OEM vs. Topline Waterpump: Visual Differences *Pics*

[Spoolin98]

I will try and make this as clear as possible.

Approximately six months ago I ordered an OEM Mitsubishi water pump along with many other parts from a reputable vendor on DSMtuners. They offer an OEM Mitsubishi water pump and a Topline water pump. I was told by their employees that the OEM pump comes in just a bag from Mitsubishi and the Topline pump comes in a Topline box. I had never seen either part before brand new, only old used water pumps. I received my water pump in just a bag and thought great; I’m one step closer to building my motor.

Several months later my brother ordered an OEM water pump along with other timing necessities from the same business for his DSM. He received days later a Topline water pump in a Topline box. This was obviously the wrong part. I proceeded to compare my water pump that I received in just a bag to his water pump that was in a Topline box. They were identical. I started to wonder if I too was sent a Topline water pump instead of an OEM pump. I called and spoke to their sales department and the person who answered proceeded to tell me that Topline specializes in copying OEM parts and there is no visible difference between the Topline water pump and the OEM water pump. I trusted this individual until days later my brother received the correct water pump in the mail. A true OEM water pump with actual Mitsubishi part numbers on it.

There are many visual differences between the OEM pump and the Topline pump. I only then realized, months later, that I too was sent the wrong water pump. If mine was sent in a Topline box, not a bag, I would have sent it back right away like my brother did. The vendor then gave me the run-around, refused to give me the part I deserved and eventually offered me ONLY the difference in credit between the two. The topline pump was still brand new in the same packaging they sent it to me in, and they refused to take it back even though it was entirely there fault. So now I’m stuck ordering a new OEM pump from somewhere else and have credit at a vendor I refuse to purchase from ever again.

I was not a one time customer there; I spent thousands of dollars there. I made it EXTREMELY clear they would lose my business if they did not handle it appropriately and send me what I payed for, that’s all I wanted. I even took it as far as contacting the owner of the business, who is a JOKE. I wrote him a professional email addressing him as MR....and he wrote back telling me that is too formal for him, to address him by his first name. He is an ignorant man that refused to take care of his valued customers. I found it shady that I was given a Topline water pump in just a bag to be passed off as an OEM Mitsubishi pump so that is why I am writing this to inform and make aware other DSM'ers of the differences between the two and the shady business that some supposed "reputable" vendors are doing.

After years of researching on this site, being helped and helping others, I have not seen a thread like this posting the visual differences. I hope this helps. To the moderators, I had no clue where to post this so I put it here, feel free to move it where you want it.

Now onto the pictures

 

[Spoolin98]

There are very noticeable differences between the two, as you can tell. The OEM has WAY better quality, which is what you pay for.

 

[Spoolin98]

More OEM pictures.

 

[Spoolin98]

As you can tell, the Topline pump has poor quality. Some people swear by Topline parts, I myself use strictly OEM.

 

[Spoolin98]

1 more Topline picture. This last picture I For got to take one of the OEM pump, but I remember distinctly that the OEM was of much better quality and a different metal. The block off plate did not look bronze like the Topline pump, it looked silver on the OEM pump.

 

[1gcrazy]

So if you see Aisin on any mitsu style part. Is it safe to say it's OEM or are their OEM exact copy cats...?

I noticed a difference in the casting. I also notice a difference in the edges on the casting compared to the OEM. I also noticed that the surface underneath the blades is smooth on the OEM and rough casting type on the T/L. Another thing I see is on the top of the blades where they're attached to the shaft. One is different from the other. OEM looks a bit more secure but I'm not even sure if it'll make a difference...

Other than that i'd be curious as to what type of bushings each unit uses and what the clearances are on each one... just a thought.

 

[Spoolin98]

If the pump says "Aisin" it is an OEM waterpump, Im not sure about other Mitsu parts. As far as I know, no one makes an exact replica.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

AT least the Topline pump has a dowel pin for the pulleys to line up on

 

[Spoolin98]

AT least the Topline pump has a dowel pin for the pulleys to line up on

True, but thats about the only positive thing. If you cant line up a pulley to bolt it on, you shouldn't be installing a waterpump in the first place.

