Counterfeit OEM is so rampant on Ebay and Amazon most of us don't even consider buying there anymore. Buy from somebody who has full control of their supply chain. That is what Amazon and Ebay are missing, no control of their sellers. You can report it and get a refund, but these sellers pop up under another name within hours of being kicked off those platforms.

 

Yup, spark plugs and timing belt kits are the two things that we preach never to purchase from Ebay or Amazon.

May as well report them and get a refund from Amazon, they're very good with refunds.

I'm always looking for a good deal, but $18.99 for 6 iridium spark plugs is probably a good giveaway that they're fake.

 

Yup, spark plugs and timing belt kits are the two things that we preach never to purchase from Ebay or Amazon.

I had ordered a timing belt & water pump kit on eBay yesterday, and I have requested to cancel the order before it gets shipped. Hopefully the seller will cancel the order, because I am now fairly certain they are fake parts, too. I am getting ready to sell a 2007 Odyssey with 171K miles on it (I purchased it new). I am trying to completely service it so that the next family won't have to spend any money on it.

 

As said already, it’s fairly common knowledge here that most auto parts sold on eBay and Amazon are junk or counterfeit. Especially spark plugs.
For timing belt, get the Aisin kit from Rock Auto. Nothing else.

 

For timing belt, get the Aisin kit from Rock Auto. Nothing else.

I ordered the Aisin TKH002 today. Thank you for the input.

 

No sympathy for anyone dumb enough to think you can get six genuine iridium plugs for $19. I like Judge Judy’s question, “what do you think you are buying when a street vendor offers you a Rolex watch for $25?”

 

The only genuine iridium plugs you could get for that price are used ones. I doubt that Honda has ever gotten that price per plug, even buying in bulk packaging by the tens of thousands.

 

Wow yeah you know if the protectors don't cover the most important part then they are going to be fake. Agreed the centers are way off and not consistent.

 

In case you are interested in what the fake ones will look like after 30k miles...

Fake NGK Iridium spark plugs...lesson learned

 

...and the NGK guide for identifying fake plugs.

A 5-step-guide on how to distinguish fake spark plugs

 

It's a top quality timing belt. What I installed in mine 7 years ago. But if you feel better just because you're spending more, it's your money for a while longer.

 

The Aisin belt is made by Mitsuboshi. It's the OEM belt on Toyotas... well, back when Toyota was still using timing belts in their new cars, anyway. The Mitsuboshi belt is just as good as the Honda OEM belt.

 

Ruthenium spark plugs? What’s your opinion. Cheaper, latest and greatest according to rock auto.

 

Ruthenium spark plugs? What’s your opinion. Cheaper, latest and greatest according to rock auto.

You may need to change these only once during the expected time you own the car, so just go with OEM spec.

We have quite a number of forum members who opted to try something different. For some, it worked. For others, not so much (IIRC, misfiring, drop in fuel economy, etc.)

Three items where I stick like glue to OEM-exact from-the-dealer or trusted seller: spark plugs, power steering fluid, and coolant.

OF

 

Thanks for sharing. I also notice that the ground electrode on the fakes looks thinner than the one on the genuine plugs. At 171 you've done the belt before, how hard was it to remove the crank bolt? Did you use the Lisle socket? If I still have my car next summer, I will need to do my belt.

 

At 171 you've done the belt before, how hard was it to remove the crank bolt? Did you use the Lisle socket?

Actually, my ex got the van in our divorce several years ago, and she never had the timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, or serpentine belt serviced. I am getting a few $ from her to fix it up and sell it. I have ordered the Lisle 77080 socket and OEMTOOLS 26507 Honda/Acura Crank Damper Holder Tool from AutoZone. I will be selling them as a set on eBay once I am through with them. Genuine tools on eBay, imagine that! I am still researching torque wrenches, as that will be a keeper for me.

I am using these two YouTube videos as guidance:

and

(I like the first one better, but the second one has a few good tips, too)

 

Regarding the spark plugs, I usually stick with exactly OEM spec for ignition components.

