Autoparts Store Rant / Can’t test a Starter
 

Went to the Local AutoZone, their machine to bench check starters was broken for months

Drove a half mile went to the advance auto parts. There’s was also broken for a month.

Call the O’Reilly’s, gal said yes we can bench test , got there , the kid working didn’t know how to do it , called somebody as we were helping him. Couldn’t find the solenoid cable

Called Napa, they weren’t sure if it worked and the manager wasn’t there to confirm.

Try another advance auto parts they were able to test it, but I’m not sure if the guy knew what he was doing.

I’m pretty sure it’s dead because all the wiring in my car has power is it supposed to be because we checked it all today And tried to bench test ourselves with out any luck.

Got a new mini starter coming in in the morning.

You can test it yourself,…..all you need is a set of jumper cables and a battery…..

Yea, i think the folks here ought bench test at home.

Adv-Auto store bench testers look pretty overkill, like the battery charger blast-proof box looks overkill. Didn't figure they were only a show-n-tell

Unfortunately, Auto Zone, Advanced Auto Parts, Oriely's Auto parts, average employee doesn't last 3 months. If an employee makes it 6 months, they are likely a store manager. I buy allot of auto parts and do my very best to stay out of those 3 store chains. I have a single local NAPA store. 2 grouchy old guys and 1 in his 30's working toward being grouchy as well. The 3 have 75 years of parts store experience. Yes they can test starters and alternators, batteries, will install air filters and wiper blades for walk in customers. They know how to operate a memory saver when changing batteries, can program key fobs, check TPMS sensors for battery life. A real parts store! Not many left out there.

Yes those GM starters are easy enough to test at home. Youtube has plenty of info or you could buy a lone wolf 6000 as well.
https://youtu.be/1-PXBjovZDE?si=MbGgHrD_2xkuQo_P
I do not know why more people do not buy their parts online. Most places like Advance Auto give you a 10%-15% discount when you place an order online. Then you get the added advantage of making sure you order your own parts correctly and have no one else to blame but yourself. I always shop around for the best prices on parts whether it be ebay, rockauto or local parts places

I am waiting on the day when I am purchasing a bottle of wax, and the guy behind the counter asks "year, make, and model?"

lol

I have a March serp system, I too look forward to ordering a belt by size….then have parts guy ask for application.

With the internets I doubt that will ever happen.

Testing
 

The tester they replaced our old one with requires year make and model. I hate it. The clamp system is so cheaply made and doesn't hold the starter very good. These machines being broke for months doesn't shock me, it takes a long time to get replacements for any equipment. Not knowing how to use it is no excuse! The screen gives you step by step instructions. They cannot test if the starter/alternator is from a boat/tractor/forklift!

The majority of parts store employees are minimum wage and have little car knowledge. Your best bet is to look for the "old guy" lol

One of my best little encounters like that was at an Autozone years ago. I had broken the tiny brake bleeder screw in a Strange Engineering 4 piston caliper on our replica Beswick Grocery Getter station wagon. They flat refused to look anything up without year, make, model. I finally just gave in. "Sir, I need a rear bleeder screw for a 4-piston caliper on a 1963 Pontiac Tempest station wagon with a 541 Cu In Pontiac engine". It didn't go real well from there. I went to Oreily's and actually found the needed bleeder screws in a HELP blister pack without talking to anyone. Of course this had to be on a Sunday and I needed them right away.

the ineptitude at parts stores these days IS astounding...

It sure doesn't help that most of these parts-stores-keyboard-jockeys think they know it all better than you to begin with...

Probably due to the fact that working on cars as a youth/young adult is nearly non-existent these days, especially with the intricasies of newer vehicles. If not a parent/friend with\ experience, where would they get the necessary knowledge/training?

I fully agree with this. My cousin grew up in a garage, and he has worked all over the automotive industry. My. parents always took it to them for repairs so I never learned to even change a tire from my parents. I learned everything I know now (admittedly not much) by just figuring it out myself.

It's your own fault. If you spent a few bucks more when you need parts and went to an independent auto parts store Those people knew how to help you. Most of those stores are out of business now because people wouldn't spend a few extra bucks. Along with them went years of accumulated knowledge. Years ago I needed front wheel grease seals for my 1955 Chieftain. The guy in the parts store didn't have a listing for them but looked at them and then said "1972 Corvette will fit" and they did. Another time I was at a rod run in rural Maine and needed a lower radiator hose for the same car. Parts man looked it up and had it in stock. Friends of the family have owned a local parts store for years. So far an Auto Zone, Advance Auto and now an O'Riley's have opened within a 100 yards of their store. I wonder how much longer their store will last?

Pay reflects wisdom and quality. These stores only want for fork out minimum wage and they get exactly what they pay for....a bunch of stoned/drunk dumbasses that don't care. Honestly, I don't blame them.

The auto repair industry had become a joke. Shops want to pay 1980's wages while raking in nearly $200 an hour in some places. I wouldn't recommend the automotive repair field to my worst enemy at this point.