 

[DSM90AWD]

Good to know. I assume the vendor also charged you the premuim price for the OEM part but sent you the lower-cost one?

Out of curiosity, have you seen/heard of a Topline water pump fail? I've heard stories about their oil pumps, then again, I've seen just as many on OEM

 

[hopwoodp]

What?

Hey Spoolin98, I went through the same thing you did. I know what vendor you are talking about. Since then, I decided to either purchase from RRE, a direct dealer, or two other vendors on this forum.

Now, to add on to the whole water pump thing. Who make the pump that has a closed type impeller(plastic)? I have a spare that came off a freshly assembled 6 bolt (all oem mitsu) motor.

 

[Spoolin98]

Good to know. I assume the vendor also charged you the premuim price for the OEM part but sent you the lower-cost one?

Out of curiosity, have you seen/heard of a Topline water pump fail? I've heard stories about their oil pumps, then again, I've seen just as many on OEM

Yeah the vendor charged me an insane amount for it, and then sent me a topline pump. Then they only gave me the difference in price between the two in credit. No I haven't heard of any failures.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

Hell, a simple Autozone water pump is fine in most applications.

 

[hopwoodp]

Yep, I was going to order lots of stuff from that certain vendor, untill I found out who it is. Nothing I hate more on this earth then shitty customer service, lost quite a bit of cash from me. Shouldnt sell a customer one item, and then send them another. What goes around, comes around I say. Thanks Spoolin98 for this thread, and the people who made me aware.

If you need someone to order from you could try RRE. They don't put much info on their site but, they got just about everything you need. I have yet to hear any complaint from them.
Edit: not to mention, they know their $hit!

 

[DSM90AWD]

Why are we not allowed to give feedback on vendors here? I mean it would be one of the most important parts of the forum. No one will buy from the classifieds if someone has bad feedback, bot the vendors get a free pass if they suck?

Although not allowed here we are a major sponsor of Vendors-Reviewed so please excercise your 1st amendment rights there

 

[motomattxxx]

I mean is this site here to keep the vendors happy or to support the dsm community?

Hmmm?

 

[2gAWDTalon]

If you need someone to order from you could try RRE. They don't put much info on their site but, they got just about everything you need. I have yet to hear any complaint from them.
Edit: not to mention, they know their $hit!

RRE is awsome... and I would say there site has alot of info on it just not everything they have for sale... They include alot of tech info, they dont only care about selling you a part. Good customer service is hard to come by these days and I try to be very loyal to those who give it to me.

 

[CanadianTSi]

A buddy of mine had his water pump replaced at the dealer, they used some cheap one with plastic blades,eventually the blades separated from the hub...

I paid a hefty price for my OEM mitsu pump but its piece of mind.

 

[Spoolin98]

For future reference, anyone who needs to know who the vendor is, PM me, not someone else. Just to be sure your not told the wrong vendor.

As far as a Vendor feedback, when this happened I PM'd Ludachris to ask him what I could do about it. He said:
"Is it one of our supporting vendors? If so, you can rate them on our supporting vendors page. If you want to write a review on them or any other vendor, you can use www.vendors-reviewed.com, our partner site...We don't want people using our forums to complain about vendors "

I ordered thousands of dollars through this particular vendor and was even debating ordering my entire 6bolt build through them. They lost out on tons of business and future business.

 

[Defiant]

Thank you for the excellent photos of the difference. Whether the appearance issues relate to longevity or part quality may be moot in a part whose service life is 80-100,000 miles while living next to a timing belt whose life is 60,000.

Avoid plastic impellers at all times (search and see).

As to the Horrible Scary Nasty Vendor question, and why we do not allow vendor feedback on this forum, the reason is the same as most of our rules here: reaction to abuse. Finding out half-a-year later that you were sent a "wrong" part can't really be blamed entirely on who sold it to you. Thanks to you, future buyers of water pumps will be able to tell at a glance if they received a "substitute".
I don't recall any threads about Topline waterpumps being inferior, for what that may or may not be worth.

