a car no one knows about is great, but...

[BlownZ]

Originally posted by TransAm WS6 420
Actually, I'm 24.

That explains it.

I have worked in the parts industry my entire life and I have seen more than one wanna be badass try to come over the counter so I took you seriously. Thanks for the small words...they don't hurt my brain so much.

 

[420]

LOL, sorry if that last post came across a bit harsh. It's been a rough day.

I don't imagine there is literally anything someone could say verbally to provoke me into coming over a counter of any sort and attacking them. At the LEAST I would walk around it

 

[denn454]

Re: Re: a car no one knows about is great, but...

Originally posted by TurboJim
Hmm, I dont think there is a difference in the wheel studs. I think you got a defective axle. GN, Rehal, Grand Prix, Cutlass..whatever use 12x1.50 studs. Theyre all the same on G bodies. We keep them in stock and havent had to get "special" studs for anything. Well no, there was this International rollback once...but thats different

I gope theyr the same anyway, cuz the brake rotors for a TR and NA G-body are the same, and I got 20 long studs to put in. So if all 20 studs are the same, and they fit the rotors, then they better fit the axles

I put the studs i got the first time in the axle and they were very loose. we have a pair of 87 monte carlo ss axles setting in the garage, I checked them in thoes axles and they fit perfectly. I'm not sure if theres something wrong with the axle i have, it all looks right, and i was told it came out of a gn by someone on this board. i can assure you they are 2 different axles.

 

[SilverSleeper]

Ill add some fuel to the fire I already started....
This happened late Saturday.
Things that should be simple, never are.
Getting my Astro ready for winter. Did an oil/filter change, went to change the serpentine belt. Tensioner literally blew apart.
So I call Advance Auto to check on the part. In stock, $28.00, we will set it aside for you.
I call a cab to get there. Go in and they didnt set it aside. Have to look it up again. Brings it back, it magically jumps to $40.00. He says it is the right part.
I get home and take off the tensioner and of course it is the wrong part.
Go online, look up the part myself, and it is off by one number!!
Called cab again, took it back, got the new one right.
Of course, by the time this all got finished, I had to pay for 2 cab rides, and the mix up made me late for work!
I shoulda known better. I didnt have the thing off yet, so I couldnt take it in to compare. I gotta remember to take everything in or they will manage to find the wrong part.

 

[Red Regal T]

Re: Re: Re: a car no one knows about is great, but...

Originally posted by denn454
I put the studs i got the first time in the axle and they were very loose. we have a pair of 87 monte carlo ss axles setting in the garage, I checked them in thoes axles and they fit perfectly. I'm not sure if theres something wrong with the axle i have, it all looks right, and i was told it came out of a gn by someone on this board. i can assure you they are 2 different axles.

Monte has 7.5" rear with different axles than TR 8.5". However, they take the same lug studs.

 

[denn454]

Re: Re: Re: Re: a car no one knows about is great, but...

Originally posted by Red Regal T
Monte has 7.5" rear with different axles than TR 8.5". However, they take the same lug studs.

then maybe the guy was right when he said i didn't know what i was talking about. I'm absolutely positive the 2 axles we have for a montecarlo are for a montecarlo, no doubt in my mind. maybe my new "tr" axle is wrong or has had the lugs bored out.

 

[kenny]

It's nice knowning people that work at the parts store.

If I'm ever somewhere where I don't know anyone I always double check what they give me. I've driven all the way home to find I got the wrong part too many times.

 

[sixgun86gn]

I can't count the times I have been told that my car did not have fuel injection in 1986.They always try to sell me parts for a 2bbl 231.

 

[2quiktocare]

NAPA, No Applicable Parts Available. Bout says it all. Mark

 

[BlownZ]

It likely doesn't make anyone feel any better but I assure you...for every idiot counterman you run into....their are 25 DIYers that are in way over their head. I wish we could find the best parts people in town but they are as rare as hens teeth. Nobody wants to work retail or automotive anymore...everything is computers.