For young people with good aptitude for electrical repair and electronics, there are great opportunities out there. They have to have a passion for cars and trucks. Not the kinds of vehicles we like, the newer stuff. A good, honest, hard working young person with an Associates Degree in Automotive Technology and 5 years experience after their schooling is in great demand. They can expect to earn a low 6 figure salary in the Dayton , OH area. But they have to work hard and smart and not expect to start at $50.00 an hour the day they graduate. But these are not the flunkies working at Autozone, Oreily's and the rest. Most of them were working fast food for minimum wage last week and Autozone offered them more hours and a 10 cent raise. Now instead of frying hamburgers, they are the auto parts expert.

Nothing is free
 

Nothing is free.

Bench testing is offered
with the hope that you
will buy the part if it
tests bad and/or for
warranty replacement.

I have commercial accounts
at AutoZone and O’Reilly
and service across the lower
48 states is generally good.

If possible - I go to a hub
store after calling ahead
and getting transferred
to commercial sales.

If it is a store I have not
bought at before - I have
them check stock - pull
the part and open the box
to make it is new and not
a core return - then I have
them load my account in
their store computer
and have the part put
on will call so I can go
in and pick it up.

Parking is sometimes
a challenge with the
enclosed car trailer
but I scout out the
store before
I pull in.


Jim

This is such a good reply, that I actually had to quote it.

There used to be several independent stores around, but now, I believe the only one left in my city is nearly an hour's drive away;
Recently the closer NAPA moved to a better location - they have been in my area of the city for a spell, but were tucked away where I would forget about them...
Odds are if I am not ordering via rockauto, they will be getting my business (I was just there last week.)

I always use to shop independent parts stores, but NAPA bought two of them, the only indies left are for Euro/Asian cars, I go there for the BMW and Toyota parts I need. But NAPA and Parts Source are all the brick and mortar choices we have left up here.

Regarding the Grumpy Old men parts counter employees, they are great when you can find them. But up here we use a different term, we call them MOPs (Miserable Old Pricks)

Years ago at Oreily I needed a new shifter cable for my 78 Trans Am 400 TH 350. "Book says they did not make that combination sir" Well over 100,000 of them! Look up a '77"yep they made them like that".

They must have been paying good back in the 80's then. If I wanted work more than 50 hrs a week I could easily make $250k at my dealer.

We did bench test it , was dead

Was just double checking

New starter installed and working

Now a fuel issue.

The new build is kicking my butt

How Dealer Mechanics are legally Underpaid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAjR5tVVlqg

Finding a mechanic is literally IMPOSSIBLE right now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAjR5tVVlqg

Legally underpaid :huh: So you think $250k a year is underpaid? In 1982 the avg tech made $8.46 hr, convert that to today, $26.71. Yeah I make a lot more than that. Yeah it's hard to find any young person that wants to do any manual labor, they want to sit at home in front of a computer.

You must do a lot of flushes.
As a 72 yr. old retired Master Tech I've never heard of a "legit" Tech making 250K+ a year.Ever.
News to me even today,with all mostly warranty work.I have several friends that still wrench for a living but they still say the real money is with the independent shops.
Not in my day,100k was tops,and they were the guys doing what we called "Wallet Flush".
You know, trany flush,PS flush,coolant flush,fuel injection flush ect.
Not saying that's you just my personal experience.
Cars of today are not really made for repair,they are made to last till warranty period and flush.lol
It's a job that is no longer desired by today's youth,and I can't blame them.
It takes years to get to big money level.You spend your day's freezing or sweating.
Tool bills that never end,and vehicles engineered with the last priority to be repaired.

You guys are comparing techs to counter people at AutoZone. :)
Personally my local NAPA had an old guy who could find anything, if it was available. Got out the old dusty catalogs when necessary. Then he retired. Ugh
Living rural like I do now, I have one local parts store. Luckily he’s old school and pretty knowledgeable. I’ve found it best to do my own research and go into a parts store armed with my own info and part number, then give them the part number myself. Otherwise I order of the internet.

My guy at NAPA retired as well.
Only had 1 usable hand-arm, but was the best.
It's a joke at his old store location now.

Same at NAPA here,some of the standard small parts no longer available. Most Guys mean well for the most part. Seemingly because not enough sales or profit I guess. Like the cartoon on net .I need 36" of heater hose,what yr,make model of vehicle?

Well I guess you were working on the wrong car brand then. Power steering flush, none of our cars have had a hydraulic steering for 10 years, they are all electric & even when they did there was no such thing as a flush. Also no such injector flush. We follow the required service interval per the manufacturer , so when you say "Wallet Flush" you mean perform the required services, yeah I do those because most people who spend $200k-$300k + on a car want to keep it going. All mostly warranty work? I would say 30-40% is warranty along with CP service. If they are not made for repair then how am I making a living? Nobody is freezing or sweating, climate controlled shops. Tool bills that never end?? 95% of my tools were bought 27 years ago, every now & then you might have to buy something new but I bet I don't spend $100 a year on any new tools( yes Snap-on or Hazet).

