Yeah, I know it's been done before.

I stopped in to get a thermostat. I was there buying a turn signal cancel cam anyway. That's my excuse for shopping there. It'll probably be the wrong part when I get home, but anyway.

"Do you carry thermometers?"

"If we.... what?"

A little louder and clearer, "Do you carry thermometers?"

"Do we carry what?"

Exaggerating now, "THERMOMETERS."

"Oh. Right over here." He shows me the temp gauges you put in the dash.

I'm a little irritated now. Doesn't anyone know what a thermometer is? "No, not a temp gauge. A thermometer."

"What are you going to use it for?"

"I want to measure the temperature of the coolant in the radiator."

Apparently, he only heard measure and coolant, because then he showed me a coolant tester. Now I'm pretty irritated, but trying really hard not to show it. "This isn't a thermometer. I need a thermometer. It's a device that measures temperature. Do you have any or not?"

"Oh, a thermometer. No, we don't have any."

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It's no wonder I won't shop at Autozone unless Napa doesn't have what I'm looking for.

 

Go to your local super market and get a digital meat thermometer. They usually hang them around the meat case. They run about $7.99. Temp range -40° to +302°.

It has a dial about 1" across, and a probe about 5-1/2" long. Great for sticking in the radiator, and perfect for AC vents. You can also check yer meat temps too!

 

I have good luck with one or two employees at advance auto. A friend of mine used to work at auto zone. He really knew his stuff. There is a real smart manager at my local auto zone now. Real nice and helpful. I have run into good and not so good at both places. I look for specific employees as much as the place itself. Napa suprises me sometimes with what they don't have. Still better overall but I think they are having a tough time competeing with the others. More & more of their stuff is China DNA.

 

94van - thank you! That's a great idea! *smacks self in forehead*

 

You're welcome. Here is what I have http://whatscookingamerica.net/Foto3...hermometer.jpg

 

My girlfriend stopped in Autozone because her Explorer was 1.5 quarts low (!!!) on oil, and she had had a fillup with Kendal oil which you can't find. Had to go to a tractor supply store...

...I told her next time I'm changing the oil and she's using Motorcraft. I'll tell her that "tips" are welcome .

 

You CAN mix oils. Brands, weights, etc.
I usually have good luck with the Autozone near me. I buy mainly oils, filters, minor stuff. They seem to carry most of the brake parts, u-joints, etc. and there prices are below everyone else. What I don't care for, which is becoming commonplace, is the stores have more and more fuzzy dice/stickers/chrome crap than real parts and supplies. Even the decorative stuff is usually for some rice burner or it's all GM.

 

Thats what I use. I always go into the autzone with what I need exactly ready to go, they are incapable of helping or thinking, so I just go in, tell them what I want, and leave. And thats it, one time I went in and they gave me the wrong lifters, luckily I saw it before I buttoned the motor back up, the results could have been disatrous.

BTW all of the stuff at Advance Auto, Napa, and Autozone, is MADE IN CHINA. I hate buying China crap for my AMERICAN truck, what happend to good ol American manufacturing?

 

I have had good luck at Autozone. They are too far from me to make the trip many times for parts tho. Most of my parts come from Advance, Carquest, or NAPA.

 

Like Eric, I have had good luck at both Advance Auto and Auto Zone.

Much of what I buy there is not cheap made in China crap.
Monroe Shocks
Havoline Oil
Motorcraft filters
Autolite or Champion spark plugs
Auto Vent Shade stuff
Shell Rotella (for the motorcycles)
I have had really good experience with Albany brake pads.
Maybe the stuff is made in China. But it'd be the same stuff at NAPA or WalMart, etc.

I think they (AA and AZ) get a bad rap, maybe some of it deserved. But I give them good marks. The local Advance Auto guy knows his poop pretty well.

 

Whenever I go into a parts store I try to pick the counter people that I have had good luck with in the past. At Advance I have been dealing with the same guy since they were a Western Auto store. Vern is a jewel!

 

i have excellant luck with advance auto, and i dont care to much for auto zone. auto zone has cheaper prices on some parts, but all of those parts are made in taiwan. i would much rather my parts be made in china or japan than taiwan. auto zone is about 30 miles away with advance just up the street, but is auto zone was next door and advance was 100 miles away, i would make the drive to advance despite the gas prices that everyone is crying about.

 

When I was growing up there were no Pep Boys, Autozones, Advanced Autos, etc. in every town across America, nor was there the internet. There were a few Napas and Acme Autos and some Mom and Pop parts stores scattered about, but that was about it. These are places that normally had nothing on the shelves, maybe some over-priced tool sets or some oil cans. If you wanted a part, you went to counter and asked for it. Finding the correct part back then was hardly ever a simple task and usually involved road-tripping to different stores in different towns, burning time and gas. And you took what you could get and paid the price.

For me, acquiring the parts I need is so much easier today than it was even 10-15 years ago. I have a Napa, Advanced Auto, Autozone and a CarQuest all within a mile from my house. Not only are there many more places to get parts, but often times I can do my own cross-referencing of part #s and cost-comparisons using the net, which makes me a more educated consumer. I've ordered parts off the net, as well, and have even been able to bypass the local retailers on occasion and get the parts straight from their source

I guess my point is that, when I feel I'm getting less than stellar service at my local AZ, I just have think back about how things used to be, and it really helps put things in perspective.

 

Before I go to Advance Auto I look up the part on the internet and carry the part number with me, that way when they tell me they don't have the part I get the number out of my pocket and show it to them and I already know it is in stock and what it cost.

 

Hasn't anybody else noticed that if you go to one of those small out of the way auto parts stores, the service is so much better. I go to a place where these 3 middle aged guys work and they actually know what part I'm talking about. Sometimes, I can even describe it and they'll tell Me what it is. I can even ask how to install it or ask their advice on whether this will fix my problem or not. So, I usually avoid the Pep Boys and the Autozones