 

+1 on exact OEM spark plugs. I always use exactly what came out. Using something else will probably save you a maximum of $20. I like to save money where I can, but a bad spark plug can cause all sorts of issues with misfires and can damage coils.

 

Both of my Gen 2 Odysseys went to about 140,000 miles due to my not using the crank pulley holding tool. Made several attempts, a couple times a year for a couples of years, and failed to break loose that crank pulley bolt.

I did not have the Lisle high-mass 19mm impact socket, either. Finally just bought the d@mned crank pulley tool, and did the timing belt job. Both belts looked surprisingly good, i.e., if someone showed them to me in the blind, there's no way I would have said they had that many miles on them.

I'm doing this off memory, but I don't think I was able to get the timing belt job done on our 1998 Accord until past 170,000 miles (I sold it this winter). We bought it from the previous owner with about 155,000 miles on the odometer many years ago, and found no evidence that she had accomplished the timing belt service. That timing belt looked good, too.

I performed a timing belt service for a friend on his later generation Accord that had almost 300,000 miles on the original belt. It was stretched, had micro cracks all over the surface, and the smooth side was glazed over. The teeth looked remarkably good, but the rest of it looked like war. Amazing that everything else was tip-top (tensioner, water pump, etc.)

Regarding spark plugs, I did change plugs on all of these vehicles, and used OEM-spec'd NGK spark plugs. I did get them from eBay and Amazon, but back then, only a couple years ago, it was pretty easy to tell fake from genuine. Not so much anymore. I wish the chi-com fake manufacturers would put as much effort into building a quality spark plug as they do in faking the looks of the plug.

OF

 

300K, amazing. Which gen Accord was that... I assume that was the 3.0L V6?

Did your friend buy the car with high mileage, or did not know about the timing belt replacement, or did he just willingly choose to ignore it?

I always wondered if those fake plug manufacturers would have been more successful if they had simply put their efforts in building a higher quality product, too...

 

2.4L I4 had a timing belt? I have roughly the same K series engine in my 8th gen Accord (it has a K24Z2) and I know it has a timing chain, not a belt.

 

Rockauto wants to sell me a THK006 for at least some years of gen 7.

 

Ruthenium plugs are an upgrade from Irridium. Mike Becker at NGK recommends them in place of irridiums. I have no issue running them. I run them in my 98 Nissan and my 2002 GMC Sierra. You can go for a better spec plug but never go below (platinum, copper, etc.) Since the Irridiums already go 100K, you can't go wrong with the OE plugs. On the older cars that used platinum and copper plugs the Ruthenium is a great upgrade to not have to change them out every 30k miles.

 

Ruthenium plugs are an upgrade from Irridium. Mike Becker at NGK recommends them in place of iridiums. I have no issue running them.

I was hoping you would chime in on this one, as this is new territory for a lot of us. Given all of the people who have tried other than the original spec NGK plugs, with some encountering either OK operation, or varying degrees of difficulties, it's nice to get this information from somebody who repairs cars on our forum, versus "the rest of the internet", if you get my meaning.

I think WiiMaster's right. 2003-2007 Accord came with either the 2.4L K24 timing chain engine, or the 3.0L J30 timing belt engine.

Yes, you and the Master are correct. I totally mis-spoke. Going off ancient memory, as the owner's son destroyed the vehicle soon after we "made everything right" on it. It had to be a sixth-generation Accord, then, like my 1998, with the 2.3L I4. I recall the owner purchased the wrong timing belt, and we had to wait for another one, as he did not know there was a difference between a VTEC and non-VTEC I4 engine when he first ordered it (I didn't either; it was off by one tooth in total length IIRC, and we just couldn't get it past the edge of the tensioner pulley despite our best physical efforts).

I do recall his Accord was a later model year (still a 6th-gen Accord), but for some reason it "looked more modern" from up front, which is why I've got it stuck in my head that it's a later generation.

