I used a mopar heater core when I did mine. Best price I could find was at mopar r us or something like that. I just didn't trust the joints to not leak on the napa aluminum heater core. It had the swivel-type inlet and outlet. May have been fine, but didn't look that sturdy.

 

I've owned Dodges since back in the 60's. The truck quality in the past was good but Dodge has the WORST customer service in the industry...........PERIOD and there's no debate about it in my opinion!
First of all, like many of the other US auto manufacturers, the America Corporate Greed choses to use child labor and therefore they have been doing business in Asia and selling out America jobs..........FOR PROFIT, they don't care about quality!! So if the part says MOPAR, it's more than likely MOPAR CHINA!!
I am in the process myself of tackling this evaporator leak problem that Dodge is well known for but could care less about rectifying it! Given the magnitude of work involved, it is best to change out the heater core while replacing the evaporator.........or visa versa!
A/C systems basically have two mandates.........if you change out the compressor you change out the condensor as well and the liquid line with the orfice tube. If you change out the evaporator then you change out the liquid line as well. Under all circumstances, you replace the accumulator (drier)! Once that system gets opened up, it has moisture.............the biggest enemy of any A/C system!!! This is why you ALWAYS evacuate the system...........ALWAYS! R12 was bad because mixed with moisture it form hydrochloric acid which in turn destroyed your A/C system. R134A does not do that but moisture will have an effect on the cooling ability. Adding too much PAG oil to the system will also reduce the cooling ability.
Owning Dodges as well as a few GMC's and Internationals over the years, I have never really encountered too many hassles using after market products. I think TAYLOR WIRES is superior to any OEM product....hands down! The important thing is to do some research, read reviews from others whom have used the parts, and my priority is warranty! If the company only warranties it 90 days.......HELLO.........it isn't rocket science. I look for the longest warranty available which generally means you are getting the best quality available.
Let it be said too that many people prefer Spectra Premium which is a Canadian company however, their products are mostly if not all manufactured in CHINA!!! I purchased one of their radiators and it was stamped right on it.......MADE IN CHINA!!
I also prefer to stick with auto parts suppliers that have a reputation and have been around a while. Summit Racing in my opinion has excellent customer service and your part is on your door step before you hang up the phone ordering it! Been dealing with them for years........NO PROBLEMS!
I do shop for price because some of these retailers are ripping you BIG TIME..........Huge mark-ups. I have bought parts for a fraction of what some have on their websites. DO YOUR HOMEWORK and use a little common sense........some companies might be a couple dollars more but offer FREE SHIPPING.........might want to do the math!!
One thing for certain no matter what you decide..........STAY OUT OF THOSE HIGH PRICED RIP OFF DEALERSHIPS AND CHAIN SHOPS............they will take you for the ride of your life GUARANTEED and empty your bank account for you in the process! THEY ARE UNSCRUPULOUS SCUMBAGS!!!!! I don't think they know the meaning of the word "ETHICAL" !!
AFTERMARKET PARTS are fine on a Dodge.........MOPAR PARTS are over-priced and probably made on the same assembly line with a different sticker slapped on it!!!!

 

Ha. So funny.

 

I guess I got screwed on my transmission then. It came with only a six month warranty. Shoulda gone to AAMCO...



(That's a joke son!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwnwbG9YLE

 

I'm kinda the opposite way with regard to warranty. They all come with something; most failures are pretty quick if there is really something wrong with it; after 30 days the failure rate goes way, way down.

All I would say is don't make the mistake of buying stuff and letting it sit there in the box too long; if you aren't installing it right away then maybe look at the warranty period harder, or just hold off buying until you're ready.

I used to keep a running tally somewhere with all the money I saved not buying extended warranties, or buying used instead of new, or importing parts or products even when the national wouldn't offer the same warranty as a domestic sale. I gave up keeping track many years ago, but it was well into the five figures at that point. I can eat some parts with that kind of money in my pocket if I have to.

Having said that if you're careful to get good quality stuff in the first place, it's usually not an issue. Just remember value does not equal price. You don't have to pay top dollar all the time to get good stuff, but choosing the very cheapest price you can find from the very cheapest vendor will make you a fan of warranties pretty quick.

I have a buddy that needs a big screen TV in his life all the time. He always gets the fanciest, most expensive, longest extended warranty possible when he buys one ... five years if he can get it. He's on his third new big-screen now. The tech moves so fast that he started with a 50" rear-projection and now has a 60" plasma. Every one was replaced just before the warranty ran out, and since the old model isn't available they have to give him an "equivalent" in the current store stock. Sometimes he offers to pay a bit more or take a demo instead, that's nicer than the one they want to replace with. When he gets his new, free (or nearly free), big screen, he ponies up on the same invoice on his dime for the fat extended warranty again. He has ways *cough* *cough* to make them fail a few months before the warranty ends.

