Waiting For Parts Sucks 

In the building industry, custom cabinets, heck even store bought cabinets are almost unobtainable in a complete set up here in Ontario Canada. I feel your pain

I'm restoring a 1983 Pontiac Trans Am. Now, if that doesn't tell you anything, there's a ton of shit I'm having to make myself because of limited aftermarket, or just low quality OEM parts that haven't survived the test of time so I want to build it better. She's a Resto-Mod, but there's just tons of stuff that you either can't get, or is stupid expensive for seemingly no reason. I feel your pain Eric.

Hello there. I'm Todd, I run the Department of Intergalactic Backorder. I'm here today to notify you that unobtanium has become somewhat less obtainable, and that your June backorder will be ready in time for that Christmas. You're welcome, have a wonderful day. I'm going back to my boat now to wait out the aeons.

You are so right Eric. Currently waiting on fussy gaskets and seals to replace the “thermostat case” for my daughter’s 2008 Civic that needs to be fixed before she heads off to college in early January. 😕

I don’t know about other manufacturers but when I worked at Chrysler it was always backorder, backorder, restriction, backorder no longer available, vintage. Around 2011 the rear shocks on brand new minivans were making noise and they couldn’t come up with a revised part so Chrysler told us to get Gabriel shocks from Autozone. Yes, brand new vans got aftermarket shocks under warranty

I’ve got the parts now, just waiting for that motivation to kick in again to finish my projects after waiting for the parts lol.

I live in Brazil, bought a Peugeot five years ago and now own a Dodge Dakota 1999 v6. Need a new water pump and the inlet tube. Prices are insane and some brands questionable with crazy shipping prices too. New cars with insane prices also around here. Very hard to solve these kinds of issues. Good luck for all of us!

I think longest wait was a cv shaft for my previous car years ago. Dealership ordered it from Japan and I guess it was shipped by a ship, as it took 4-5 weeks to arrive. Then I had to book a time to the dealership so they could replace it, so in total it took about 1,5 months. Luckily the car was still drivable, even the cv joint was noisy and had a vibration. I just drove the bare minimum though, didn't want to drive it too much in that condition. At the time, couldn't find even non-OEM part for it, Suzuki seems to be such a rare brand.

Waiting for parts in the scientific equipment industry where I literally took parts from a brand new unit is so true! Parts are from UK and it takes 2 weeks to reach not to mention the shipping fees are horrendously expensive.

I was trying to get a part for my Honda Element. Two dealerships in the northeast took my order only to tell me several days later that it was on back order and they didn’t know when they would get it. I tried oemparts source and got it in 2 days. Maybe the fact that they are in the midwest may have helped as they probably have a different supply chain.

Sometimes your problem comes down to playing detective. Had one vehicle needing an IAC and the dealer sold it as part of the entire throttle control valve. This car had an engine sourced from another manufacturer. So I went there. They did not have it, but I managed to get the part number. They were all over amazon for 1/10th the price.

Unobtainium! So many good comments here, truly these channels help me keep a cool head whether waiting for parts, struggling with a stubborn bolt, stranded wondering "why was I just driving, now stranded with a crank-no start issue...", or when I can't find my magic toolbox of cuss words. We do what we can as professionals, hobbyists and helpful hands. In the meantime, I wonder if Eric watches ericthecarguy or etcg1 when he's waiting on parts also! 🤔 🤣

Currently waiting on a wing for my car. Somewhere from 8-16 weeks. Ordered in November. In the past year. I have waited a month for trans rebuild kit. Oem parts. 2 month for a set of wheels A week for a set of wheel studs that were less than 15 minutes from my house My friend waited 2 months for a carbon lined trans rebuild kit. This is just the world we live in now.

Agreed. Only thing worse is waiting for a tool critical to completing the job.

