another reason why autozone is the best
 

Well, I had just finished putting in my fuel pump hot wire kit and LC-1 wideband (which is simulating a narrowband sensor as well) and noticed that I was idling at 13.5 AFR and my AFR while cruising was between 12.5 and 13.5.

I thought it was running a bit rich and something might be goofy, so I wanted to go check if I was throwing any codes due to an inaccurate narrowband sim (even though the HC stink was prevalent ever since the car was tuned). As I walked up to the front door of autozone, I noticed they had just closed 4 minutes earlier. I saw the kid who wasted 10 minutes of my time earlier in the day trying to find my sparkplugs and he was now sweeping the floor by the door, so I knocked. He, in a most dickful way, told me they were closed and I would have to come back tomorrow. I then told him I just needed to borrow the OBDII scanner for all of 1 minute and I'd be on my way. His retort was, "I just told you we were closed. End of conversation." It's real nice when someone wastes your time and can't even make up for it by going out of their way for 30 seconds.

On a separate note, does anyone know if my AFR would be causing blow by due to the cylinder walls getting washed out? Part of the reason I got the wideband was so I could start tuning my own stuff because I thought my tune was rich from the get go. And also because my oil tends to smell like gas, yet I don't have any fuel in my oil when I drain it. I'm getting sick of changing my oil every few weeks just because I'm paranoid I have a ton of gas contaminating it.

It could be but the chance is minimal if those afr readings are right, but yeah I would get your issues worked out asap if I were you.

Nothing for nothing but you're bitching that a store wouldn't allow you in, nor access to equipment after they were closed? I don't know what baffles me more. The fact you're pissed he wouldn't let you use their scanner after they were closed, or the fact you went there after receiving ****** service expecting something more when they were closed.

I agree with Bill...I would be suspicious of the afr readings themself. you may want to try another free-air calibration on the lc-1...

Just the same, a decent cam can make a wideband act all sorts of funny at idle...

I run a 3rd gen so thats all I can comment on, but I know typically its not recommended in my world to run the simulated narrowband output of the wideband into our ecm...

i guess i'm still expecting some of the perks i used to have when my friend ran the store. there are still a couple of guys who work there that bend the rules for me.

one thing i forgot to mention is that i'm running a cam with 9* overlap, which, (i think) would make my car appear to run leaner than it is at idle

Lol leave us alone. I work at advanced and pulling parts with all those numbers messes with your head by the end of the day :D

I ordered a window switch for the GTP on Thursday evening. They said it would be in Friday at noon. It's still not here, and it's supposed to be coming from Clifton NJ. If I had known it would have taken this long I would have ordered it from Rock Auto.

It's probably my spark plug retard that's responsible for shipping it out

auto zone is for tools

ever since pep boyz put the neon section in their store, i have done all of my shopping online and through catalogs. at least i don't have some pimply-faced teen asking me what year my car is... and is it 6 or 8 cylinders (for brake shoes or something completely unrelated to the size my motor is).

working at k-mart had its perks, too. i spent a lot of time out in the mechanic's shop chatting with the boys and got several breaks in both price of the part and labor. it's not what you know but who you know...

and what store you shop at....and what guy you talk to

on some cars it does matter...the computer asks for motor size for any part lookup, on any car. even at a private parts store.

Agreed.

But try this one:

They asked if my '75 350 had air conditioning or not when I asked for intake gaskets. :shrug:

thats because the intake gaskets are probably listed under a category that also has something else listed in it, that is determined by if it has AC or not...easy mistake if its someone that doesnt know much about cars. a lot of the time its just habit to ask

Exactly what Matt said. Intake gaskets might be under a parts group, and they promped you with questions to ask the customer. It might not pertain to you at that moment, but it will for something else.

My computer always asks me when I do an oil change "Exterior Bulbs?"
Thats because under the "maintence" group, there is oil change, and lighting.

