Backordered Mazda Parts and Lincoln MKS

[Thaumaturge]

I am trying to start my 2008 CX-9 water pump replacement project and have run into a parts nightmare from Mazda.

According to my dealer, Mazda changed their parts system late last year and the result has been unprecedented back orders. He claims he's never seen anything like it with any manufacturer in over 20+ years in the business. He's had people in loaners for 2 months waiting on parts.

The system is also broken in other ways as his stock readout changed in the span of 4 hours to show items previously back-ordered for a month suddenly in stock at the local depot.

He was nice enough to give me cross-listed Ford numbers for my back-ordered parts and they match those I see on 2009 Lincoln MKS diagrams (uses 3.7) from Ford. Of course I will get to pay MSRP locally if I don't want to go online.

Out of curiosity, has anyone just used the Lincoln numbers and parts from Ford without checking Mazda first?

Is anyone else experiencing this parts problem?

 

[kornholio]

Have you tried tasca parts online? that is where I order the parts for my cx-9 as well as for my son's fusion. They have been pretty good with getting me the parts I need in a timely manner.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I actually shopped around online and built a spreadsheet since I am buying numerous parts that add up to around $700. Lots of dealers have set up online storefronts, but nobody really tells you whats in stock. The lowest dealer I could find was knocking 33% off. Good deal, but now I know from my guy that they don't actually have those parts.

I checked out Tasca and knocked them off my list due to so many complaints about just what I mentioned above. I'm happy to hear you've had good luck with them. Were I buying just one or two items I might try them.

When I showed my spreadsheet to my parts guy to see what he could do, he gave me a total price that was within about $100 of the online folks and well below MSRP. It's worth it to me to deal with the local guy where I can return something fast and easy and don't have to worry about online merchants who don't return calls or emails and want to charge huge restocking fees and shipping should something be wrong.

Goodwill and service are worth paying for IMHO. The question is always how much?