Okay i have been trying to change my starter for an hour and a half now. First of all, this is my third starter from autozone. Its a duralast gold, which SUPPOSEDLY has a lifetime warranty. Well about 2 months ago I had to take it back to autozone because the casing was literally falling apart, the solenoid was coming unbolted from the casing. So no problem, they gave me another one. Well recently my starter has not been engaging properly and it grinds sometimes. I checked my flywheel, it looks perfect, no missing teeth, nothing. So I pulled my starter off again tonight. The positive terminal was loose, so i took it back to autozone to get another one. Well, they would not even exchange it since there is a crack in the plastic solenois housing which looks like it is what is causing the loose terminal. So I take it home, put some JB weld on the crack and re-tighten the terminal. Now I cant get the g*d damned son of a bitch back in. After about an hour straight of laying under my car wrestling with it trying to get a bolt to thread in I said **** on it, got out from underneath my car and proceeded to kick out my passenger side parking light.

So now my car still has no starter, my 'lifetime' warranty at autozone is void, and my passenger size parking light is busted out. I am so mad I could kill someone right now.

Has anyone else had any problems with autozone parts/warranties? My friend was having similar problems with his duralast starter for his 65 stang. Im all for a boycott of autozone...

 

do a search and see how many people don't have much good to say about autozone. there's some truth to it when people say you get what you pay for. the only thing autozone has going for it is they're cheap and open later than the other stores here and on sunday.

 

Ede is right on the money. I have a friend who workes for a national chain and he tells me that on some things they have as much as a 50% return rate. I argued with a guy on one of the other forums a couple of days ago where he complained about GM OE replacement parts saying they were too expensive and poor quality, it's just BS. I'll tell a short story, hope I don't bore-*** you all. Local kid brings over 86 camaro, no charge condition. I diagnosed a bad alt. He goes to a local chain we pop it on and all is well. A month and a half later he's back with same condition. It's a 10si, so i quickly pull it apart-brushes were gone. They didn't wear out in a month and a half, they were never replaced. I had a set, installed them and off he went. All you really buy anymore is a warranty. It's the same piece of junk as the $39.95 unit, probably only a different color. I have had the opportunity to tour a GM authorized rebuilding facility. When parts come in everything is replaced, in most cases the only thing left is the housing. They randomly sample units for testing and subject them to the same requirements as new parts. One of the things I always like about GM was that they either owned or wholly controlled the subsideries that supplied parts for thier cars. It is much easier to control quality that way. I have actually seen people trade in a good vehicle because of recurrent problems with the same things. 9 out of 10 times the vehicle in question is full of chain store parts. I am not saying they are all bad, some things like sensors may actually be made by the same company as OE. As Ede said you get what you pay for, I have used almost exclusively GM OE in all my vehicles and have NEVER had to replace a part more than once. I know this will generate all sorts of hell, but that's my $75+2cents

 

Well one thing is for sure. I will never buy ANYTHING with a warranty from autozone again. Every time I go there I wind up disliking the service even more. I am tired of getting the wrong part from them and having to go back 2 or 3 times jsut to get the right part. I don't have a problem with O'Reillys however, because they have similar pricing but they seem to have better service and better parts. Autozone sucks...

 

Yeah, A Warrantee doesn't mean the part will last, only that they'll replace the partBut you're the poor sucker that has to do all the work. How many times do you wanna replace it?
I had to learn this one the hard way too.
You really do get what you pay for (most of the time)
-Rich-

 

maybe if you call corporate headquarters you may get somewhere. But since you welded something i dunno. Tell them your story.
I had a similar problem with R & S Strauss. My battery kept draining, they replaced that and the alternator, 3 months later battery dead again, they replace the battery, 1 month later dead battery again. They said the alt was puttin out the required 12 volts, and that I had an electrical problem. Off to electrical shop I go, expecting to pay about 400.00 for a repair
Well, they tested the alt and it had a bad diode inside. So (85 not 400 dollars later) I had them install one of their heavy duty ones. Called R & S bitching about how many times i had been there (since Oct of 2001) for a dead battery. Demanded my money back, and got it. The alt was damn near a year old. !!!
They offered to install another one, but I told them, I'm not going thru all this back and forth again. Theres a new one already in there!!!