The thing you need is soemone to realize that you dont need to know about exterior bulbs or the car having AC for certain things. Some people with teh right knowlage will just skip it, while newbs will ask the questions.

when i call napa. i just go, "95 chevy camaro with a 5.7, i need ______" it makes life a lot easier. but there's way more oddball questions you can get. gotta love dealerships and tellin them the last 8 of the VIN.

this was my point, exactly. the problem is, it's the newbs who get stuck at the counter while the people with experience are off elsewhere doing jobs that require responsibility or experience with their system, like checking parts in and making sure they get to the shelf where they need to be.

as an ex-manager for k-mart, i know all about training people. there are those than can do the job and those who can't. for whatever reason, no matter how much training you give them, they will never catch on. blah blah blah the employment pool in a certain area stinks because they've all worked for mickey Ds or whatever.

there are two reason why a person does not perform up to their abilities: A) they can't, which means they need more training; B) they won't, which means they need to go get in the unemployment line.

back to the OP, since there are more newbs at the counter, i would rather do my shopping online. but that doesn't remove you entirely from customer service. example, i ordered a spare tire from tirerack.com for the wife's jeep. i ordered a cheapie tire, since it would spend most of its time hanging on the spare tire rack on the tailgate. the manager called me to make sure i wanted the tire i ordered, because i was only getting one and it was an "off-road" tire that could have screw in studs applied for tire traction in the snow. and it wasn't a steel-belted radial, which any one who knows anything about tires knows you should never run a belted radial on one side and non-belted tire on the other. after him asking me a few questions and me insisting that i was going to treat the tire as a "doughnut spare" and never leave it on the car for any period of time, just to get to the repair shop and have the regular tire flat repaired, he let the order go through. i feel that this type of experience is much different than the pep boyz, because it felt like this guy was looking out for my best interests instead of just reading the computer screen and asking me questions.

i know my cars. i know what i want out of my cars, and i know what to put in them. i don't need someone second guessing me, or asking needless questions. but find me an experienced parts counter man somewhere... like at the new auto zone right down the street from me. not happening.

Having the guys with the most knowledge behind the counter picking parts off the shelf is pointless, their abilities are best used elsewhere so i/you/we get stuck with the less intelligent people. they need jobs too, they just happen to be placed in convenient customer service positions :lol:
the jobs are made as easy as possible for them, and if it means answering a stupid question to get what you want the first time is there really a problem?

The other thing to think about is when those questions are asked for, and the "Experienced" counterman skips them just to get you your intake gasket or whatever... What happens when there is something else you need? I have worked in auto part stores for the last 7-8 years and nine times out of ten there is always something the customer forgets and right before the end of the transaction they remember.

So say you come in looking for brakes for a 87 Camaro. I skip asking you/you give me an attitude for asking what motor size or whatever, only to findout you need brakes and spark plugs. I now have to go back in and reenter the vehicle info. Had you told me what I asked initially this wouldnt be a problem. That or you come in with whatever car looking for one thing, then remember another only to realize when you get home that the other part is wrong. Then you come back like a raging moron because the coutnerman knows **** and ****ed up only to learn you didnt give him the correct info/he skipped asking you because he automatically knows.

I really don't mind the extra questions; what's 30 seconds of my time to get the right part as opposed to an extra trip to return it and get the right one?

I don't mind that, either. I am just stunned at how unrelated the questions seem to be to what I need at times.

try ordering parts for an '87 Monte ss... '87 350 motor, '92 SD tpi, '88 WC t5, GN catback...

id usually just say i had a 92 305 5spd z28 to save them some confusion

i ordered headers(flowtech) from summit listed for several vehicles (one being 83-88 monte carlo ss) and they came no where near close to fitting. I called their tech line and the guy asked about the motor. I said it was swapped with an 87 350, and he said thats probably why they wouldnt clear.... at that point i gave up on life... lol i told him i was just returning them and id buy the edelbrock ones that were ONLY for montes

that's the thing. ok, so you get customers that are absent minded and maybe they needed spark plugs, too. brother, if i am doing brakes on my car there is no way in hell i am anywhere near the spark plugs. i know, you just used that as an example, but i still know what i need and i don't like wasting time answering what appear to be unrelated questions. THAT's why i shop online and through catalogs.

trust me, when i shop for a cam i am doing that through the tech department of whoever i decide to buy from. i won't make a mistake on that, because with that example, at least, i am sure he's not going to ask me the color of my interior. he will only ask related questions, like which heads, what intake, what ignition system, carbed or EFI, what rear, what tire size, what am i doing with the car... they all have something to do with what cam you get, so i don't mind answering them. and, like i said, in that case i will seek out the knowledge of someone who knows more than i do.