I gotta vent. Hopefully I can save somebody from going through the hassle I went through for the past week...

Friday, my starter died. Wouldn't turn over. No big deal, spend $100 on a starter with a lifetime warranty from O'Reillys. It was going to be on account, but my name was not on the account. Little elf looking lady called the account holder (My friend Jim), but no answer. Now it would not have been a big deal if she left it at that, but then she said "I've talked to him twice today and he never mentioned you coming in." I said "If you're calling me a liar, I will go to a different store."

Anyway, end up paying cash for the starter . Put it in, and it starts but doesn't dis engage. Great, gotta take it back. The store I bought it at didn't have another one, so I had to go to a different location. They tested it, said it was fine, and sold me a relay. Put on the relay, no difference. By now I'm getting really pissed because this is taking up my whole weekend. Now I take the starter back to yet another location and get a new one. Okay at least it's going to work now, right? WRONG!

So yesterday my uncle took my truck to his buddy's shop. Turns out it was the starter. The same one I already replaced. Now I gotta pay for the new starter and shop fees, then take back my old starter. Moral of the story? There are three other stores around me- Napa, Advance, and Auto Zone.

I WILL NEVER WALK INTO OREILLYS EVER EVER AGAIN!

 

napa or advance usually come out on top for me.

we do not have oreillys here in cleveland.

 

I only shop O'Reilly's when I absolutely have to. I have a friend who works at the Zone and all of the guys at Advance know me by name. So those are my usual places. However, when I needed a new battery for Big Red last fall, O'Reilly's had theirs on sale and I was short on cash. It made it through the winter with no problem, so I guess it's OK, but here they tend to hire people with about the same level of intelligence as a wild ape, so I try to shop elsewhere.

 

I will not get starters, alternators, master cyls or water pumps from anywhere but NAPA anymore. The rebuild standards at places like O'Riellys, AutoZone, etc are just not good enough, and the failure rate is horrendous. I also have stopped getting rebuilt or remanufactured. New if they got it...I'd rather spend a little more up front and do it once. The "lifetime" warranty is useless if you have to do the same work 3 or 4 times...

 

If you went through three starters that test fine (spin, and engage/disengage) outside the vehicle but do not disengage when installed, you have to shim the starter during installation.

What your vehicle is telling you is that the dowel pins on the back of the engine are loose, missing, or need to be replaced with offset pins due to a minor misalignment of the engine/bellhousing for whatever reason.

 

Any kind of real part... napa.
Fluids... advanced. . Ect.
Belts.. napa for sure. 100% they only sell Gates and they are the best. I live in Florida and a gates belt will out last a advanced, ocrap, ect. 5 to 1.

 

Ok, a little defense here. I worked at oreilly's for a few years. It is all the parts person. Being mechanically minded is not a requirement to work there it's true, but some are, and they will understand your situation better.

As far as buying parts on your buddies commercial account, there is no problem doing that. NONE! It was her being difficult....

Parts, believe it or not, the stores don't have any control on what they stock. It is all corporate controlled. They carry big brands like gates and moog and Borg-Warner. And the cheaper lines too. The batteries all come from the same manufacturer. Johnson controls. They make them all in the western states. Autozone, napa, oreilly's, wal-Mart, all Johnson batteries with different stickers.

As far as your starter problem, if it tested out good on the bench tester, then there isn't much they can do. It tested good! Sure there are sometimes intermittent problems, and if you ask them, they should warranty it out for you anyway under a "customer satisfaction" claim.


Bottom line, it's all in the person behind the counter.

Since I've quit, I've been to a few different stores. Some of the counter guys I got I just wanted to hit them! They would try giving me an excuse why something wasn't happening, and then I'd tell them how to do their job... Makes me appreciate a good counterman even more.

 

I always question the value of rant threads. Even more so when it's a 6 year old rant.

 

I question ones like this. I have had no issues with any store brand parts I have installed in any vehicles. I think most of the issue lies in those that can't diagnose. A part isnt working so they go right to replacing it without any thought as to why it isn't working. They don't check the rest of the system involved to see if there is something else causing the issues.

 

I was thinking the same thing, needs a shim.

Want a true rant? Local pepboys told me the heater bypass hose for my 86 F150 was special order. I was told they can't stock every part for a 20yr old vehicle. The best part was that the explorer still had the 5.0L at the time. He didn't quite know how to explain it then....

 

Needed a shim on the last starter for the Bronco, nice one that looked like an 1/8" or so thick steel gasket.

On an old F250 part of the block plate was snapped off and the starter sat at a slight angle. Chewed through them like nobody's business until I finally figured it out and squared it with a washer on the low side.

Not sure on how many remanufacturers there are, but unless it's a Motorcraft part it's mostly a gamble whichever retailer you frequent.

 

I bought a brand new water pump from Oreilly's which took me 4 hour's to install and it leaked from the main bearing,never again.

 

I HATE O'Reillys. If you dont have the part you are looking for in your hand then dont even bother. I have wasted so much time driving back and forth because of the wrong parts.

My local Autozone is GREAT. I went in to buy some little thing to fix my wifes car and their computers were down so they couldn't ring me up. They said don't worry about it and just pay them for it the next time I was in. WOW customer service. (I did pay them for the part)

 

Love O'Riellys, hate Autozone. Love Autozone, hate O'Riellys. I don't think the important part is the name of the company, the important part is the people behind the counter. The result is that which store is better will vary from town to town, as well as over time in any given town. Therefore, blanket statements about this big name company bites, or this big name company is great are really meaninglessness.

 

Bingo ! You nailed it . The problem is the staff at most parts houses . I see a parts guy I have used for almost 20 years at my O'reilly auto parts . Carquest on the other side of town ... Known that guy longer . I use them both . Both the "a " parts houses in town .... they only hire fast food rejects . But ,,, when I travel on service calls It can be very different town to town . Heck I use to travel 30 miles to buy parts at Auto Shack . When did you last hear that name ....