
I've been working on mechanical and electronic stuff for over 30 years. Sometimes mechanical things and electronic things just fail. That's why I have a job. Posting on this forum wasn't to open myself up for jabs and scrutiny about the intelligence of purchasing aftermarket parts. I think you missed my point. It was/is my hope by posting this info on this forum that others will be warned about this particular kit and the possibility that some inherent flaw or weakness in that part won't cause someone else the same problem or worse.
You said "...when in reality you got ******. "Yep, I took time away from my family on the Christmas holiday. Three days working very hard on that car, being as meticulous as I could so that I wouldn't have to worry about my little girl out there on the road by herself. That was much more important to me than the money.
Yep, indeed I got lucky that my daughter didn't get stranded in BFE at 3am. My wife and I have both thanked God for that one.
01-11-2014
#5
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: DNJ Timing Belt Kit Parts Failure
Sorry for the bad post.
My ex-mother in law died this morning, it's been a little upside down here, phone has been ringing, and my kid is..........Nevermind, I know that's no excuse. It's a effin bad day.
Problems with many aftermarket tensioner sets on this application are well known, but it's rare that anyone ever tells what the brand was that failed. Thanks for that.
MSRP for the tensioner set # 14520-PLC-335 is $136.75, and you can find the OE parts even cheaper online $95.73 plus shipping from Majestic. (link)
My ex-mother in law died this morning, it's been a little upside down here, phone has been ringing, and my kid is..........Nevermind, I know that's no excuse. It's a effin bad day.
Problems with many aftermarket tensioner sets on this application are well known, but it's rare that anyone ever tells what the brand was that failed. Thanks for that.
you have to look at the fact that a Honda tensioner set cost $158.63
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