Crown Automotive SalesCo. Inc

Phatjimmy · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:45 pm

Does anybody know anything about these guys. Seem to sell some CRD stuff for relativity low costs. Not a lot of parts but things like water pumps, pulleys and Tensioner for timing and serpentine belts. They sell only to outfits like JC Whitney and Auto parts warehouse. They sure do beat the OEM costs.... Just curious if anybody has used them and if they are just cheap Chines junk.

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:55 pm

I don't know them specifically... But if they are selling to JC Whitney and other warehouses, I would think that much of what they sell is from China.

Cheaper cheaper cheaper... Gotta lower the price, without bothering to think that maybe they are sacrificing the entire vehicle to save a few pennies when that plastic part fails.

racertracer · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:03 pm

I think Crown is Czechoslovakian or Polish.

I've used their brake parts on my TJ and all's well after 15,000 miles.... i don't know about trusting them on Timing Belts parts.

More info on the company would be good.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:09 pm

Don't know them and I note their WEB site says they only sell to their dealers and won't show a catalog or price to anyone but dealers. I've seen the name a time or 2 but it may be the same outfit mentioned in viewtopic.php?f=5&t=65245&p=719471&hilit=crown#p719471 in which case that's not promissing.

I certainly don't mind saving a buck or two but I prefer well known vendors and products (ex. I'll buy a Gates belt from most anywhere for cheaper than an OEM belt because I know Gates makes excellent belts but I won't buy no name belts off eBay)

ADDENDUM - SEE COMMENT BY ME FURTHER DOWN

Phatjimmy · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:54 pm

papaindigo wrote:

Don't know them and I note their WEB site says they only sell to their dealers and won't show a catalog or price to anyone but dealers. I've seen the name a time or 2 but it may be the same outfit mentioned in viewtopic.php?f=5&t=65245&p=719471&hilit=crown#p719471 in which case that's not promissing.

I certainly don't mind saving a buck or two but I prefer well known vendors and products (ex. I'll buy a Gates belt from most anywhere for cheaper than an OEM belt because I know Gates makes excellent belts but I won't buy no name belts off eBay)

Well that sums that one up. Cheap Chines parts. I'll stick with the OEM stuff. Thanks for the input guys! I love this forum

papaindigo · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:17 pm

I don't know that I'd immediately jump the "c" junk nor, as I implied, am I sure they are tied to that post I linked to. The company seems to have started in Boston, MA and they do appear to have an international network. That said I've never directly heard of them and there are no local dealers that I could chat with so my gut is to lean away from them absent substantive information.

ADDENDUM - SEE COMMENT BY ME FURTHER DOWN

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:47 pm

Crown automotive has been one of the biggest OE parts suppliers for a long time after(and during) the parent company stops making/suppling OE parts.It's a legit company with good parts.

Most of the KJ's that have done the 4.10 gear swap have gotten the Dana/Spicer gears from a authorized Crown Automotive dealer,which there are many.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:20 pm

On that basis please consider my somewhat negative previous comments largely retracted.

jeepdan · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:06 pm

Don't forget the recent post viewtopic.php?f=5&t=65245t
It was a Crown water pump that failed at 4,000 miles.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:26 pm

jeepdan wrote:

Don't forget the recent post viewtopic.php?f=5&t=65245t
It was a Crown water pump that failed at 4,000 miles.

I've seen OEM pumps fail much sooner then that.It happens.

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:41 pm

Your statement is irrelevant.

If they are the "original equipment" suppliers to both the OEM and the parts distribution channels, then it is irrelevant whether a part has their name directly on it, or has "I'm from the OEM" on a sticker covering up their name on the part when it fails. They manufactured it, it failed too early in its lifecycle.

Delco manufactures thousands of parts for GM vehicles, but they are not GM - They ARE considered "OEM" because of the relationship with GM, but you can just as easily buy a Delco part in Autozone or similar. Obviously the situation is the same with Crown, and many others.

