Real Vs Fake "OEM" parts

[Tony Prodigy]

As with anything, if there's a market that can be exploited, it most likely will be and counterfeit service items such as air filters, oil filters and the like are top of the tree items.

I always like to think I'm buying a Genuine Toyota product when searching the internet sellers and if you don't know what to look for then you will most likely end up with a fake.

There are several videos on youtube that can illustrate the finite detail to help us all become aware of the crooked practices of many crook companies.

Things to look out for are poor print quality, mis spelled words, colour, packaging to name a few. The holographic sticker can also be faked but the fakes are sometimes just a silver foil.

I received my recent order of 10 x oil filters from a seller in the U.S ( it was still cheaper buying from him than any dealer here) and I can honestly say I am pretty satisfied with my purchase.

I have one Genuine Oil Filter left in my stock to compare to and it looks practically identical. Mind you, this particular batch was intended for the U.S. market and hence will have some print differences which include Lexus and French descriptions. Also, to my knowledge, only Genuine filters have "Toyota" and the part number printed inside one leaf of the filter media. I seriously doubt the fake manufacture would be bothered to include this. Imagine the logistics just to have this done ?

Mine also came as a set of ten in the original Toyota shipping box, so this also gives me confidence they are genuine.

Here are a few pics of mine received.

The 2nd last picture has a very good warning on it too 

Edited September 28, 2020 by Tony Prodigy

[L4WL3SS]

I buy aftermarket. First lot of filters I bought for the aurion from ebay "wesfil" brand I think, came with cabin, oil, air filters for 50 bucks total. Car drives fine. 

I stopped being pedantic years ago about things like this. However, I always use full synthetic, which us usually on special every 2/3months nulon or Castrol... Same same

[KAA]

To each their own when it comes to cars, some just use whatever is available to do the job others choose to pay a bit extra to use genuine or close as possible to genuine..it always is a personal thing or driven by money..as my wife and I are retired now days..money is always tight..however "She Who Must Be Obeyed" set up a car account many years ago..we place some dollars in it fortnightly to cover expenses like services, tyres, green slips, emergencies etc..I choose to use genuine parts and good quality oils & filters, as this car is to last us till the pine box lid is nailed down..if you choose to go genuine..you know it fits perfectly and like all Toyota parts is guaranteed..sometimes it can be a learning curve when buying overseas, yes it can be cheaper but then some fit and some are rubbish..I am sure what Tony was alerting us all to is how to tell the difference which will at least help when buying overseas goods

KAA

[Tony Prodigy]

6 hours ago, Metal_Head said:

I buy aftermarket.

I have in the past purchased Ryco and discovered that Genuine Parts can be had for the same money or cheaper if you were willing to look. I spend a lot of time on Ebay and during the course of my research it brings me to find bargains just like the above mentioned. I paid $107 for a ten pack, with shipping and tax and for $10 a pop that more than half what the stealership asks. They ask around $25 - $28 each !

So would you pay $10 for a Genuine Part or a lesser non Genuine Part ? I feel that Genuine parts just work better and using the same oil is as cheap mixing them, which I don't like doing either. I stock up with Nulon and just keep using this.

[L4WL3SS]

That's a good price. 

[LordBug]

Glad to see they appear genuine, I ordered a set of ten from the same seller after you'd linked to that deal 🙂
 

[Tony Prodigy]

6 minutes ago, LordBug said:

Glad to see they appear genuine, I ordered a set of ten from the same seller after you'd linked to that deal 🙂
 

The seller is reputable and I trust him so I really had no doubt these would be Genuine Parts. 

 I suspect yours are still in transit. You should have a tracking number Bertil. Any idea when yours will arrive ?

I'm thinking of getting another lot and stock right up.

[LordBug]

Ordered on the 30th of Aug, eta is between tomorrow and next week, so hopefully sooner than later.
I do have some no-name filters I bought recently, I'm planning on getting a big cheap drum of oil from Repco and doing a bit of a flush before I use the genuine filters

[campbeam]

Years ago, I bought a carton of oil filter cartridges from a USA seller. Finally got around to checking those remaining ones and they checked out to be genuine. Part number was printed onto the element material and oil seal plastic packaging was printed with the Installation Procedure. 

I also had a non-genuine one. In comparison, no part number printed onto the filter element material and also no printing on the oil seal plastic packet. 

[Tony Prodigy]

G'day Gents,

I just finished watching a new video from The Car Care Nut and thought I'd share this important bit of information with everyone. This guy is 1000% bang on, so watch this video and see for yourself if you have any doubts about buying Toyota Genuine Parts.