I don't recall hearing about these counterfeit timing belts breaking in 3 months time until recently, either. Wasn't really a problem a few years ago. These counterfeiters would have done better by taking old timing belts and reselling them as new; they would probably last another 100K miles and people probably wouldn't bat an eye. They wouldn't be lying entirely when they say "OEM" either, haha...

I know! Every timing belt I've removed at not-too-far from 100,000 miles looked fine. I could have cleaned each one up, built a silk screen setup and re-sprayed each one with new Honda graphics and.....no, let's not give the counterfeiters any more ideas.

OF

 

Yup, should've said OEM-spec. I've used Denso where a car's OM called for it, with good results, too. Interchangeable from my perspective.

OF

 

Fake eBay Item Updates:

A) NGK Spark Plugs - I returned the fake spark plugs to the eBay seller, and I was promptly issued a refund. In order to warn other potential buyers, I left the seller a nuetral feedback stating "Fake Counterfeit NGK 1ZFR5K11 3657. Seller refunded. Buyer beware." One day later, eBay removed my feedback from the seller's feedback rating. Very disappointing. I have since gone to the listing and chose the "Report Item" feature in order to advise eBay of the counterfeit listing.

B) Honda Timing Belt Water Pump Kit - Interestingly, the buyer that I originally purchased the supposedly OEM Honda timing belt kit from cancelled the order and issued me a refund upon my request, but then accidentally sent the kit to me anyway. Yep, they were counterfeit parts as well. One of the funniest things is that they used the same label on five of the parts (same UPC code, same part code)... they only thing that they changed was the part number. I will be posting comparison photos in the coming days.

NOTE: My 2007 Owner's Manual lists two spark plugs: NGK 1ZFR5K-11 and DENSO PKJ16DR-M11

 

Thanks for trying to warn others. Unfortunately, it seems eBay wants the sales more than the truth.

 

NGK or Denso are pretty much interchangeable. I wouldn't have concern going with either and would just use whatever is cheaper. Denso was cheaper for my Toyota, so I went with that for that car. For the Odyssey... I couldn't find the exact Denso plugs listed on RockAuto so I just went with the NGK.

 

This counterfeit business is getting out of hand. This is not automotive in nature, but it goes to show that red chinese trash masquerading as normal good products are all over the place.

I purchased what appeared to be three OEM Canon LC-E6 battery chargers from an ebay seller, and at first glance they looked just like the one that came in the box with my Canon 5D Mark IV.

Upon further scrutiny, there were differences. First, the "roll mark" is an alpha-only serial or block number, but this one was printed, and all three had the same printed characters; giving benefit of the doubt, they could be from the same block of production. My wife's EOS 90D had a charger in the box with a similar set of printed ID characters, but the font thickness and spacing seemed to differ from the ebay chargers.

As well, some of the UL Japan nomenclature was off in terms of sharpness of printing on the label on the back of the ebay chargers. The OEM Canon charger that came with my camera had the label on the back perfectly aligned. I could not say the same for the ebay chargers, but unless I was closely looking, I would have missed it.

Anyways, I loaded fully charged OEM Canon batteries into each one, and the LED charge indicator flashed at a frequency that was different from the genuine OEM-came-in-the-box-with-the-camera charger, and the ebay chargers indicated that the batteries were depleted. No, they weren't! Also, the ebay chargers immediately got pretty hot. Contacted the seller, asked for an RMA and refund. Their reply, in short, was "Okay, we'll refund you the full price and you can keep them."



Ooooo-kay. I disassembled one as I was going to 5h1t-can them anyways. Out of four electrical contacts that align with the battery's contacts (2 for charging, 2 for communicating with the battery chipset), only two were actually connected to the circuit board (charging only), and the two communications contacts were not connected to anything. Also, there was a lot of empty space in the charger, and it weighed maybe 60% of what the genuine charger weighed.

If red chinese counterfeiters actually spent as much time making a properly licensed and operating product as they do trying to make a 5h1tty product "look legit", they might actually gain some righteous market share.

OF