This hit me at home. I used to be a parts sales manager at one of the big three parts stores. It was my dream job. I've always loved cars, and talking about cars. I also really loved helping people fix their cars. The joy on their face when I would help them fix something for a lot cheaper than taking it to a shop. I took on a roll after our commercial manager left. I was promised great things by management and well, I never got them. I was always the only person in the store from 645 to 8 Or 9 whenever my driver would get there. I was made to take care of commercial customers, diy customers, and all of the inventory control that comes from being a manager. By myself. I wasn't even making 14 an hour. This job was cut out for me. But it was too much. They need to learn to take care of their passionate and good employees. They just want to pay anyone to do it as cheap as possible. And don't care about legitimate service anymore. It's not all about the supply chain. They can't keep good employees.

My current daily driver is a 1992 Suzuki super carry. Not only jammed up, but not even able to find some things. Unobtanium is the starting point for this rig.

Eric you are not alone...I work on vehicles and small engine repair and upkeep. Parts have been an issue since June. I try to work around an obstacle but cannot always just wait forever just to find out the part won't be arriving

Hi Eric! We here in Puerto Rico, mechanics call it when you have a vehicle stuck in the shop for long because of delayed part order arrival or there are no parts available as: "you have (un Tiesto) a flowerpot in the shop", I mean, the thing used to plant ornamental flowers or other plants, that is useless or can't be moved on... Yep, that frustrates a lot, requires shop space while parts arrive, loss of efficiency. We have downgraded or lost the local manufacturing of OEM parts, that's a big necessity in some industries, as in automotive is, thanks Eric!

you have to admit, that was a pretty fancy cake

Up until this moment my experiences on this part are quite positive, managed to get everything i need within a reasonable amount of time, that is living in the Netherlands owning a Volvo 340 (made in the Netherlands) and a Suzuki Alto. On the Volvo i have some specific addresses where i can get certain parts, just because the supply from the Volvo dealers is reduced to absolutely zero.

I work on vintage computers and some parts for them aren't expecting delivery to suppliers until December 2022 or later. Trust me, I feel your pain...

For me it hasn't even been just waiting for parts, but finding someone will to put me on a list. My ABS module failed a few months ago in my '08 Crown Victoria. I couldn't find the replacement module anywhere and the few I pulled at local junkyards didn't pan out either. None of the local parts stores could order one. I was finally able to track down a used one down in D.C., but it took way too long to find it. I'm just happy it was my ABS module and not something more important.

We are getting.a lot of parts that are dusty from them getting to the bottom of the barrel and then they show out of stock. We are also seeing many parts for cars not that old that when you look it up it is going to be discontinued or obsolete when sold out. It seems the slow moving parts are discontinued early by taking advantage of situations in the world right now. They are focused on higher profit fast moving and just removing anything g that is not in that area

Had someone drop a car off for wheel bearing, bought wrong parts twice, finally out of my shop near two weeks later.

And when you get them, they're not the right ones, and you told your customer that it would have been ready that day. Feel like I've had more wrong parts in the last 6 months than vs the last 2 years.

It's certainly annoying when you are working on a project; even worse when you're working on your car in a parking lot and really do need the part(s) NOW.

Hi Eric. Not only waiting but the cost of shipping . For my hobby car in no hurry for the parts . Two rubber grommets. $ 1. 35 . Each . Shipping $ 53. But you got to have em.

Currently a parts manager for a very busy shop and yes getting parts is more difficult than ever. Waited 9 weeks for a long block that was absolutely insane and even keeping brake clean on the shelf is difficult. Don't even get me started with gloves lol...

I've been waiting over a year for a set of ceramic coated headers for my V-8 Ranger swap. The "estimated" ship date was originally November 2020. Now, it's March 2022! I'm seriously considering ordering another set of painted headers and sending them to Jet Hot myself!

When I used to work for a used car dealership all they wanted to do was order from eBay. No matter what it was it seemed like they wanted to wait on eBay. So I know your frustration. But it’s even more frustrating when you have new cars coming in daily and then you find out there is a delay on fedex or something. Then all of a sudden 2 weeks worth of parts show up at once and now you’re being rushed so they can make their money back.

i am currently on week 2 of waiting for some simple parts on an 17 malibu. it has been a rough year on waiting for parts

Also applies to factory parts for older Hondas, like from the 1990s, they're just unobtanium and you're left with testing out some reasonable facsimile which turns into its own project to see if something can work close to as well, or researching decades old message boards to see what people were doing on the cheap back in the day, etc.

