**Bad VW part vendor WARNING list**

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
BTW, when I was looking for Audi parts for my A4, the Audi guys kept telling me to buy from him.:eek:
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
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VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Just bumping this handy-dandy little list! :)

In honor of "Prothe" also known as "Proethe" who seems to have single handedly destroyed more TDI's than anyone else -
See the current threads
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=314980
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=199567
and http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=310437
And plenty elsewhere ... http://newbeetle.org/forums/feedback-forum/47214-warned-www-volkswaparts-com.html,
or here http://www.myturbodiesel.com/forum/f5/rothenbacher-enterprises-turbo-3720/
More are linked here, just lower on this tread: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=3433761&postcount=18
And who creates fronts seemingly on the fly to escape his bad reputation:
www.airoilandfuelfilters.com
www.bmw-cabrio-heckscheibe.com
www.bmw-convertible-window.com
www.cabrio-bmw-heckscheibe.de
www.central-locking-system.com
www.chevy-power-locks.com
www.clear-vinyl.com
www.convertible-window.com
www.convertiblewindscreen.co.uk
www.dieselvw.com
www.dieselvw-canada.com
www.emiata.com
www.ford-power-locks.com
www.ford-trucks-power-windows.com
www.hansautoparts.com
www.hansautoparts.co.uk
www.HansAutoTeile.com
www.hanscarparts.com
www.hansautoparts-charlotte.com
www.hansersatzteile.com
www.hansdieselparts.com
www.hanswagen.com
www.honda-power-locks.com
www.inductionrange.net
www.injection-pump.com
www.krautwagenparts.com
www.krautwagen.co.uk
www.lunette-peugeot-cabriolet.com
www.mazda-miata-window.com
www.Mercedes-Diesel-Parts.com
www.mtdiinjectorpump.com
www.parking-sensor.net
www.passat-parts.com
www.power-trunk.com
www.rothenbacher.us
www.rothengine.com
www.sauerkrautparts.com
www.stuttgart-parts.com
www.tdi-parts.com
www.tdi-engines.net
www.turbosandparts.com
www.toyota-power-locks.com
www.volksdiesel.com
www.volkswaparts.com
www.volkswaparts.co.uk
www.vwdieseltools.com
www.vwersatzteile.com
www.vwteileaususa.com
www.wagenparts.com
www.waterdistillation.net
www.westgermancarparts.com
www.westportparts.com
www.wobparts.com
www.wolfsburgparts.com
And which is owned by:

Pete Rothenbacher
Rothenbacher Engineering
5005 Smith Farm Rd.
Matthews, NC 28104
This is just southeast of Charlotte, NC about a mile off of Interstate 485 & US74 (Independence Blvd)
Phone Number: 1.704.684.1237 FAX: (267) 350-8978.
Also uses phone number (704) 684-1235, and can expect he owns a number of related numbers in that tree (704) 684-12XX. (I'd even bet that 684-1234 rings his desk directly)
http://maps.google.com/maps?um=1&ie...ocal_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQnwIwAA
Facebook for company http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rothenbacher-Enterprises/115638871830781
Owners Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002435566739&sk=wall
EBay account USA http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/prothe/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
EBay account UK http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/prothe/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=87399
I've created this thread in order to list the "Bad" ones.
 

blueatlantic

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2012
Location
Southeast North Carolina
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon(gone) 06 Jetta (gone) 09 JSW(gone) 03 Jetta (died) 03 Jetta Wagon 2012 JSW
Previous owner said 25K miles ago, couldn't understand how this happened. Said a local mechanic who specialized in VW's (not TDI's) did the work. I've been working on removing the head, and haven't fully investigated the timing belt area. Tensioner and water pump are not froze up. No visible name/markings on the tensioner. I'll let you know what I find on the bottom end. I found these on the top end. :(

 

blueatlantic

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2012
Location
Southeast North Carolina
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon(gone) 06 Jetta (gone) 09 JSW(gone) 03 Jetta (died) 03 Jetta Wagon 2012 JSW
Finished up repairing this car with the broken prothe rothenbacher engineering belt. I'd say water pump came from him as well. NO markings, loose fit, even with o-ring. It fell right out. You could tell it had been leaking even though the bolts were tight. No real evidence of anything to cause the belt to break. I just think it was garbage, and it broke. Dont buy from prothe!
 

mrurbina

Vendor
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Location
CHARLOTTE,NC
TDI
MK4 jetta tdi , alh wagon
Yeah I guess I should have seen this before I bought from him. I got a water outlet housing for a ABA and after leaking for months I realized it was the flange that wasn't flush, must be the cast they used, a Napa part took care of that. The trans mount broke/twisted after 5k and rear mount is still there but moves a little. Oh well..
 

