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.
Getting the right part the first time …
… saves headache, mostly if you only have one vehicle and are taking it apart to fix it.
… saves time and effort since you won’t have to spend extra time trying to figure out why it won’t go in, or the belt won’t fit, or the connector doesn’t match, or the hose won’t work.
… prevent it from breaking prematurely. If you get an incorrectly undersized part it may not last as long as a correctly sized part. We don’t want to have to replace it again real soon. That’s more money and more time.
… prevents it from breaking something else in your vehicle. If you get an incorrectly sized part it may cause something else to break, overheat, short out or burn up. All issues we’d like to stay away from.
… save gas. An extra run back to the store to get the right part is more time, money and gas. Also, a correctly sized part will keep the engine running at its optimum level and this is good for fuel economy.
So, in conclusion, you’ll save gas, money, time, effort, headaches and more if you get the right part the first time. For more reading, check out the posts on Part numbers, What parts info do I need, and Is the part I removed really the right part