Sorry for the length guys, sometimes you CAN get what you want. Now I go and deal with Maaco on their ****ty paintjob!

 

Yeah, call the corporate headquarters. I had an alternator that the bearing froze up and caught on fire while driving. Took it back to autozone told them what happend. They refused to pay for it. Had an Autozone HQ Rep on my cell phone and went back to the store. When they refused I put the guy on the phone. Long story short, autozone paid for a new alternator and fixed everything that was damaged underneith the hood of my car. Wasn't that bad but they still cut me a check.

 

This is my story, I'll keep it short. New starter, new alternator, new battery summer of last year from a CSK chain store. The starter died at school three months later, the battery a month later. Over christmas break the battery died again with the alternator, I had them both replaced under warranty. One month later the battery died again. Six months later both the battery and the alternator are both dead again. Thats two starters, five batteries, and three alternators in less than a year. The battery and starter are lifetime, but the alternator is 36 month. The thing is that each time the alternator dies, I get a new reciept. This means that my warranty restarts. Therefore it's a lifetime alternator to me, but I'll probably do some research and buy a QUALITY alternator some day.

 

Not to bad mouth gm rebuilt/ remanufactured parts, but my family has had some problems with them. We had to replace the steering rack in my moms pontiac. we went through 3 gm rebuilt ones (although they did exchange them all with no problem) so we got our money back and bought a totalled parts car (hit from the rear, split the car almost in two) for 250 bucks from a friend. i would have to say it has much higher quality parts, cheaper too.
ps forgot to mention we got a better equipped car and upgraded a few things along the way.

 

I haven't shopped at autozone for 3 years now. i've had the same problems you guys are having.
napa, gm, and advance auto are my stores of choice for non-performance replacement parts.

 

NAPA!! I bought my starter at napa and all my other parts and I've had no problems at all. :lala:

 

my buddy bought a reman engine from autozone for his 89 blazer, less than 10k miles later it has a rod knocking, rather loudly i might add,

but then again, i've heard that the 4.3l v6 for some reason has a chronic problem with rods knocking, i know another guy that had one with 100k+ miles on his and it knocked for 4 years without any trouble till he sold it

 

My buddys camaro has been through seven rebuilt O'Reillys alternators in the past three years with their "lifetime warranty".Personally I think all of the chain parts store rebuilt parts are cheap crap in a cheap box.

 

get it right, cheap crap in an expensive box

 

The Autozones around here (Northeast of Dallas) are CRAP. I don't have any problems at O'reilly, their products tend to be higher quality (Gates, Borg Warner). I've never had a problem with NAPA either, but I think there's only one around here.

 

I bought an a/c compressor from A/Z and when I took the plastic shipping plug out, dirty oil with metal flakes came out. It was supposedly shipped with out any oil according to the box and literature. I decided to take all the a/c stuff out anyway just to have more room in the bay, but based on my experience and those of others, I will spend the money for AC Delco / GM parts anytime I need a non performance part.

:hail:IROC-Z

 

Somebody mentioned NAPA. Yeah, they are probably THE best aftermarket source for parts. In fact Pep Boys has tried to mirror NAPA's inventory and sources but they just can't come close.

 

I have been in the parts & service business for about 23 years now, both dealerships & non-chain auto parts stores. I have sold both OEM & aftermarket parts. The failure rate on OEM is very low compared to some of the cheaper aftermarket junk. With most of the lifetime warranty stuff, you get a cheap part with extra markup going to a warranty account to pay for returns. When that account gets overused they often bulk at replacement. It's only a marketing ploy. The general public is so price driven in todays market, it lets all the junk parts proliferate. For non hi perf parts, I use OEM or NAPA & as said before, you get what you pay for.

 

Well autozone is good for one thing. They have a good supply of Performance Friction Z rated pads for my 1LE brake calipers.

 

You said it all! Amen

 

NBN,
Not to start an argument, but I would guess that the reman. gm steering rack would be rebuilt with the same parts they used originally. I dont see how qn original would be of better quality.