A better statement would have been "Sometimes a defective part makes it past the QA people and onto a sales shelf somewhere." "Sheet happens" would also have fit this situation.
The reality is still that the larger the demand for the product (through OEM and parts store channels) the more pressure on the manufacturer to maintain or lower costs. This inevitably leads to cutbacks in supply quality, if they can't lower the costs by other means (shipping jobs to Mexico / China)

Crown might not be "junk parts" from China, but that doesn't mean they are as good as an aftermarket maker who builds BETTER than OEM parts for the performance market.
With our CRDs... I think ANY source of parts is to be considered, simply b/c there AREN'T that many sources to choose from. If we can match parts with a better component, I'm all for that. Crown sounds like a decent source for water pumps, and there are precious few suppliers I've heard about for those for us.

Stevereed · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:04 pm

My experience with Crown has not been good. I purchased parts made by them from an online parts house. On the surface the parts look fine. I got a crown water pump, timing belt tensioner and idler pulleys. The tensioner pulley had the right part number on the box but the holes didn't line up right. I didn't notice that until I struggled trying to put on the belt and it wouldn't fit. I sent it back and got a different one from an OEM parts house.

The water pump bearing failed behind the gear after about 4000 miles causing the timing belt to slip. I'm now waiting for a new OEM water pump, rocker arms and lifters. When I took the TB cover off and inspected the idler pulleys, they were weeping grease from the sealed bearings. I will be replacing them also. I won't be purchasing Crown parts in the future.

geordi · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:19 am

Wow... Just looking at that picture, I have only one thing to say about their parts:

CHINA CHINA CHINA CRAP CRAP CRAP. If it doesn't say where it is made... They aren't proud enough of it to claim it, and it probably came from China.

Sorry you had to go through all that... But they obviously are being good corporate citizens - slash quality to increase profits by any means necessary.

I think I'll avoid them too.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:36 am

geordi wrote:

Your statement is irrelevant.

.

It's relevant,you just like to go against what ever I say.

Sure some of there parts maybe made in china,so are many others,it's life in this global economy.

Take some VW's engines,unless you pay the big bucks for the OEM pump the most common aftermarket pump is made in Germany but after bolting up the pulley it now hits the block.Get the cheap pump from advance auto that's made in china it fits perfectly,but sadly actually hard to find.Not saying anything made in china is worth owning but most of your electronics are made there but they do have a hard time reading blue prints for automotive parts.

Phatjimmy · **Posted:** Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:12 am

Just remember, China is all about quantity not quality. They never have been. Even Apple deals with crap that slips out of the Foxconn factory in China all the time. It's a sad thing that this kind of junk can be sold as a critical engine part. I have worked on cars for years as a hobby and work on diesel Locomotives for a living. I've seen OEM Bosch parts made in China fail right out of the box. I've seen a brand new, out of the crate, $22,000.00 GEA Tuchenhagen water to air turbo intercooler rupture and dump 500 gallons of water into a turbocharger at full speed. Of course, made in china. Upon inspection we found they they had welded with the wrong metal and because of this it cracked along 90% of the welds. It cost us a damaged turbocharger (you can stick your head in the inlet of these things) and a few damaged cylinder/rod assemblies. Long story short, this is a very well respected brand name and not a cheap item by any means but still made in china and it was no better than that crown water pump....

So I guess we just need to be very careful with our CRD babies and what parts we put on them. I don't put it past Fiat to start to send some of our parts to be made in china in the near future. When that happens, I don't know what we'll do.... :evil:

Thanks for all the comments. I love this forum, you guys are a great resource.

cevans · **Joined:** Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:48 pm **Posts:** 278

Crown doesn't "make" anything, really, they are purchasers/importers.

We started stocking Crown timing belt parts at work. I've looked them over as best I could and I was left with a good impression.