But he doesn't get extendeds on anything else.

 

If you can get you transmission rebuit for a few hundred dollars and you don't mind doing it every six months.........go with it!
I did my research and found a couple private guys with a small shop doing top notch work..............with a 3 year warranty or longer. The 700R4 was chevy's biggest piece of junk ever built..........but these guys modify it so it gets better flow of fluid and it rectifies the problem...........more tha likely done on purpose!
The biigest problem people have is LITTLE TO NONE when speaking about PM!!! People tend to just turn the key and drive.........when it breaks, then the tears flow!
Fresh Parts............never heard that one before! I don't buy parts just to have them...........I buy them when I need them and install them as soon as I receive them. I fix things when the problem starts.............I don't wait for it to turn itself into a major issue.
You can't judge a part for quality on price because you can go to one vendor and pick it up at one price and go to another and get raped..........anyone who's ever priced a part knows that......or should!
A recent example was a Four Seasons A/C evaporator..............I found some retailers adding 300%-500% over other vendors.........that doesn't mean that part is better than Vista Pro or Auto Trust or any other manufacturer. What is important is that Auto Trust comes with a full 3 year warranty vs Four Seasons 90 day! I don't think a manufacturer is going to slap a 3 year warranty on a part they know might fail in 91 days!
Like I said, I've been turning wrenches for over 35 years and I own or owned an extensive amount of equipment. I think with that said, I've done my homework, have 35 years of trial and error, and I know what works and what doesn't!
Stay out of dealerships and chain shops, look for parts with the best warranty, and research.........research.......research to see what others that have used the parts have to say............the computer can make you or break you!! And keep in mind, many post on the internet are 20 year old still wet behind the ears that haven't a clue if they're on foot or horseback! They just like to talk tough and show their ignorance...............they know it all!!!

 

You have no idea what you're talking about.

You just keep right on believing that. It's good for the economy.

I'm not going to write out a long treatise on how warranty terms are determined for a given manufactured product, but before I changed careers it was an important aspect of my job. I can say without fear of contradiction from any well informed party that warranty terms are mainly about marketing strategy and are very poor, practically worthless as indicators of product quality. I can profitably sell the same product to any of cost, quality, or value conscious consumers with nothing more than changes of cosmetics (visual differentiation), packaging, price, and warranty terms. In fact, if I've done my job right, I will see higher profit margins over the life of the product coming from my quality conscious consumers even though they've got the same product as my cost conscience consumers.

 

The 700R4 is a pretty stout transmission for an overdrive modded unit based on a 1:1 transmission. The turbo 400 that it's based on is not only strong but remarkably abuse-tolerant.

All the overdrive versions of 1:1 transmissions from every OEM are weaker than the unit they're based on; it's the way it is.

I've bought two transmissions in my life. Both were used, both lasted the rest of the life of the vehicle; both were Turbo 400's and both got installed in the first place because the one in the vehicle died because they got too hot; the cooked oil tells the whole story.

One came in the truck I bought used for a great price, the guy was using it as a wrecker and cooked the tranny. I replaced it and drove that truck into the ground, basically. That one cost me $400 and another $100 to install.

The other was the victim of a low-speed accident where a bonehead crossed the centre lane and hit me, nailing the transmission cooler, engine still running. By the time I was able to get out and check out the damage and run back and shut down, it was too late. But, it did run for another month and believe me it was cooked. Paid $150 for another tranny, put it in myself, and ran that truck into the ground too.

Every other vehicle I've owned went to the boneyard with a perfectly good transmission in it. Quite frankly, until the overdrives started showing up I was a believer that the automatic transmission was the most reliable part in a vehicle. I still have no reason to believe I was wrong even though transmission problems do seem a bit more common now than in the past; I don't really have any way of knowing for sure that they weren't overheated which is basically like jumping off a bridge. You know what's going to happen next.

If the tranny ever dies in this Ram I own now, I am going to seriously look into getting a computer for a manual transmission Ram and swapping a 727 into it. But to be honest, I don't thing I will have to.