Happy holidays. I was warching Car Wizard about the same thing and he is still waiting. ... Cheers ...

94 Ford Mustang sway bar studs PN# N806729-S436.Those attach the bracket to the frame. Took 4 weeks. If you can get them from a rust free car without breaking, great! I saved one. Just a dumb design.

I work in the trucking side of the industry. Ive had critical parts with 40+ WEEKS of lead time.

I had a tow in hanging on my lift for 3 weeks waiting for parts. They arrived on Friday, an hour before I headed home for Christmas vacation. Had to drop everything I was working on and get it done fast. It was a specialist job, so not something everyone at work could do. Good thing I have two lifts at work, or Id be pushing that car back and forth all the time.

Pro-tip from the future: Learn to make nets, the Fahrenheit 451 robot dogs struggle with those. Then salvage THEM for parts (surveillance, sensors, hydraulic lines,ect) and a free 6.5mm Creedmoor.

I've been waiting on one critical part for a truck that's been sitting in my bay for over a week. *Everywhere* is out. Called other locations and finally, someone had it in stock four states away in their inventory. Hopefully it'll show up today, but shipping during the holidays can take a bit of time. I can only sweep so much of the shop to kill time!

I work in the parts department, even we are waiting for parts and it sucks

Nothing lately, but two and a half years ago, so before the pandemic, I had to wait six weeks for a heater box for my 2009 Toyota Tundra at the dealer. It took so long, and the dash was all disassembled (huge job to reassemble and disassemble later), so after three weeks, they paid for a rental vehicle for me.

Thank you for the digital confection! Yes waiting for parts is annoying, especially when you're waiting on multiple things and they're all coming in at different times.

i like this part crisis , really separate the new part only mechanic who refuses to actually get his hand dirty and the real mechanic replacing mounts , getting parts off similar items and making due

Merry Christmas Eric.

And here comes my absolute favourite: When your part finally arrives and it is the WRONG part😫🤯🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ And of course the car happens to be the car your wife is using for work....

I ordered an ATI superdamper in May and finally got it in late November. These are even made in America. In their case it was the machine shops that were backed up due to labor shortages from what I understand.

It's not only vehicle parts ask any tradesmen about part(s) availability. What was once every day off the shelf common is weeks or months out.

Merry Christmas. Hope everything comes in timely. That's a bummer.

My roof was leaking start in summer because of the gasket for the sliding roof glass, I order it couple months ago, until now with winter snow and the roof linear start get water stain, I give up and used Flex glue.

As you stated, it's not only the automotive industry that's affected by this but across the board it is hard to find parts or items you need sometimes. Covid has definitely played a part in this but it can't be blamed entirely for the slow down in the supply chain.

I just ordered a headlight assembly and received an AC condenser! Dealer customer service was quick and sent a return label and shipped the proper part promptly.

i read a story about this new york city landlord whose boiler went down.....he called 4 plumbers to have it replaced immediately and none of them could even find one....called everywhere... so for now he gives his tenants space heaters for now.....the city is threating to fine him like 2k a day or something ridiculous.......the tenants are even defending the guy saying he is a great landlord and always fixes things....

Just ordered adjustable toe arms for my FR-S and GEEZ, was it a cascading effect. I installed FortuneAuto 500 coilovers and lowered it a quarter inch--> -3.5° of rear camber--> ordered and installed adjustable rear lower control arms to fix it--> toe is now +5° and the stock arms won't move enough to fix it. Fun fun fun! I can't say I don't enjoy this process though, it keeps me busy during the winter

Thank you Eric I do agree waiting for parts really wastes our time and time is money wishing you and your family a very happy Christmas 🎅 watching your wonderful videos from South Africa

This started getting bad for us in the computer industry in 2019, and got even worse last year. It's scary to see it bleeding into other industries.