Those wanting a PM about details regarding the seller, PM the requests, duh. This forum is technical discussion, not off-topic babble.

Further discussion regarding our policy on vendor feedback will be welcome and encouraged in the Site Feedback Forum. Discussions about the relative quality of Topline vs. OEM would do well in the Hangout, or maybe Newbie forums.

 

[hopwoodp]

Thank you for the excellent photos of the difference. Whether the appearance issues relate to longevity or part quality may be moot in a part whose service life is 80-100,000 miles while living next to a timing belt whose life is 60,000.

Avoid plastic impellers at all times (search and see).

As to the Horrible Scary Nasty Vendor question, and why we do not allow vendor feedback on this forum, the reason is the same as most of our rules here: reaction to abuse. Finding out half-a-year later that you were sent a "wrong" part can't really be blamed entirely on who sold it to you. Thanks to you, future buyers of water pumps will be able to tell at a glance if they received a "substitute".
I don't recall any threads about Topline waterpumps being inferior, for what that may or may not be worth.

Those wanting a PM about details regarding the seller, PM the requests, duh. This forum is technical discussion, not off-topic babble.

Further discussion regarding our policy on vendor feedback will be welcome and encouraged in the Site Feedback Forum. Discussions about the relative quality of Topline vs. OEM would do well in the Hangout, or maybe Newbie forums.

Hey Defiant

About what you said in regards to plastic impellers - does it matter at all if it is a closed or open impeller that could cause internal failure? Also, do we know if Mitsubishi makes these kinds? And if not, who does? Thanks for jumping in.

David

 

[Quasimondo]

Hell, a simple Autozone water pump is fine in most applications.

They also have a lifetime warranty so if it does fail, they'll replace it. FWIW, I've used an Autozone water pump on three engines and the only failure I've ever had was from the bolts backing out on one of them. Since I neglected to use loctite, I'll chalk that up to installation error.

 

[Spoolin98]

Thank you for the excellent photos of the difference. Whether the appearance issues relate to longevity or part quality may be moot in a part whose service life is 80-100,000 miles while living next to a timing belt whose life is 60,000.

Avoid plastic impellers at all times (search and see).

As to the Horrible Scary Nasty Vendor question, and why we do not allow vendor feedback on this forum, the reason is the same as most of our rules here: reaction to abuse. Finding out half-a-year later that you were sent a "wrong" part can't really be blamed entirely on who sold it to you. Thanks to you, future buyers of water pumps will be able to tell at a glance if they received a "substitute".
I don't recall any threads about Topline waterpumps being inferior, for what that may or may not be worth.

Those wanting a PM about details regarding the seller, PM the requests, duh. This forum is technical discussion, not off-topic babble.

Further discussion regarding our policy on vendor feedback will be welcome and encouraged in the Site Feedback Forum. Discussions about the relative quality of Topline vs. OEM would do well in the Hangout, or maybe Newbie forums.

Your welcome for the pictures, just didn't want this to happen to any other dsm'ers. Like you said now they can tell the difference right away by looking here. As far as the vendor taking partial blame, I disagree. If they sent me the part in a Topline box like it should have been in, I would have known right away and sent it back. Then I would agree with you, but they didn't, they sent it in a bag attempting and succeeding to pass it off as a OEM part. That is 100% their fault in my eyes and shady business. Ok I'm done complaining. Take it easy and thanks for the response.

 

[Ludachris]

Your welcome for the pictures, just didn't want this to happen to any other dsm'ers. Like you said now they can tell the difference right away by looking here. As far as the vendor taking partial blame, I disagree. If they sent me the part in a Topline box like it should have been in, I would have known right away and sent it back. Then I would agree with you, but they didn't, they sent it in a bag attempting and succeeding to pass it off as a OEM part. That is 100% their fault in my eyes and shady business. Ok I'm done complaining. Take it easy and thanks for the response.

Mike, PM me the name of this supporting vendor for this again. I'd like to have it on file.

 

[Spoolin98]

Mike, PM me the name of this supporting vendor for this again. I'd like to have it on file.

PM sent.