slumberously When replacing a broken or worn out part on your vehicle you want to make sure that you get the right part for many reasons. Part numbers are a direct link to the correct part, mostly when working with OEM parts from your local dealership. The problem is that sometimes you can’t find the part number for several reasons:
— Grease caked part … try to clean it with a gentle de-greaser, I’ve seen brake cleaner (a common all-purpose degreaser) take a part number right off the label.
— Part number is in a location you can’t see when the part is still on the vehicle … if you can, remove the part to try to locate the part number, there is still the chance that the manufacturer didn’t put a part number on it.
— The part is an aftermarket part … if you take the vehicle specs to a dealer they should be able to find out what the correct replacement part is. If the aftermarket part has a part number and you’re going to replace it with another aftermarket part most parts shops should be able to cross-reference the part number.
Overall, part numbers will ensure that you will get the correct replacement part for the one that you removed. (Now I can’t guarantee that the part that was removed is the correct part. Someone could have replaced it with an incorrect part. There should be some clues to tell if it is indeed incorrect, but I’ll leave that for another installment of the 180parts.com Used Parts Guide.)