That $400 injection pump rebuild kit from eBay bit me hard

I thought I was being smart saving cash on a rebuild for a 5.9 Cummins in a 2001 Dodge. Bought the kit online for 400 bucks versus the 900 the local shop wanted for a full reman. Spent two weekends tearing it down and putting it back together with those cheap Chinese parts. Truck ran like crap for three days then started puking fuel out of the overflow line. Ended up having to buy the shop reman anyway because the plunger seized up and trashed the housing. So now I'm out the 400 plus labor for them to clean out my mess and install their unit. Anyone else get burned by trying to save a few bucks on injection pump parts?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea7041mo ago

Oh, that's rough. I really feel for you on this one. I've been there myself with trying to save money on parts and having it blow up in my face. It's such a hard lesson to learn, and it always seems to cost more in the long run when you have to pay someone else to fix your fix. You'd think those cheaper kits would at least hold up for a little while, but it sounds like that one didn't even make it a week. I hope your truck is running good now with that shop reman, that's really the main thing.

olivia_hernandez1mo agoOG Member

Disagree a bit on the cheap parts thing. I've had good luck with some budget kits if you do your homework first. The problem is people grab the cheapest thing on Amazon without checking the brand or reviews. A rebuilt unit from a shop is safer, sure, but it also costs three times as much. If you've got the time and tools to swap it yourself, a midrange kit can be fine for a daily driver. The real trick is knowing which brands are junk and which ones just don't have the marketing budget.