The tensioner uses an NTN bearing from Japan (doesn't show the bearing in the photo). Doesn't get any better than that. The belts are BANDO, made in Japan or USA. Water pump doesn't have markings, though I know that pumps from Graf/Hepu/Geba (European brands) often don't have any casting marks so that wasn't a red flag for me. Its got a metal impeller (vs. plastic for many manufacturers), so thats good.

When it comes to brands and what stuff is "junk" or not, its all personal opinion. We stock belts from Gates, Dayco, Continental etc. I've seen posts here by people saying Dayco is crap. I have shops call demanding Dayco and saying Gates is crap. Conti too. If someone had a "bad personal experience" you don't know anything about the car, the install, other issues.

I put a kit in a customer's Jeep this week and everything went smoothly. I'm going to keep an eye on the water pump - I've combed this forum and others and could only find the case of "Stevereed" for premature failure. In any event its enough of a group concern that I've convinced the boss to start stocking the OEM water pump as well.

cevans · **Joined:** Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:48 pm **Posts:** 278

Phatjimmy wrote:

Just remember, China is all about quantity not quality. They never have been. Even Apple deals with crap that slips out of the Foxconn factory in China all the time. It's a sad thing that this kind of junk can be sold as a critical engine part. I have worked on cars for years as a hobby and work on diesel Locomotives for a living. I've seen OEM Bosch parts made in China fail right out of the box. I've seen a brand new, out of the crate, $22,000.00 GEA Tuchenhagen water to air turbo intercooler rupture and dump 500 gallons of water into a turbocharger at full speed. Of course, made in china. Upon inspection we found they they had welded with the wrong metal and because of this it cracked along 90% of the welds. It cost us a damaged turbocharger (you can stick your head in the inlet of these things) and a few damaged cylinder/rod assemblies. Long story short, this is a very well respected brand name and not a cheap item by any means but still made in china and it was no better than that crown water pump....

So I guess we just need to be very careful with our CRD babies and what parts we put on them. I don't put it past Fiat to start to send some of our parts to be made in china in the near future. When that happens, I don't know what we'll do.... :evil:

Thanks for all the comments. I love this forum, you guys are a great resource.

Then, on the flip side of that, the Chinese are the only ones still making some of the HUGE water pumps and handlers that power stations use. The fact is that China has manufacturing capability that the rest of the world doesn't. Both good and bad - the best, most advanced manufacturing right along with the crappiest quality, knock off factories.

Gokeeper · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:02 am

Stevereed wrote:

My experience with Crown has not been good. I purchased parts made by them from an online parts house. On the surface the parts look fine. I got a crown water pump, timing belt tensioner and idler pulleys. The tensioner pulley had the right part number on the box but the holes didn't line up right. I didn't notice that until I struggled trying to put on the belt and it wouldn't fit. I sent it back and got a different one from an OEM parts house.

The water pump bearing failed behind the gear after about 4000 miles causing the timing belt to slip. I'm now waiting for a new OEM water pump, rocker arms and lifters. When I took the TB cover off and inspected the idler pulleys, they were weeping grease from the sealed bearings. I will be replacing them also. I won't be purchasing Crown parts in the future.

I replace my tensioner and idler pulleys this weekend with crown parts. At first glance I had the same reaction however if you look more closely the center of the tensioner on Both The OEM and the Crown centers turn independently. Look at the relation ship between the hole and the U at the top of the OEM vs the crown. If you rotated the center around they would match. Both the OEM and the crown rotate if you hold both sides and turn with a slight force. I can not speak of the Idlers only time will tell on mine, My OEM idlers were weeping grease so I had no choice but to replace them. I didn't touch the water pump. I can only Hope you got a bad batch of parts.

cevans · **Joined:** Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:48 pm **Posts:** 278

Correct - the tensioner is on an eccentric circle, so the hole orientation in the photo above is irrelevant.

It is just like every other timing belt tensioner I've seen on early model TDIs - the bolt hole moves separately inside the housing, until you tighten it up, thus tightening or loosening the belt.

Crown Automotive SalesCo. Inc

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