OK SO I JUST GOT DONE REWIRING MY 1954 CHEVY. I ALSO DROPPED IN A 350. I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT AND TOOK NO SHORTCUTS SO FAR. I TRYED TO FIRE IT UP AND THE STARTER TOOK A DUMP ON ME. I TOOK IT TO AUTOZONE AND HAD THEM TEST IT. IT PASSED. BUT I SOUNDED HORRIBLE ON THE BENCH. I FIGURED " WHAT THE HELL ", I ALREADY HERE NAPA WAS CLOSED, I WAS ANXIOUS TO HEAR MY CAR RUN, I BOUGHT AN AUTOZONE STARTER. EVEN THOUGH THE LADY SWORE IT WAS GOOD BECAUSE HER MACHINE TOLD HER. I COME HOME PUT IN THE STARTER AND TURN THE KEY, HOLY SHIT I HAVE NEVER HEARD SUCH A HIGH PITCH SCREECH IN MY LIFE, THE STARTER NEARLY BROKE MY FLEXPLATE. I TRYED SHIMMING IT EVEN THOUGH MY BETTER JUDGEMENT TOLD ME NOT TO.( I HAVE NEVER EVER HAD TO SHIM A STARTER IN MY LIFE) I EXCHANGED THE STARTER. AND THE SECOND ONE WAS JUST AS BAD. FINALLY I WENT TO NAPA (FOLLOWING DAY) BOLTED IN THERE STARTER AND LIKE A CHAMP. SO PLEASE STEER CLEAR OF AUTOZONE GUYS.
I usually go to Kragen but thats only cause they give me a 10% discount on everything. edit; whoops said you have a 350. sorry.
No need for typing in all CAPS ... and Ryan really frowns on the " F " word in a title ... I strongly suggest you edit it or someone will delete it
Autozone aint bad for shit like paint cans, fuel filters, oil, rags, etc. Pep boys has been much better to me.
Read the forum rules newbie. no cursing in the subject lines. oh, and steer clear of parts made in china.
parts at napa or the independents - supplies at the shithouses does that have a/c sir, and is it 2 or 4wheel drive? disc brakes? Hmm, what year again, i cant find anything listed under onboard computer
too true.... Sometimes I go in places and I'm sure I must seem like a total PITA. They start asking me all the questions and then it must sound like I'm responding with a word problem. "It's a '39 Ford with '78 front brake rotors and '76 calipers with..." I usually just want to tell them, "it doesn't matter just get me what I'm asking for." That's the time it really pays to be somewhere the employees can think outside of the box (or computer in this case). I can understand your frustration but things like starters and alternators always seem to have a very bad reputation regardless of where they come from. The shop I work at is an authorized NAPA repair center and we try to steer away from their starters and alternators (although I've had good luck with them most of the time). We end up going through a local rebulder for that kind of thing and have had great luck. The other thing you gotta consider is that you get what yo pay for. When places like AutoZOne and Checker are selling strictly by price they gotta buy some really low quality products to beat the other guy's price. Jay
Actually there is a big long thread about this if you wanted to search for it. Most auto parts stores you have to be smarter than they are anymore, that's all.
I love the Autozone by my house. I am lucky though, i found one of the few big chain parts stores that actually has an employee or two that know anything. The manager also always gives me the 10% courtesy discount cos i'm there once a week and has no problem with me going into the back to compare my old parts to the ones on the shelf. They've also been great with returns so i can't complain.
Also sometimes there are 2 or 3 choices to chooses from. Usually the higher priced one has only been rebuilt once, or may even be actually new. Its surprising when the aluminum looks like its been sandblasted so much the letters disappear, and they expect you to buy it. It seems like the life-time warrantied stuff means to trade it in until you get one that lasts. TP
Yup, the premium rebuild is the one to get. I was told by a friend who owns a NAPA that the price leader rebuilds are cores that tested to work, painted and put in a box to resell (alot like what you might get from the junkyard but cleaner
I hear that Autozone starters are built by 7-year old Chinese girls that are shackled to workbenches for 16 hours a day. You are deffo much better off dealing with local auto-electric shops that do quality work. I have two that I use, one used to do custom GM stock car starters for me that would start even after a 50 lap main. Bob
My brother's car has an Autozone starter on it and it works, every third try! Had to go to Autozone late Saturday night cause Napa was closed. I told the kid, I needed 10 lug nuts for a Chevy. He says, What year is it? Oh boy here we go I'm thinking, I don't have time to explain to him, it's 32 Ford with a Chevy rear yadayada. My brother speaks up, 70 Camaro. Kid looks it up, fiddles around under the counter and says I've got four. I go over and he's got a lug nut out of the package and he's screwing it onto a lug that he says, See it fits. I take it from him and it's a sloppy fit. I look at the package and it says M12 on it! I had to explain to him that 7/16 and metric aren't the same thing.