Wrong year
Wrong model
Wrong engine size

but somehow it is ALWAYS our fault.

Guy sends his wife in today to pick up "the breather thing in the valve cover" for his car. We sell her the breather, he calls back 20 minutes later madder than a wet hornet because we sold him the wrong breather and we were a bunch of idiots and he doesn't know why he ever shops there. He is sending the wife back down with the correct part so we can't screw it up.....she shows up 10 minutes later with a PCV valve.

 

[2quiktocare]

LMAO Blown, don't it figure. Hardest thing I ever had was trying to figure out what some guy wanted done to the car when he sent in his wife and she thought nothing was wrong at all. We had a saying at a Toyota dealer I worked at called the CLA program, customer lies again. ha ha ha. Mark

 

[scottyb]

I went to NAPA one Saturday, praying the whole way that they might stock the water neck. I had destroyed the stocker upon removal. After the guy at the computer concluded that they don't have it, I asked if they happen to have one for an 89 "Turbo Firebird". "Yep, we do." Moments later out was out the door with a cast neck and o-ring and only $10 left behind for it.

I didn't get so lucky when I tries to pick up hoses.

 

[84GNTTYPE]

I've been lucky enough to have a couple of parts guys at Advance Auto that know what my car is or will work to find my parts.

One of them owns a 90's era ASC Turbo Grand Prix and the other owns a Turbo Thunderbird. They're both good guys and judging by the other posts here . . . I'm REALLY lucky to have them!!

 

[Turbo T/A 1543]

I own a small auto parts store here in Ohio. It's definitely a "both sides" thing. After years of dealing with people putting on Ford 4 cyl caps backwards (yes they will run - not very well!), looking for those elusive parts like "heater belts" (water pump), folks looking for parts for their Dodge Destiny (Dynasty), Ford Festus (Festiva- I'm not kidding, must be western fans), I'd had enough. Now the shops' phone number is not published in the phone book, and I do primarily parts sales to dealerships/garages/friends. Sure helps me grasp that fine thread of sanity. Does remind me of a short story about when Autozone moved into town - A car savvy customer of mine was told by one of his auto inept buddies that he was starting a new job at "the zone", to which he replied, "that's great, you'll fit right in!"

 

[JDSfastGN]

Well I used to work at o'reilly auto parts, and unless you know these cars or any car very well, i can safely say that the computers are not cery accurate. But most are very dumb even about basic automotive knowledge. A friend and I were up at an Auto Zone yesterday and we asked for a fuel filter for a 94 Z28 and he asked if it was right in front of the carb lol. I was always hoping somebody would roll up in a GN or ask for Gn parts but in my 3 years there I was the only one to purchase TB specific parts. Kinda weird because the store is in Bellaire and I know there were a few TBs there.

 

[Jebadias]

I learned a long time ago to take parts stores advice with a grain or more of salt. Many times you can't blame them, and they know that the computer or books can be off. Ya just have to be a bit creative. Sometimes they don't realise that the computer can be wrong though. Try to get a fog light some time for an '85 TA. The computer says they don't exist. I had to show the guy the car before he believed me, and then he asked me if I was sure it wasn't an '86!

Ok, time to vent a little... Sometimes the guy is just a moron. Last week I did something I NEVER do. I took my car to an unknown mechanic. Winter is getting close and I want to flush the coolant before I put it in storage. Not having anyplace to store that much coolant I decide to take it to the Pensoil down the road. Even they can't screw that up right? Well, after I pull in they tell me they don't do that, or anything else for that matter except change oil. I decide that I'm feeling lazy, and it is getting time to do an oil change so I tell 'em to do it. Besides, I can't find a grease gun so I'll get the chassis lubed up and not have to worry about it.