The Turtle

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Location
rural Maryland
TDI
1996 B4 Passat wagon, SpeedTuning chip, 360,000+ miles, 1996 B4V, 306,000 miles on original engine
Oddly, all the searches I've done for TDI parts since 2006, I've never even been tempted to click on one of the links to any of his domains. Maybe I've just dodged a lotta bullets. I know with my green B4V, the PO gave me an IP seal kit he'd bought 'somewhere online' and it looked a lot like the horror stories members have posted about his stuff. When Matt did the pump a year or two ago, we didn't use that kit, we got a legit kit.
 

K1Cowboy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Location
Palm City, FL
TDI
2000 Audi S4 AFN TDI
I'm glad I saw this before I ordered a turbo from the guy. Many aliases he has on eBay that i've seen. I ordered some AFN turbo gaskets from him, not knowing he was hansautoparts.com. The gaskets that came were not even close, I emailed, they asked for pics, apologized, and sent me the correct parts, letting me keep the wrong ones. I got lucky I guess. Maybe because I only ordered $12 worth of parts.
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
I'm glad I saw this before I ordered a turbo from the guy. Many aliases he has on eBay that i've seen. I ordered some AFN turbo gaskets from him, not knowing he was hansautoparts.com. The gaskets that came were not even close, I emailed, they asked for pics, apologized, and sent me the correct parts, letting me keep the wrong ones. I got lucky I guess. Maybe because I only ordered $12 worth of parts.
Ha! If they came from Prothe the value was more likely $1.20
 

fatbuck1911

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Location
rockford
TDI
98 jettta,97 passat,99 jetta
ironically i bought a head from this dude awhile back didnt know about his reputation, had a non certified vw mechanic put it on and the car runs pretty good. guess i just have alot of luck
 

ymz

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 12, 2003
Location
Between Toronto & Montreal
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI Wagon, 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon
Don't be such pessimists!!! There's a very good chance it'll run more than 5,000 miles!!!! 15,000... well, that's far more of a guarantee of failure...

Y.
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
Since this thread is a lot about Prothe, why does this forum still let him post that he has parts or sale from his website in his sig as a non-vendor? He will randomly post (been awhile) leaving his sig to do the talking.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=87399
Have you clicked on the link in his signature? It redirects you to this thread. :p
 

quartersaw

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Location
Albany, NY
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon, '96 B4V,'99 2 door Golf
BEWARE of BLAAST Performance turbos ***BEWARE***

My BLAAST 'Billet turbo', which allegedly gave up to 30 lbs. of boost (per seller) lasted about 500 miles.
Had problems with the turbo from day one, and was fed a stream of B.S. by the seller.
BLAAST has ignored my e mails for warranty coverage.
I replaced it with a VNT-17, and have had no problems.
If you buy a BLAAST turbo, you are throwing away good money.
(I'm running a Malone Stage 4 tune)
 
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BonosGlasses

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2015
Location
Alberta
TDI
2003 Jetta tdi
Interesting. Though I am a pretty strict follower of "you get what you pay for" so I doubt I would buy anything excessively cheap, I am glad I ran into this. I've been on it for a few minutes following a link from VWVortex, and what he has to offer is inhumane.

Engineering? Jeeeeze.

As do I. I ordered injectors from this ass clown.
 

Drunken_Unicorn

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Location
Idaho
TDI
'05 Jetta Wagon
Super glad that this community keeps an eye out for bad venders and keep everyone warned! I need to watch eBay buys more carefully.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
Small parts that won't destroy a motor may be okay, but anything else is really suspect. If you do buy automotive anything through Amazon, Amazon gives a 365 day return basically no questions all above and beyond whatever the seller has listed in their ad.
 

SuburbanTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Location
Midwest
TDI
Beetle TDI, and two Jetta TDI
*FORGERY WARNING*

Chinese Manufactured ALH/BEW/BRM Oil Pumps
Some time ago when reordering stock of oil pumps, we were sent some that didn't come in the same boxes that we were used to. The pumps appeared to have some manufacturing differences and worse, they were poorly made.
This first picture is not from excessive duration or trash that went through the pump. We took off a poorly hardened internals and after few thousand miles, this is what we saw...

The teeth of the pump were worn and pitted after short service. We removed the pump due to low oil pressure.
In order to spot these pumps, we have some pictures of the housing and especially, the gears, which are not made like the OEM pumps. First, a picture of a genuine pump.

the pump is distinguishable by the engraved 'Feintool' sprocket and the plastic alignment roll pins. Like it or not, the genuine roll pins are black plastic.
Here are some pics of oil pumps that are forgeries. The first is the sprocket, which is not only obviously heat treated, but the 'Feingold' labeling is laser etched rather than deeply stamped in the metal.

Here are some pics of the body of the the knock-off pump.


There are two other notable problems with the pump. On several of the pumps, the center lobe was cut off-center, so that the pump lobes struck each other at one point and had a .012" gap on the opposite side. Also, the sprocket bolt was little more than hand tight. The genuine pumps have the sprocket bolt assembled so tight that it takes some heat and persuasion to remove.
If you receive a pump like this, be forewarned, the quality is poor and may lead to the destruction of an engine. We have seen this same pump sold by our favorite CRAP distributor.

The complete thread on this pump can be found: HERE
 
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