Intergalactic backorder!!!!!!!!!! That explains a lot!!!!! I worked on a 2001 Subaru Outback over the last year a bit and waited for heaps of orders to come in. I had to wait for 12 weeks for pistons, rings etc to come from USA to Australia, I live in Melbourne. On the other side of the ordering issues a Refurbished Crankshaft only took 6 days to come from United Arab Emirates to my front door, like damn..... during the 4 or was it the 5th lockdown here in Melbourne, I had to send my heads away out of the city to a regional town that wasn't lockeddown...I didn't get em back until 3 months later....again, like damn.

Pontiac G6's getting totalled due to lack of parts for the roof was crazy.

Supply chain issues are unreal at the moment. I know electronic components are often out 52 weeks. Two years ago, 26 weeks was too long for most parts to the point of us often designing the part out for that reason. That's no longer an option. It sucks.

My dad's journey is currently waiting for an oil cooler, and unfortunately the new one got broken in shipping.. ugh.

I was trying to get a bed cover for my truck as a graduation from college present. I ordered from one site and they said ships in 2 weeks. I waited a month and it still hadn't shipped. Canceled that order and ordered from a different site that said it was in stock and ships in 9 days. Waited 3 weeks and still hadn't shipped. I eventually found one on Amazon and it arrived in 3 days 😆

Shop I work at has a RV that has been in the shop for months and parts wont be here till March (maybe), can not put it out side because it was never winterized.

Yup Skunk 2 coil over replacement bushings couldn’t get from them but a performance shop had plenty so got them there online

Yup, been waiting months for a parking brake lever assembly. Luckily inspection time is not until February.

If a part is delayed because of a supply chain problem, I can live with that, because that’s not really anybodies fault. What pisses me off is when you order a part that is listed as in stock, and the seller takes forever to get off their ass and ship it out, ESPECIALLY when you pay for the faster shipping. That’s frustrating as hell. Currently waiting for a master cylinder, and seller didn’t ship it for several days despite having the part on hand.

I'm a parts guy. I'm using "intergalactic backorder" from now on. Before that it was "eternal".

Yup! Ive been waiting on a reman. transmission and their best guess they can give me is 3 weeks minimum. Lack of staff and parts availability.

Hi Eric! I work at a dealership for a certain Korean brand. We've been waiting for 2 ECM's, one since February and the other since March. Backorders have piled up like never before.

waiting for a control arm after just done replacing about 80% of the front suspention on my -06 Volvo v70, it set me back a month. and when do the alignment shop have time to do thier thing? cant place a time in when the parts dont show up.. puh..

Longest "wait" I had for parts was ARP'S carburetor mounting studs to accomodate a 1 inch spacer. Waited 1/2 months of the log not progressing from backordered status. I just pulled the plug and canceled the order, canceling the order from Jegs in it's self was a pain in the ass. bought them someplace else, btw the site I bought the parts from was Jegs. Crappy prices AND outrageous shipping costs, it does not cost $31 of shipping to ship a couple studs, would be a couple cents or maybe a few dollars.

I’ve found shopping around really helps. I recently needed a drain plug of all things and after trying a couple of the big online sources I didn’t find what I wanted. One trip to a chain parts store and I had the exact part I wanted. Not always that easy though.

Being Australian we have been ok for most stuff. Mostly because we have manufacturing plants for gaskets and seals plus oil. But treatment's are globally harder to get. Eg 205 reaseal and bg 44k fuel treatment. Though we have Australian products that are available i think it's just going to become more difficult before it gets better

I started working for Honda in March and I ordered a windows trim seal for my 08 crv. In September I got the trim seal. Ya and now I got a bigger problem and can’t fix it it because of back order parts

Dang it -- I just ate a delicious digital confection. I'm all full up now... Maybe next time?

Waiting on parts is one thing but having to search the internet for an NOS part that's no longer in production is something worse entirely.

I've been waiting on a headliner since July.

Lol! I ordered u joints for my Toyota 4runner from a Toyota dealership using online pricing, they took my money, then informed me that they were discontinued and refunded me. That same day I called 2 other Toyota dealerships within 15 miles from the first and they both each had one in stock and said they could order more if need be. I suspected that the first dealership did not want to sell me the parts for half price.