 

BUY NAPA nough said unless ya planning on unloading it QUIUCK and ya wanna stiff someone then buy A/Z. If ya can put up with their no care attitudes. Life time warranty is void after the first replacement replacement part is warranted for 90 days per A/Z district manager

 

I replaced 3 Autozone startes in my camaro last year in about 4 months time. Once straned at work, one at school.

 

I've got to jump on this band wagon. Ever seen those charts of the different levels of remanufactured engines in the chain stores? I've had friends buy those cheapies and suffer the fate of crappy or incompetent workmanship. Upon teardown one engine had the wrong valves crammed into the heads. I have heard rummors that some of those engines are thrown together with the cheapest parts possible. It's probably the same with all reman parts.

 

autozone always made good on their lifetime warranty when i had a problem, but replacements were not always in stock and sometimes had to be special ordered. was then the frustrating chore of physically removing the old defective autozone part and installing the new one.

also have to know how to ask for a new item under the lifetime guarantee. saying to the effect of "this plastic insulator is cracked and looks bad" may not be acceptable grounds for some parts counter employees to give you a replacement. but saying something to the effect of "this bearing is very noisy" or "this electrical item doesn't work when it gets hot" will almost always get a free replacement.

 

Beware the Autozone Gestapo---They come in black coats carrying tri-fold satchels...

 

Autozone has a large selection of mechanical parts for thirdgen f-bodies.

But autozone's selection of parts is very limited for recent cars. For example about all they have for my 98' crown vic are generic ford components such as wiper blades and washer pumps that are used on dozens of other ford vehicles. Parts such as a blower motor or water pump can't even be special ordered.

Their electronic catalog is also incorrect in some instances. For a laugh one day, i asked the parts counter person for a set of spark plug wires for my 98' vic. Salesman returned with 3 different sets and asked which brand i wanted. Keep in mind that 1998 and later crown vics use a coil on plug ignition system and do not have any spark plug wires.

 

I had an old 66 Plymouth Valiant and bought a replacement alt from Kragen in CA. It lasted about a month before the bearing started making a horrible noise. Pulled it off and exchanged it. Ditto two more times.

I forgot about the lifetime warranty at Kragen and went to over to Monument (Livermore area) and bought one of their rebuilt units. Lasted for years afterwards. The counter guy at Monument explained what others have said here about the varying quality of rebuild shops. In this case, they never replaced the bearings, just relubed them.

I am once again a college student and one of my professors worked in a factory warranty repair facility at one point (consumer and professional power tools). She told me that everything on the rebuilt tools is checked and replaced if not 100% -- same warranty as new applied too when they were sold. That is much better than simply doing a statistical sampling of units going down the line. Something to think about anyway.

My last major aggravation was getting front wheel drive axles that were about 1" too long (Chrysler) from NAPA. The rebuild facility had systematically mislabled them (van axle labled as a car axle). They look identical if you don't measure the inner shaft length. Anyway... The people at NAPA were convinced that I didn't know what I was doing. Home mechanic, right? After all, they ordered in another shaft and it had the same problem. Must be my fault. I finally got on the horn to the rebuilder and they admitted their mistake and FedExed a correct replacement to the store. Gosh, the crew at NAPA didn't have too much to say that visit. :sillylol: I installed and removed that stupid thing four times. Too bad I couldn't charge them for labor.

 

I like Autozone because they are sooo cheap. But I make sure before I go exactly what I want, and if possible, I do not ask them for any information.
I have a rad from them, only $74 for a 3 row. It has lasted 3 years so far. Not bad.
Once in a while there is an employee there who knows something about cars, but usually they are pretty clueless, but that's true of all discount places, I think.

 

that's what i was going to say. i'm no expert but i beleive gm rebuilt parts are built to oem specs. actually i don't think i've ever heard of gm rebuilt racks, but i've never tried to buy one either. i'll be in gm parts tuesday i'll be sure to ask then. very few gm parts are offered as rebuilt, i was thinking engines and transmissions were about it.

since this thread has sort of gotten away from any sort of tech content and is taking up space on the server i tihnk it's best to close it since it's served the thread starters purpose.