Having watched this, it prompted me to go out to the garage and recheck something. In the past I did buy some so called "Genuine" Toyota oil Filters and there was one left from that batch that I never used, just kept for comparison purposes for future purchases. I then got my Real Stash of Genuine oil Filters, pictured at the top of this thread and the differences were immense. Some of the differences shown in the video ring true.

Here are some pics of the Genuine Toyota Hologram

 

 

[Tony Prodigy]

These pIcs are of the counterfeit Items Hologram. Note how cheap the foil looks and the holographic colours all try to light up in the same angle of light compared to the Original, the holographic colours are segmented in varying angles and much clearer too.

 

[Tony Prodigy]

Now for the Packaging differences. The Counterfeit is left of screen. The Knock off uses a cheaper and darker cardboard and you can see how this bleeds through the printed sections of the white parts making them slightly off white. The Genuine box is a lighter colour and print is clean. The knock off box is slightly smaller too.

Various differences as I rotate the boxes counter clockwise to compare. Also, the knock off says "made in Japan". The Genuine says, "made in Thailand" as per the video.

 

[Tony Prodigy]

Lastly and most importantly. The contents.

The Genuine part is on the left. Note the colour differences straight away. The Genuine filter media is a lighter colour than the knock off. The inside flaps of the box are also different with additional print and barcoding on the Genuine item.

The o-rings for the Genuine come in a nice crispy clear sealed plastic with instructions and the blue strip printed on it whereas the knock off is in a cloudy much cheaper feeling plastic.

The Genuine filter has the part number printed inside one of the leaves (not shown) and the other does not.

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Tony Prodigy

[campbeam]

The following is a recently released YouTube video by The Car Nut where he zooms onto 3 common parts. I did think that this video is not up to his usual high standard.

I was more concerned about the spark plugs than the oil filter cartridge. Fake was such a cheap rip-off and doomed to fail well short of the lifespan of a genuine long life iridium spark plug.. Also not so easy to replace the spark plugs on the rear bank of a front wheel drive V6 so you really need genuine OEM quality. 

I had to make allowances on the filter section that in the USA they use a plastic oil filter cartridge housing which owners upgrade to a metal one. Also he was using a cartridge filter for the Corolla. However, I did get a laugh about what he did to test the build quality of the fake oil filter cartridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVA4RYql9KU

[campbeam]

On 2/15/2021 at 4:50 PM, campbeam said:

I was more concerned about the spark plugs than the oil filter cartridge. Fake was such a cheap rip-off and doomed to fail well short of the lifespan of a genuine long life iridium spark plug.. Also not so easy to replace the spark plugs on the rear bank of a front wheel drive V6 so you really need genuine OEM quality. 

Looks like that bargain set of spark plugs for my Aurion bought on eBay in May 2018 have turned out to be non-genuine. Instead of lasting 192K KMS or 10 years, these have only lasted 3.5 years and 35K KMS.

Photos show how badly worn the spark plug on No.1 cylinder is compared to another one [also worn] and a new spark plug [ hopefully genuine]. Certainly explains why the engine was misfiring on cylinder 1. Genuine plugs would not be showing noticable wear.

[Tony Prodigy]

That's shameful on the seller's part to flog counterfeit parts to begin with Ash. I'm guessing the price was too good to resist right ?

I'd be skeptical if the price was too cheap compared to normal retail. What are you going to do this time ? Will you go Genuine Toyota parts or is there some OEM equivalent you've found ? 

[campbeam]

1 hour ago, Tony Prodigy said:

That's shameful on the seller's part to flog counterfeit parts to begin with Ash. I'm guessing the price was too good to resist right ?

I'd be skeptical if the price was too cheap compared to normal retail. What are you going to do this time ? Will you go Genuine Toyota parts or is there some OEM equivalent you've found ? 

Yes the price was too good to resist; $29.95 for the set of 6.

I bought them because I could not find my previous eBay purchase of 12 spark plugs. Seller was auctioning off 1 packet of 4 spark plugs at a time so my winning bids were ultra low, much less than the postage.

Since then, I have relocated them so they were the ones used, Denso FK20HR11.