This is what it’s like now

I have been out of the retail auto parts scene for over a decade, but even then, I'm probably still a good couple of decades younger than the average poster on here. Even when I worked in the parts business, I absolutely HATED the way the corporate bigwigs were trying to push out the old catalogs and tech in favor of everything new and fancy. The thing that was mentioned with the new touchscreen computerized alternator/starter/battery testers, you literally CANNOT test them without entering "their" part number into the screen. Sure, if you have more than 2 brain cells to rub together and know what youre doing, you can fake it, but as some have mentioned, the push for lower skills and wages is only attracting the inexperienced newbies and high-schoolers, while anyone with experience moves on to greener pastures.

As an aside, I always made a habit of keeping the catalogs that corporate would occasionally have us dispose of, and made the managers aware that anything they wanted to throw away, I wanted first dibs. Some of that stuff is nigh irreplaceable and holds a vast wealth of information that you cannot get on the typical online lookup. Well, Imagine my disgust when I came back from a 2 weeks vacation to find that corporate had "upgraded" our seal and bearings interchange and lookup guide to an all-online setup. And the very valuable and hard to find IBI bearings and seals interchange books had all been tossed in the dumpster while I was gone!!! To say that I was upset would be a vast understatement! It's been more than a decade and I'm still POed about that. And of course, the latest and greatest online lookup has no functional way to look up anything by dimensions, or oddball setups from an individual tractor, or anything like that....

It's clear to me from your post that you really cared about your job and went the extra mile to really be a "Parts person". Generally, in the parts business model, you would never receive any recognition, or financial reward for doing the extra things that customers really appreciate. Actually, in many ways you are punished for doing anything "extra". You were probably wise to find a different career. But old geezers like me appreciate your efforts.

Yes, you sound like the NAPA guy I posted about earlier.
Many times I would go in looking for a part for one of my 60’s era cars, and the young guys who worked there would just say “The part isn’t available “. This old guy,Rick, would always tell me “Hang on a minute “. Then break out the interchange catalogs from under his desk. He could track down anything for me. One time I was fixing an old early 70’s tractor for a friend. I needed a coil and couldn’t find it anywhere in town or online. Rick spent at least a half hour looking up old numbers from catalogs and cross referencing, and finally found something that would work. He didn’t get paid extra for this.
A few times I bought pizza in to NAPA in appreciation of their service)It was actually Rick’s service!). When he told me he was retiring, I was honestly sad. If anyone has an old timer at their local parts store like this-give him a pat on the back and buy him a case of his favorite brew.

. . . .
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...5&d=1719937566

LOL Ever hit the old school parts stores on School St in Taunton or the one on 44 in Taunton across from the old Gaff's or even the old Napa on 140 near Manny's. Some of those guys were old school parts guys.

My local O'Reilly's has some good people. The manager I've known for around 14 years and two others know me very well. No problems getting stuff checked and no problem with warranty parts. Never had any problems with special order parts either.
I guess I'm pretty fortunate as far as a retail parts store goes. And one of the guys just did old school testing on the starter for my 87 Ford diesel. He's a younger guy but knows what he's doing..

My local O'Reilly's has some good people. The manager I've known for around 14 years and two others know me very well. No problems getting stuff checked and no problem with warranty parts. Never had any problems with special order parts either.
I guess I'm pretty fortunate as far as a retail parts store goes. And one of the guys just did old school testing on the starter for my 87 Ford diesel. He's a younger guy but knows what he's doing..

In my experience most of the "REAL" parts guys that can find you the parts you're looking for, have wrenched themselves, or at least been exposed to the repair end of the automotive business. As has already been mentioned, I look my own parts up and pre pay, then pickup locally, or just order from Rock Auto, or other online vendors if I have the luxury of waiting.

I also made my living wrenching for the most part of my adult life, from graduating from high school/vo tech auto mechanics in 1970, to around 2004 when my injuries over the years made it very painful to continue to wrench full time.

I worked for independants, dealerships (always GM), self employed, and never even came close to $100,000 a year. The most I made was while working for myself. The best thing I ever did was ditch the automotive field, and start working on equipment. Less stress, and much better pay, as well as benefits, and working conditions.

Any young person I run across that is considering working as a mechanic/tech I always try to point them in the direction of equipment repair, as opposed to automotive repair, I was a slow learner about getting away from automotive, and of course didn't pay attention to my father that also started off in automoive repair, and later switched to fleet truck repair as his profession............:2cents:

:focus:

We have an old school parts store in town. Luckily its actually the closest auto store to me. All of the guys in there know their stuff. And like mentioned before will go out of their way to help find something obscure. Go to the auto zone and I mean no disrespect but they are all kids waiting in line for the next job in greener pastures. The turn around seems like it is weekly and I get the impression from some of them that they couldnt name more than about 3 car brands. There was one 'person' that I cannot even mention on here!

Not too long ago I asked for a part for my GTO...and the guy at AZ said "is that a Ford?". I knew I was in for a ride that day.