Why would you even thin that an Autozone employee (who prolly makes $8 hr) would be knowlegdable enough to help you ? Ill only use the local chain stores in a HUGE pinch for stuff- other than that its my local Speed Shop-Indy Auto Parts - no matter if I need to wait a few days or not- they know what they are working with,on and the how tos if I dont. Still remember way back when I was doing a local indoor show and needed a new air cleaner (just for show cuz it was white) . Dana went and asked where they kept the 16 inch air cleaners and the guy kept askign her' what kind of car'? She finally said ' its a 56 Chevy' and rattled off some other shit about the engine .carb etc just to confuse him to which the guy just looked dumbfounded. lol
Haha the aircleaner story reminds me. I went to autozone for a 14" airfilter. The kid asks what kinda of car etc. I just need to borrow a tape measure, he didn't have one. So again he asks what's it fit? I walk over to the chrome do-dads aisle and point to a 14" aircleaner and I say it fits that one. You got a part number for that?? Hah!
It doesn't matter who made or rebuilt the starter, on a SBC the RIGHT WAY to install one is to check the clearance. Sometimes they need shims sometimes they don't. OTOH if it sounded like shit on the tester no reason to think it would sound any better on your car. When it comes to SBC starters I always coveted the old "cast iron" noses -seems like those gave me ZERO problems over the years. I also always used the factory HI TORQ units aka "big block" starters - a little extra oomph never hurts. YMMV
I agree w/ chopshop. I only use stores like that if its like 9 at nite and for some reason Im still working on some piece of junk. I do realize however that I am my own counterperson when I go in there. Im not going to go ask for a starter for a SBC in a 51 Merc. Have to figure what year it is, possible application, etc. That said did you buy the cheap crap starter? Not all starters at autozone are junk, or else I would doubt they would be in business. You just got two bad ones.
And you're surprised AutoZone sucks? Welcome to old car building. Unless you have a specific part number in mind because NAPA is closed, don't bother going there unless you need wipers for a late model or Armor All. Waste of time, energy and gas.
You just have to find the one or two employees there that actually know what they are doing. I work at an Autozone in PA, most guys with hotrods/old cars come to me for parts, and only me. I've been there 4 years, I'm ASE certified, and I work at a garage, and my own stuff on the side. If your starter is grinding, you probably have the wrong starter. There are probably 50-60 different SBC starters. If you give the wrong info, you get the wrong starter. No matter what people think, the computers are NOT wrong if you feed them the right information. Catalogs and computers are not designed for custom applications. If you are a smartass and say that you need a starter for a 50 mercury and are pissed when it's not a starter for the SBC that you have in it, it's your fault. Ask for the part from the car you pulled the motor out of. If you don't know what it's from; then that's your problem. Don't expect most people to be willing to help the one wierd customer a month that has a hotrod/classic when 99% of the people come in for brake pads for a Caravan and get the right parts everytime.
I've had pretty good luck actually with O'reilly, less so with Autozone. NAPA shop is quite far away so they get used less often. As others have said, know what's in your car first. Ask for the right part. As a suggestion, if you're buying an original for an origina, 53 Pontiac part in 53 Pontiac, they're not going to have it in the computer. At O'Reilly, I ask them to get their books out or call the warehouse guy who knows his stuff. If they're not swamped at the counter, most places will do it. Also, ask to go look for yourself. I sometimes feel like I'm behind the counter more than some of the employees.
100% agree. If I go to AutoZone I tell them only what they need to find the part I want. If you mix and match parts and know what the parts came from (you should know this) just tell them it's for the car the part came off. They can find the stuff easier and you don't have any agrivation.
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