Sensors worth buying....

[78 Chevyrado]

What brand makes the most accurate to OE spec sensors?  I will never buy another BWD brand temp sender for a gauge again.

I had to search through the pile with my ohm meter to find one I liked for the truck, and I forgot and bought another one for the van...  so now at normal operating temp the gauge is almost pegged to overheating.  piece of junk.  should I just find an ac delco unit?  all I want is for the gauge to show the middle of the range at normal temp like it did when it was a new van.

I've also seen beck/arnley, and wells at advance.  Are they unknown, or good?

I really don't like BWD anything, because if theyre temp senders are this bad of quality control, I assume other stuff is too.  on my truck, one sender said 1/4 up the gauge, another said 3/4 up the gauge, one said pegged at hot, one said almost c all at normal operating temperature.


Also a small rant about stant radiator caps...

my truck and van calls for a stant 10331...  it has the loose vacuum valve and makes the truck and van overheat...  if you want the proper cap, 16 lbs, and spring loaded vacuum valve, get a stant 10330.  its a leverlock.  but its setup like the cap its supposed to have.  just a fyi.  took me 2 months to figure that one out, as I never thought to look at the vacuum valve too close, I thought they were all spring loaded...  maybe on a newer car, but not anything I own that came with a spring loaded cap....   messed with the kid at the parts store bad when I wanted to look through boxes without looking up a car or part number first...  I could tell by looking it was right but he kept asking, are you sure sir?   yep I am sell it to me... 

[bd]

Kenny, you can't go wrong by purchasing OE.  All the aftermarket brands are copies of OE parts.  I've personally used a lot of brands during my career, and have never been disappointed with the performance of OE parts for OE applications.  I have raised an eyebrow many times inspecting aftermarket copies and have been disappointed with their performance.  Some, I've refused to install.  But, that isn't to claim that if it's aftermarket, it isn't any good.  Because, I've also encountered a lot of good quality aftermarket parts.  Wells has been very satisfactory, thus far, and appears nearly identical to OE.  On the other hand, Standard Products is overpriced for what it is and what it delivers.  At one time BWD made a reliable product; you've seen where they are today.  At first read that may seem harsh, but it is what it is, and once you observe it you can't 'unknow' it.  Excluding price, most of the techs on this forum will have their favorites for valid reasons.

For repairs, my advice is to purchase OE when it's available (and not exorbitantly priced because of dwindling availability).  But, for routine maintenance (i.e., tune ups, oil changes, TBA, etc) use the name brands you've grown to trust.