As an alternative, I have researched Denso IKH20TT. Their lifespan of 120,000 Kms is less than the long life Denso FK20HR11.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/123107471897?epid=244639408&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item1ca9c6f219:g:GCwAAOSwND9iIEjQ:sc:AU_RegularParcelWithTrackingAndSignature!4118!AU!-1&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA4P3UQ5VLQuqSmAXBLtzdhZCfn0RrHjZcJgeCwZV4bp60SAxT62NrG1rDrSCrelcFw4e%2FPOSEI%2F%2FOU3nIy%2Bhzkn8z%2BHsLyhAF8LSsU5mILocLLfyBfUqvLPfzzIWnPlWX2a3uGx8UIP%2BiiAWOWHGzw3BLyMBDoFkBOcalM5dShSWsLIQeapkrzcXt9q0NReugYpeTJAQUjalCvqKneVmK5Cefnr0MwUae%2FsHSPgkntL30J7%2BTpE4nWKAt6CNQaabgrJwx2gmpNqB5DARH1rBrgb5MsNjZplkEfR%2Flb8jPIz%2Fl|tkp%3ABFBMtPiT7YVg

[Tony Prodigy]

33 minutes ago, campbeam said:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/123107471897?epid=244639408&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item1ca9c6f219:g:GCwAAOSwND9iIEjQ:sc:AU_RegularParcelWithTrackingAndSignature!4118!AU!-1&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA4P3UQ5VLQuqSmAXBLtzdhZCfn0RrHjZcJgeCwZV4bp60SAxT62NrG1rDrSCrelcFw4e%2FPOSEI%2F%2FOU3nIy%2Bhzkn8z%2BHsLyhAF8LSsU5mILocLLfyBfUqvLPfzzIWnPlWX2a3uGx8UIP%2BiiAWOWHGzw3BLyMBDoFkBOcalM5dShSWsLIQeapkrzcXt9q0NReugYpeTJAQUjalCvqKneVmK5Cefnr0MwUae%2FsHSPgkntL30J7%2BTpE4nWKAt6CNQaabgrJwx2gmpNqB5DARH1rBrgb5MsNjZplkEfR%2Flb8jPIz%2Fl|tkp%3ABFBMtPiT7YVg

I haven't researched plugs as such, but $63 for a set of 6 "Denso" Iridium plugs seems suspiciously cheap don't you think ? One does have to wonder if these too are a knock off. It's getting too hard to tell as the Chinese are getting very cunning and deceptive in their plagiaristic ways..

I'd love to see if one set of these will actually last the claimed 120K. Who has the time to test would get the counterfeiters off the hook I imagine.  

[campbeam]

On 4/16/2022 at 6:51 AM, Tony Prodigy said:

but $63 for a set of 6 "Denso" Iridium plugs seems suspiciously cheap don't you think ?

Same seller had another listing at $99 for these DENSO spark plugs with a 100% genuine guarantee. I am guessing that multiple spark plug suppliers are being used and the genuine ones are being supplied from DENSO not a distributor/reseller. 

Ended up buying the $99 genuine guaranteed ones so will have good look at them when they arrive. 

[Tony Prodigy]

10 hours ago, campbeam said:

Same seller had another listing at $99 for these DENSO spark plugs with a 100% genuine guarantee.

If that is true, then we're getting hosed big time from Toyota. 

I can't remember if The Car Care Nut did a bit on Spark Plugs. I do recall the filter ones though..
Would be good if we got his opinion on these. 

One way would be to sacrifice one from each, open them up and compare the componentry. 
$99 sounds way to cheap for them to be the real deal. I have also found that Ebay harbours some of the biggest liars this side of the moon.

[ZZT86]

Sparesbox & Amazon have these @ $16.95ea retail minus 20% discount atm, surely they're the genuine Denso item which seems like a decent price to me. I used to pay about that much years ago for my celica & they too were iridium plugs. Reckon I'll grab a set now despite only having 82K kms on oem & just throw them into stock until they're needed.

[campbeam]

The following YouTube video for discount genuine Toyota Oil Filters has been recently posted.

I did test the discount code and it worked. I also checked eBay and the seller LSI Auto has a listing for the filters for the 2GR-FE engine.

 

[Tony Prodigy]

It's not too bad a deal Ash, but buying from an overseas seller is still cheaper. I recently purchased 2 more cases from the U.S. with shipping and tax for just on $255 AUD. The catch here is that you need to find a listing that has favourable shipping costs. Some U.S. sellers have shipping double their counterpart, which also makes me question the validity of some shipping quotes. Sometimes you get high item price but low shipping, other times it's low item price and high shipping. I try to find one in between to make it more economically viable, which in my case, I did luckily enough.

LSI come in at $177 for one case, after discount with free local shipping. Two cases would be $354.

[Hiro]

I bought a case of filters from LSI the other day, with eBay Plus discount it came down to ~$9.50 a filter (these were YZZE2 ones though so smaller/cheaper than the ones for Aurions etc)