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Dear Park,
Good a.m. and may this find you well. When it comes to "mission critical" parts, I try to err on the side of caution. A "mission critical" part is one, which if it fails, ruins the engine, transmission, rear end, or some high-value item, or compromises safety in a collision (e.g. body panels, seatbelt parts, airbag parts, etc.)
If I know that an aftermarket part was made by the same firm that makes the OEM part, I'll cheerfully use the aftermarket part. The reasons:
(a) The part likely was made on the same production line, using the same materials and process. It it is very expensive to have two production lines for the same item and only slightly less costly to produce batches of parts, made to slightly different specifications.
(b) There is no magic in having "Volvo" inscribed on the part.
However, if the aftermarket part comes from a firm - other than the one that made/makes the OEM part - there is simply no way to know to which specifications it has been made. As a result, one is making a leap of faith. I'll do that, if the part's failure does not have ruinous impacts.
Thus, if I owned a 960, I'd be sure to use genuine Volvo timing belts exclusively, because a 960 timing belt breakage ruins the engine (or at least most of it).
On a 940, I can use an after-market timing belt, because a timing belt breakage is inconvenient, but does not ruin the engine.
These heater hoses are:
(a) timing consuming to install
(b) can quickly lead to engine failure, if the hose ruptures (and one does not shut down the engine at once).
I deem these hoses to be mission critical parts.
Thus, I was trying to err, on the side of caution.
I'll await further comments.
Yours faithfully,
spook
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