Warning about Bosch “OE” starter listed on FCP

[Steve]

FYI, ordered this part listed as OE and Made in Hungary and received a made in China cheap looking starter.

Tried to contact FCP but was told to pound sand and they can source parts that come from wherever the manufacture wants despite what’s listed on their site.

[bigjae46]

I’m sure the solenoid is from China. I’d throw it in at this point.

If you still have your old one…did you test the solenoid? I disassembled and cleaned the starter and replace the solenoid. Works fine. Now it serves as my spare to a Valeo rebuild.

Haven’t done a lot of starters but it’s just mechanical stuff inside the body. The solenoid is the only thing that I saw could just fail from something other than physical damage.

[Icecream]

Eh, I used to really care but now I'm just glad we can still find parts. FCP should update the site but they can only keep up so much.
A couple other bosch components I've bought are made in China. If you want to avoid that, best way is to find the supplier BMW currently uses and or buy BMW Genuine though I guess that's not gaurteed either.

[bimmerfan08]

The good news is that FCP is actively hiring for a new head of customer experience. I too, have had less than stellar customer service with FCP over the last 8 months.

FCP Euro is a customer and technology company, and this unique blended culture has yielded outstanding results worthy of reward and recognition. We are devoted to developing and maintaining user-friendly and accurate automotive catalogs.

https://fcpeuro.applytojob.com/apply...0Page%20Widget

[Nate047]

So will they not accept your return? They usually will do a straight return within I think 30 days or maybe it's even 90. After that it's store credit.

Considering the Bosch alternator situation of the last few years, I'm kind of not about Bosch in general right now. Maybe I'm being shortsighted.

[cobra]

I have had pretty positive customer experience at FCP however the quality of their items is hit or miss. I can't tell if we're getting factory seconds or if part quality has just really gone downhill lately. I've gotten faulty or damaged parts more than 5 times now.

[Tbonem3]

Thinking about this some more Steve... I forgot to say I think OE is Valeo. Bosch is oem.

[PSUEng]

Thinking about this some more Steve... I forgot to say I think OE is Valeo. Bosch is oem.

This is my understanding. I picked my Valeo unit on RockAuto, best price.

At this point, for Genuine parts (most of which I don't need a lifetime warranty anyway) I finally found a relatively local dealer that is great to work with and has amazing prices, fast shipping, responsive, packages are properly packed, etc. FCP is if I need it fast, not Genuine, or I really do need that lifetime warranty, or they have some special closeout, etc. I've had great experiences with FCP, hopefully OP just had an outlier of a situation. But I rarely use ECS, Pelican is toast, Turner is ECS, and I will occasionally order from ZNM but often times they are very slow to ship.

[George Hill]

Only if its a dire situation do I install a Bosch Alternator or Starter... I change those 1:1 vs original BMW. Valeo is my go to otherwise.