H2

Didn't I read that someone here ordered a fuel pump out of curiosity from eBay because the guy was selling them for quite a bit less than he could buy them as a dealer and it was concluded that the one he received was a Chinese "clone"....i.e., not really Bosch. That is, misleading..a fake? Or is Bosch now outsourcing to China? (wouldn't surprise me).

Apparently the guy is selling a boatload of them. If these are not Bosch as represented, that's something we should know.

Question: How would one tell a faked Bosch fuel pump from a real Bosch? In Paraguay once I bought a "genuine Omega" wrist watch for $10 and it ran a week before it died. Mickey Mouse watch inside and beautiful fake on the outside. It was so nice that I wore it anyway for a while just for the looks (I was young then and looking for a wife. It's still debatable whether SHE got the real thing or not). Would a Chinese knockoff fuel pump be the same?

I'm not criticizing anyone on this since, if this guy really is selling the genuine thing, or even well done rebuilts (but not made in China), at half price, then I might want to buy a couple at those prices....as apparently others are scrambling to do. But I'm the eternal skeptic. It's got to be proven to me first. Is there a way to tell?

Harvey

928drvr86.5

Just wait till they start cranking out Chinese 997's !!! For $15K it will be really tempting to get a 997TT.

Mike Simard

There was a thread where Mark Anderson wonderd aloud whether those pumps were Chinese. It wasn't resolved but I would bet that they are indeed Chinese clones, I would stay away from them because of the risk of them being cheap crap that will fail and leave you stranded or burn your car down.
Here's why I think they're Chinese. 1-They're on Eelbay cheaply. 2-It seems that wherever theres a moderate demand for replacement auto parts, cheap copies will eventually start pouring out of China, they apparently have done that with 928 water pumps and there's much less demand for those than "Bosch" fuel pumps. 3-The lettering font used in the markings. That one is dear to me because I used to make lettering dies for Bosch and they had drawings specifying the typically German font and the Ebay pumps had a common font that would be commonly available.

RyanPerrella

I would suggest they were stolen or old stock before i would say they were reproduced to look exactly like the bosch pumps.

I just bought the genuine OE "porsche" article for $215, if thats too much for you then dont buy a 928.

RyanPerrella

I just looked at the listing that someone posted. They are selling them for $189.00. Again thats $25 less then it costs to get from Porsche. So are you really saving anything?

Also, looking at the pump i doubt its a fake, the packaging is all there, the face of the pump (where the terminals come out of) looks correct and they even have the same rubber cover on the valve at the end of the pump.

The only difference that I see is 1) that bosch box is nicer then the crappy Porche box mine came in. and 2) Both the terminals on my pump have the blue plastic part on them. Its not red and blue as would seem obvious.

Take from that what you may, but i doubt someone produces clone fuel pumps. Its not like a handbag thats $5000. We are talking $200 electrical components. I cant see them being replica's. But stranger things have happened.

Mike Simard

Does this look familiar?

http://www.made-in-china.com/china-p...Fuel-Pump.html

There are definatly Chinese Bosch clone fuel pumps. If you buy a "Bosch" pump on Ebay and it comes in an unmarked box it's probably a Chinese clone. If it's advertised as being a real Bosch and comes in a Bosch box it should be the real thing, I wouldn't think sellers would be forging boxes, it's easy to just list it as a "Bosch" and use an unmarked box, it would be Bosch "style"

Bill Ball

Yes, much more likely. I worked for an electronics company. We had skus that were Wal-Mart only, sold nowhere else. Soon after we began shipping them to Wal-Mart, they began to appear in quantity on eBay at below Wal-Mart price. Now, several sellers selling a single unit would not raise any suspicion, but these were 5-10 unit lots. You know how they got there.

Many things on eBay are just discounted bargains. Others are not. I once saw legitimate (er, change that to authentic) Bosch MAFs in quantity for $89.

Hawkeyes

Mike,

I just replaced the fuel pump on my 89 S4 with a used Bosch from 928 International (came with 1 yr warranty!). The PO replaced this part in 1997, approximately 30k miles ago.

The 'new' used pump was genuine Bosch, stamped Made in Germany. Has the blue connectors, correct lettering.

The pump I removed (very noisy) was Bosch, stamped Made in Czech Republic. Was this a clone/knockoff or was it made under contract to Bosch? Just curious.

Hawkeyes

Mark Anderson

[QUOTE=Mike Simard]There was a thread where Mark Anderson wonderd aloud whether those pumps were Chinese.QUOTE]

I did order a few pumps on Ebay from the Fuelpumpking and what I got was definately not Bosch. They might work fine but only time will tell.

ROG100

The OE ones I sell are made in the Czech Rebublic

Mike Simard

I would bet that any pump stamped with the Bosch name and especially in a Bosch marked box is the real thing. They do have Bosch plants in various countries, I would be very surprised if they sold items not made in their own plants.

The good thing about having suppliers like 928 Int'l and ROG100 is that they won't pass on questionable stuff, it's well worth the slightly higher price to buy from them for the peace of mind.

Speaking of Chinese knockoffs, I did buy a water pump on Ebay that I'm sure is made in China. The giveaway was the unmarked box and no markings at all on the pump, it also had crappy workmanship visable. The fact that they're willing to put in the effort to duplicate such a low volume seller as a 928 water pump is eye opening, if they make those they'll make anything!
It wouldn't be fair to consider these Chinese clones as a fraud similar to a Gucci bag or something, it's just cheap crap and I doubt anyone is forging boxes or markings, they're just selling a "Bosch" part in the same spirit as selling aftermarket parts for a Ford advertised as a "Ford" widget but not claiming to be made by Ford.

RyanPerrella

Yes the Bosch pumps are now made in the Czech Republic.

Schocki

Globalization at it's finest

When I ordered valve covers for my 911 from Porsche, they were also made in the Czech Republic.

PorKen

Made by 'Southern Germans' in the Czech Republic?

majhopper

I would also point out the location of this particular item: Australia, which is a gateway to the West for the Chicom counterfeiters - many of them set up shop in Australia and facilitate the movement of counterfeit goods into Western markets. I deal with this on fishing products - you build a tool over there and just wait to see your stuff coming out of Australia.

His claim at the bottom about providing an Aussie tax receipt certifying that these are genuine is another red flag as such a "receipt" menas nothing and is stock in trade for a smuggler.

Of course you could prove all of this to eBay by buying one and sending it to Bosch and eBay would do nothing, as long as the seller has volume. Might be an interesting lawsuit though if anybody ever burned to death afterwards though.