Not particularly relevant today, in the early 60s, the USAF had a term AWOP noting a piece of equipment was waiting for a part or parts. Also, cannibalism, borrowing a part from a working aircraft to fix one waiting for the part, was ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN. Bottom line, parts delays have been with for a long time, possibly forever.

Yeah, this sucks Eric. I'm doing a 58 Ford so I went into this knowing I would be under this gun, but these Honda's are still on the road. The Engine Gasket Kit I wanted for mine, was on backorder with an ETA of Jan or Feb, so I opted for a "no name cheap" kit I found on Ebay that was in stock just to keep working on it. I'm Not Happy At All With It. You get what you pay for, for sure.

I'm still waiting for a part for my 1964 Ford Econoline that I ordered from J.C. Whitney in 1981.

Story of my life. Waiting on parts makes techs appear slow in most cases.

Yeah I hear what you’re saying brother. We had a brand new 2022 Buick Encore come in the body shop today and we were told that we’d be lucky to have a new lift gate before summer of 2022. Parts have been so back ordered it’s not even funny.

Ordered Honda crankshaft bearings from Japan; FedEx got them to me within four business days. Depends on the shipper.

I had to smile when you mentioned taking parts off new dealer cars to finish your repairs. Many years ago I worked for a summer at a local Chevrolet dealer. Occasionally I would hear service techs complaining they were lacking a part necessary to repair a car and they were told by the parts department the part was on backorder. One time I asked one of the techs why he didn't just go out on the lot and remove what part he needed from one of the new cars. He said the owner of the dealership forbid it and would fire any tech caught removing parts from new cars. The owner of that dealership is long gone, and a different dealer took over the business. I guess it can be expected that policies would differ from one dealership to another.

We had a corolla hold up one of our bays for two weeks while we tried to source a steering rack

Merry Christmas

Yeah and it sucks even worse waiting for money to order parts. Especially when you have your daily down to a shortblock but Christmas and birthdays have drained all the funds you have aside from rent.

Not automotive related, but I need a GPU. little did I know I missed my chance last black Friday.

Eric, I’m kinda dealing with the same issue building RC cars. There’s some parts that I honestly CANNOT get locally or even in the states so I had to order them from overseas and… it literally takes one month for parts to arrive unless I want to pay an extortionate amount for air freight. So I feel you in where the whole shipping waiting game kinda bites you hard in the boo-boo. But hey, that’s sometimes the price you pay when you build stuff… Hopefully your stuff is a little less waiting around than mine are.

took me 8 months to get a headlight switch for my 67 c10 from brothers truck . when it showed up i forgot i had ordered it . almost a month for front wheel bearing hubs for a 04 chevy had to go to 2 different places 2 different hubs . i can understand the 67 stuff but the daily driver crap is starting to get bad . seems like its going to get worse . thank god i dont work at a dealer anymore

I was waiting for a Holley electric fuel pump for a few months, finally just had to order a different brand that was in stock

Waiting on parts that are ordered through one company, that gets them from another. Replaced my engine on my Lac, and the blower motor rubber housing/insulator that goes over the metal box in my case, was broken and looking awful so I decided to replace it because you can’t once the engine is back in. Waited like 3 weeks for it to come from Michigan to South Carolina finally up here in MA. But what’s worse is trying to get or find discontinued parts. My rear subframe itself and mounts were rotted away. The upper insulator is discontinued and the lower is obtainable, the bolts are discontinued. Had to get some bolts from a hardware store, have another shop cut threads on them(couldn’t believe how many shops don’t cut threads on bolts). Had to substitute hockey pucks as my upper insulators which works because they’re the same thickness but stronger and still of a rubber type of material. Not the “correct” repair as I’d like, but it gets the job done and is of course safe in my book or at least safer than the old rotted ones.

work on something else, vs lots of time spent looking for other places to find the missing widget... Hard decision sometimes. I have an on-again, off-again project of building a tire-truing machine - it fills in the gaps sometimes. I'm not an auto tech by profession, but don't tell my two post lift and shop that. When are you moving shops? need help? Im 30 min away. **My rage is buying genuine OEM Honda parts online to get a better price, but waiting for 2 weeks every time I order something. time vs money. **

I'm waiting on a fuel regulator for a 1985 corvette, but simply because it was not on hand and not typically needed. No surprise it needed to be ordered.