After I pop the hood the guy leans back and asks me what size engine I have. ?!? Arn't these guys supposed to be able to figure this out on thier own? I mean, what would someone like my mother say? Besides, all the factory stickers are under the hood saying what it has, and the hood has 3.8SFI TURBO in big chrome letters. So I reply "it's a 3.8". Oops, I just screwed up because I guess he dosn't see the chrome TURBO writing on the hood, or the hoodliner that say TURBOCHARGED in HUGE letters, and I guess he didn't see the big turbo sittin on the front of the motor either.

So he fills the oil and checks it... then he checks it again. Then he calls down to the pit and asks if I have an oversize oil pan. I hear the guy reply that he dosn't think so. Then he comes back and asks me it I have an oversize pan. "Nope! It's stock". I already know what he did but I'm not feeling like explaining it to him today. So then the guy comes back and asks me if I have the correct dipstick for the car... Yeah it's right. Something is wrong, he replies, because he put in the amount of oil that the 3.8 calls for. Now he's talking to his manager telling her that I have an oversize oil pan and she comes over like she's gonna charge me more or something. I tell her that no, the oil pan is stock, and that the dip stick is correct. Her guy obviously needs to add the correct amount of oil so that I can get going. Then I have to explain that they have looked under the wrong engine. They just could not comprehend the idea that the Turbo car might take more oil. Even after telling them that the Turbo takes oil, and that the stock radiator has an oil cooler in it they still didn't understand. So the guy puts a little more oil in it, comes back and shows me the dipstick, which shows about 1/2 quart empty, and I finally decided I had had enough and left. Again I am reminded why I don't let other people touch my car.

 

[1badTTA]

LMAO

I have known alot of poeple in the parts industry and have always been able to look up my own parts when needed. As has been already mentioned, it is truley 2 sided and there are probably 10 customers that come in and make the mistake themselves for every mistake that is made by the parts store/worker. I will never send my wife to the parts store without at least calling them and having them setting the part aside and then sending her in with the part to make sure and calling me if there is any doubt. We are all human (well most are) and make mistakes. As for the computers being wrong, most of the time when they are it is on parts that aren't very common (Turbo6 parts) as all the newer cars have alot more parts sold and any problems will be fixed rather quickly (as soon as they realise it is actually wrong).

Have a little patience with the kid next time and you will probably walk out with the right part, they see plenty of idiots all day long too so give them a break.

 

[denn454]

LMAO!!!! that oil thig is hillarious! ironically enough i just heard one of jeff foxworthys stupid sign songs. if the dipstick is right, and the oil pan is right, why not just add enough oil to where the dipstick says full? thats what i always do, i can never remember how much oil any car takes. some people shouldn't be allowed near cars, much less paid to work on them.

what happend to people who know what their doing? "mechanics" who go to school to work on cars can't do much anymore, if their computers ever had a glich most of them wouldnt' be able to find a spark plug to change it. (sorry to thoes of you who are mechanics, there are a few good ones still out there). Thant makes me wonder, if everyone is getting lazier and less willing to think on their own whats going on with doctors? what if you go in for sugery and the surgeon says your eyes are blue, i've only learned on borwn eyed people, now what do i do???? but back to the car thing, if you want something done right, do it yourself.

 

[Vendor Defendor]

this afternoon i went to a local parts store, bennett auto supply (i think they are only in florida) but, i told the guy, i need a transmission mount for a '87 buick regal vin 7 and the guy was like ohh a grand national, nice. have anything done to it? we talked for a couple minutes about cars... kinda intresting... and the mount was only $5.50

-Neil

 

[BlownZ]

Originally posted by 1badTTA
LMAO

Have a little patience with the kid next time and you will probably walk out with the right part, they see plenty of idiots all day long too so give them a break.

Smartest post on this board.

People seem to assume that other people either know or even want to know as much about their cars as they do. I could care less about a Honda....so should I be ashamed if I don't know where a Honda fuel filter is located? Get over it...YOU love your car...doesn't mean everyone does.

The computers are rarely wrong. I am surprised that some seem to fall for that. The error is usually due to not reading the footnotes.