 

Bubkus to warranty vs quality! NO COMPANY is going to build a cheap part and stick a 3 year warranty on it............they'd be out of business before they got started! They use other deceptive means such as extended warranties where if you read the fine print, you basically bought a dead horse! It's the same with sale promotions.............there's always fine print! However, I have found parts that carry good warranty to be superior in craftsmanship to parts carrying 90 day warranty. The problem here, everyone has drawn the conclussion that if it says MADE IN CHINA it's junk.........NOT TRUE!! It's just like the US, we have companies that make..............let me rephrase that...........we HAD companies that made quality products and companies that made inferior products however, those inferior products NEVER carried much if any warranty!! Just because it says MADE IN CHINA doesn't necessarily mean its junk. They have quality companies right along with inferior product companies. Keep in mind, many of those MADE IN CHINA companies are re-located US companies........hence the 2008 relocation raid of government coffers that we all get to pay for!
Also, the Turbo 350 and the Turbo 400 has NO comparrison what-so ever with the 700R4!!! I took the 700R4 that I had rebuilt several times over a 3-4 year period and replaced it with the older Turbo 400 in my 86 GMC and my troubles ended!! I had the truck about 12 years, the first 3-4 were 700R4 nightmares...............the last 8 were trouble free Turbo 400 quality years!!
Dodge has the 46RE is compariable to the Chevy 700R4...........JUNK! You need to find a good quality shop that can modify it to stand up to truck quality! In it's current state, it wouldn't stand up in a 4 clyinder VW Bug!
The auto industry along with all the rest of GREEDY CORPORATE AMERICA is designed to stay in your wallet...............just keep giving them your money!!! We used to buy a quality automobile that was reliable for 5 years.............today, these American made pile of iron aren't built to last a year! My son bought a brand new 2008 Chevy Silverado right off the showroom floor and it spent more time in the shop than he did driving it..............JUNK!! Made of PLASTIC.........$32,000 pile of JUNK!! He is very meticulous and and takes excellent care of his vehicle both PM and it's appearance. The plastic tail gate opener.........3 replacements, moldings breaking and falling off............countless times, electrical issues..............and the list is LONG!! He finally sold it and left those $600 a month behind..............that's all these manufacturers are interested in is how long you keep giving them your money!! People are starting to wake up these days and tell these GREED MONGERS to take a hike...........the parties over!! Hopefully people have the intelligence in November to give 535 useless self servers in Washington PINK SLIPS!!!

 

As I said, I had no fear of contradiction from any well informed party.

Let's apply your reasoning and see where it leads us, shall we? I expect that what I'm about to say will leave you even more convinced of just how right you are, but some other folks might be entertained or even informed by it.

By your reasoning, the very best products will be those that come with lifetime warranties. After all, "NO COMPANY is gong to build a cheap part and stick a..." lifetime, for as long as you own your car warranty on something that's not of the very highest quality because "they'd be out of business before they got started". Sounds good, but it just ain't so.

Let us suppose that, as unlikely as it seems, one of us Dodge Ram owners is in need of an automatic transmission. So that one of us goes out looking around, applying your, uh, reasoning, and finds that his choices are an independent shop in his town that'll fix him up with a rebuild and a one year/12,000 mile warranty for $1500, the AAMCO nearby that'll hook him up with a three year/36,000 mile warranty for $1900 or a lifetime, as long as he owns the vehicle warranty for $2600. Then there's some outfit that his neighbor raves about that'll sell him a supposedly killer diller upgraded transmission that'll cost him $3500 just to get it to the door in a crate and comes with only a six month warranty.

Well, shucks. Using your, uh, reasoning, the best of the guy's options is that lifetime AAMCO transmission. Surely it's the very best there is, with a big well known doesn't look to be going broke company standing behind that outstanding warranty.

Nah. There's no real difference at all in the first three choices (the local independent or the two at AAMCO). In fact, at AAMCO, whether you get the basic three/36 or the lifetime you're getting the same unit, installed by the same guy, filled with the same fluid, and it's not even a little bit better than the one from the independent shop. The only difference is how educated your money gets along the way. It comes through the door stupid then goes into the bank smart, and the more you pay the smarter it gets. AAMCO knows that they're very, very rarely going to see a transmission come back under that lifetime warranty because the original purchaser clause will let them off the hook in less than five years or 60,000 miles, while the warranted unit is sure to go at least eight years or 100,000 miles unless the owner does something that voids the warranty anyway.

That's how money gets educated. It leaves the hands of the witless consumer and goes into the bank account of the smart guy. In this case the witless consumer equates price and warranty with quality, while the smart guy knows that both are just components of his marketing strategy.

Me? I paid nearly $3500 for a transmission that showed up in a crate so I could install it myself, and it came with only a six month warranty. By your reasoning I'm about as dumb as a can of broiled dirt.

Who am I to argue?