Whats even worse is waiting all that time and the wrong part shows up, I was ordering a special alternator pulley for my passat, I ordered it and the part eventually shows up The part number on the box was correct but the part inside the box was for a completely different car, it took a few emails to explain the the issue but eventually they sent me the correct part

Ive been waiting on some Vortec style heads for my truck since February

Good morning EC, thumbs up #90 and comment #16, ah yes, last year in March I believe, I went to change my coolant out of the system, as it wasn't a healthy color, and my 96 Ram 5.9 liter was slightly overheating. And it turned into a while I'm here that never ended lol, upon draining it, it looked very odd and even gummy in spots, like someone (probably the dork Re-Re mechanic the lady took the truck to I bought from her and have been repairing all sorts of botched jobs from even still 5 years into owning the truck) poured way too much stop leak and/or mixed coolants as the green turned orange, was very odd. It's coming out and I'm like, you poor truck. I'm a machine sympathizer, I have feelings for vehicles lol. So I decided, while I'm here, I'll just change out the upper and lower coolant hoses and change the radiator, so I had to order one, and while I waited I looked at the thermostat changed it (which I think is the wrong one as the truck only gets to operation temp which is fine but not anywhere near the spot it should be just under boil) water pump cleaned up and was actually fine, replaced all that then I did a replacement of oil replacement of a transmission governor switch as I knew the transmission was slipping put back the old fluid as I'm sure it's never been changed, (only a matter of time) so the radiator never came in until Aug the following year which I was nervous about have an engine sit that long with rags and plugs covering openings. But got it in, fluids all in and re-lubed the upper case before start up and it roared to life. Was without my truck for a year and some change finally all back together went for a test drive all was fine. But then the next week I started it went for a drive to maintain things as I was about to reactivate it's insurance and BAM, backed out of driveway fine but no drive gear. That was it the transmission said no. All that work and time and money and pain, and my transmission finally went out, maybe I killed it when I took out some not all the old fluid but I put it all back, I don't know. But come summer of 2022 I'm dropping that transmission and going to try and rebuild it myself, never did that before, I have replaced them with already rebuilt, but the transmission rebuild kit is like 300 bucks it's already broken, hell I'm giving it a go, and I'm told by my wife not to buy the transmission repair book as that means she listened and it's under the tree!!! Hope your Christmas is awesome and safe from my Family to yours! And (lifts coffee mug) here's to a Happy and Safe New Year as well, may the best of our past be the worst of our future! Cheers EC!!!

What kills me is I have a modern diesel that requires DEF. This system is required even in my northern climate where DEF systems struggle to be efficient and effective. Now I'm waiting on a $1,500 pump with a built in heating element to thaw DEF fluid because mine failed. In the mean time this non-essential system has disabled the use of my vehicle completely unless we are above 20 degrees and the DEF tank is naturally not frozen. My local dealership has ordered my parts and I'm in the cue to receive them when they come available.

Eric marry Christmas and happy new year be sure to let Fairmont and dad truck run for a bit this week

I overheated by accident my 1998 Integra with an F20B JDM swap, its my only car and it has been really hard on me, not only the fact that I do not have any other cars to move myself but also I don't live in the US and an F20B is not a very common engine, so you can Imagine how hard it is to get a headgasket for example, it has been like 3 weeks since the incident and I think by this week the parts should be here to finally fix my car, which I hate seeing not working, damn I loved that car and I miss it so much

Have you ever considered a series on Gen One Ridgelines. Obviously, I have one (and am buying a second one) and am interested in seeing such a series but maybe you have determined there are not enough of us to make it a good series but let us know. I think it would be very well viewed. The Ridgeliners are a very loyal group to the brand.

Been waiting for a Vintage Air A/C retrofit kit since Sept. Original ETA was mid-Nov, then supplier said 3-month lead time, now it's Mid-Jan. Wanna bet that it'll go til Feb?