I don’t know how many of you all have seen the "Messin’ With Sasquatch" TV ads, but the take-home message of these commercials is that sometimes the risk outweighs the joke. The stakes are quite a bit lower at your local car parts store, where you can tempt fate and still have a good laugh with the counter people. The guys and gals who staff our nation’s parts counters (I’m one of them) have a demanding job, and you can’t expect them to have a comprehensive knowledge of every car ever made, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to mess with them a bit. Here are a few good-natured ways to test their knowledge (and their sense of humor):

Prank: Ask your Napa/Advance Auto Parts counter guy if you can get a water pump for a ’72 Volkswagen Beetle.

Why it’s funny: all Volkswagen Beetles are air-cooled before 1998 and therefore don’t have a water pump.

More pranks after the jump!

Continue reading "Messing With The Parts-Counter Guy" »

Ever told yourself "this won’t take long" when starting a job on your car? I did this on Saturday, and unfortunately I was wrong. The water pump on my 265 Hemi had given up the ghost, and replacing these is usually a pretty easy job—all you need to do is remove the radiator and hoses, unbolt the fan and then remove the water pump and replace it with the new unit. But of course, the new water pump didn’t take: I noticed a leak so I had to repeat the process to reseal it. When I removed the radiator a second time the cooling tube that runs from the transmission into the bottom of the radiator cracked, but the only way to replace it required dropping the exhaust! What should have been an hour-long job wound up taking me about half a day. And the annoying thing about all of this is that I only replaced the water pump a couple of years ago. Recently I also went through two converters for my LPG (propane) system in one year! I have spoken to some friends and we have all come to the same conclusion—there’s a ton of parts on the market that are not being made with the same quality as compared to 20 or 30 years ago. After all, my other Plymouth is 40 years old but it still has the original water pump, and a recent exam showed it to be in great condition. What do you think, are some repo parts not being made as well as they should be?

On the way back from Lamborghini Monday, I got to swing by Seattle Injector to drop off my diesel Escort’s injection pump for testing and possible rebuild. There, I got my first look at an injection pump test bench, which runs the pump at various RPMs, checks for leaks, and measures the volume of liquid coming out each of the ports. It looks to be a pretty burly machine, and I’m kind of on pins and needles in anticipation of the verdict: injection pump work isn’t cheap, my particular pump is obsolete, and in contrast to gas engines’ carburetors, taking one apart oneself isn’t something that’s generally recommended (even experienced shops will rarely touch them). I guess we’ll see how it turns out. See more pumps below the jump!

Continue reading "Injection Pump Test Bench: One Heck Of A Piece Of Equipment!" »

A few weekends ago, I noticed the guys on Horsepower TV demonstrating a new spark plug known as an E3. In a back-to-back dyno run, they pulled out a 5.5 hp gain over standard plugs. This got me thinking because the plugs in my Caprice are standard AC Delcos—and if I have a performance motor with an MSD ignition and 8.5mm plug wires, what kind of sense does it make to run standard plugs? More…

Continue reading "E3 Spark Plug Test Drive" »

I’ve worked for the auto parts industry for the last 6 years. I got my start with Advance Auto, quickly moved on to Chrysler and Toyota, and now I’m with Volkswagen. No matter what manufacturer I’ve worked for, I always run across the same problems with customers. Not everyone knows this, but there’s a certain etiquette to ordering parts—it helps you get what you want with a minimum of hassle, and keeps you from driving the parts-counter staff and other customers crazy. Click below the jump to get the do’s and don’t's of parts-counter etiquette direct from your local parts guy.

Continue reading "Parts-Counter Etiquette From Your Local Parts Guy" »

Last year, I scored over $400 worth of auto supplies. All it cost me was sales tax, a few stamps and about thirty minutes of my time. It was a lot of good stuff too: 24 quarts of synthetic motor oil, six gallons of coolant and a seemingly endless amount of top quality car waxes and detail products. Heck, I was even able to get three different tool sets and free wipes once all my maintenance work was done! Unfortunately, for a frugal enthusiast like me, that was then and this is now.

The auto parts market has changed dramatically in the last year. As I reported previously, soaring commodity prices have increased demand for recycling (rather than resale). At the same time, the economic downturn has millions of American motorists hanging onto their cars longer, and buying used instead of new. Rising raw costs and increased demand has made it a seller’s market. Continue reading…

Thus far this year, I’ve scored nothing free. Zero, nilch, nada. Every once in a while I see a complete oil change for $6.99, a free brake ‘inspection’ (with the obligatory small print shop fee) and parts store tools that are still thankfully available for free rental. It’s not the end of the world, but inflation is becoming a real bastard on the finances! Everything costs money now. As enthusiasts we have to watch for the deals whenever they arise.

In my neck of the woods, six auto parts stores serve local pistonheads and repair shops: Advance Auto Parts, NAPA, Autozone, O’Reillys, Pep Boys, and arguably (cough! cough!) Wal-Mart. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses that I try to play off each other during the year.

For example, Advance often has the cheapest parts available. This makes it a favorite among auto repair facilities and cheapskates in my neck of the woods. For the ‘trader’ who likes to tinker during weekends, Advance is often a good source. However, the ‘keeper’ should only get those parts that have lifetime warranties. From my perspective, that means they should focus instead on the quality side of the equation. Which calls for some serious online cross-shopping.

NAPA offers higher quality parts at a price. From my experience, NAPA’s the ‘Target’ equivalent. If you’re the type who doesn’t want to pay a premium for dealer parts but still wants quality, NAPA may have the best offerings. Rarely will NAPA ever have a good deal on motor oil or detail products. They do however have great deals for those folks looking to keep their car driving like a premium product.

Autozone is good for oils and accessories. It’s the perfect cross-shopping alternative to NAPA and Advance. In my experience, they have the widest selection, and it’s not too difficult to find parts that are similar to the other two retailers. As with all big box retailer these days, many products are virtually identical. Even though the parts manufacturer’s name may be different, it may have indeed come from the very same [Chinese] factory. An online visit to all three of these retailers is always worth the while for TTACers on a budget.

O’Reilly’s offers the most free and cheap repair tools. When they’re overstocked, they also have the best sales. However, you have to visit their stores to find the deals. Last year I bought over $300 worth of auto parts for virtually nothing because I went through the trouble of looking through the coupon rack right by the entrance. A list of 40 products were given in one little note card. An hour later, I was stocked for virtually the entire year. O’Reilly’s also have one of the most diverse additive product offerings I’ve seen.

Pep Boys and Wal-Mart are usually the cheap tire / cheap oil places. Pep Boys will have the $6.99 oil change deals and Wal-Mart offers oil changes for less than $20. Wal-Mart offers every day low prices while you have to search the Pep Boys Sunday circulars to get the right deals.

Watch out for hidden charges and miscellaneous fees. If you’re one of those that prefer to have someone else do the wrenching, make sure you know the total cost before you visit. Wal-Mart installs tires and changes your oil. Pep Boys will do that and install parts as well. In both instances, I would still prefer the services of a reputable independent mechanic.

Car-part.com is another excellent source for factory parts. I suggest you visit the site before going the used/recycled route. Craigslist can be a Shangri-la for cheap parts, and EBay still offers plenty of good deals for those who are willing to wait a week.

In the today’s world of car parts, there’s no such thing as a free quart of synthetic oil. It pays to look around and shop smart.