Don't They Go To School For This?
 

Ok bought parts to change Hubs,Rotors and Pads in my Pickup.Only place that had parts was 25 miles from the House.Had a Garage 30 miles the other direction.

Pull Calipers and Pads off,pull Cap off Hub,pull Ring,take Nut out.Ok get to Part we didn't know.

Go 10 miles to Parts Store to find out.They knew nothing.Ok we'll buy a Book,drive 40 miles to another Parts Store,they knew nothing but had a Book,$30.Asked if there was any Special Tools we needed? They didn't know.Pay for the Book still Lost.Question the fact that my Pickup was even a '90.

Go back to Garage,Pickup is a '90,Book is still no help.Decide to give up.Drving back home decide to go back to the Parts Store we bought the parts,55 miles away.

Get over there show the Guy pictures of what we had pulled out.Oh there is another Washer and the another Nut.

Drive 55 miles back.No problem.I said to my Son I can't believe these Guys in Parts Store go to school for this? Oh any one lacking sense can work there now days.

big rockpile

You prove what I say all the time. Companies fire competent people so they can pay flunkies less just to have someone working there. All about the money.

Next time you see someone not taking care of their kid and someone says somthing to them. And the parent says " Don't you tell me how to raise my kid!!!". Just remember that kid will be serving you at a counter one day. Hope and pray to God he is not working in the nursing home.

NO! Most of the people in auto parts stores no NOTHING about vehicles!! I know a guy who owns a Napa store, he hires counter help with 'sales' skills, NOT auto parts knowledge! If you need advice ask a shop mechanic!

But, if you have a good mechanical mind, you probably are going to work in a shop rather than a parts store for minimum wage.

Why do you think the parts guy at the counter went to school for that????

No. They don't.

Well I know going to work at a Local Lumber Yard the Application you have to have the knowlege of Building Materials or you don't work there I figure it would be the same on Parts Stores.I'm just use to dealing with people in these stores that know something.

big rockpile

Well actually they do around here at least most of them,just seems Saturday they have more working that don't.

big rockpile

Most counter guys take the in house training provided by the suppliers, very few actually take the ASE certification course. The in house training is focused on how and why to sell that brand, along with just a little bit of knowledge.

I managed 2 parts store/warehouses and all of our guys were required to have the ASE Parts Certification (P2). Most of them could diagnose a problem as well as a mechanic, and many shops when ordering parts would ask us if we thought that would solve their issue, or ask us for suggestions.

Of course, this was years ago, and the lack of caring and training is apparent in some parts stores I go to now.

SORRY BR but YOU are the one that should have had the knowlege in this case. If you dont know your way around the brake system you dont have any business working on this very critacal system. and it is a system not just a bunch of parts.
Do you know the minimum requirements for reuseing the parts? If there was a critical part missing would you know it? LOL sorry but it sounds as if you dont even know what parts you have in front of you!
Your way off on this one complaining about the counter people doing your job when you cant.(and shouldnt)

How much does the parts store pay their help? How much should you know for that pay? Almost all of the parts stores are discount parts stores, no different then Wal-Mart. Do you go to WM and expect them to know how to use what you buy there?
If I spent money to send a parts man to school it would be how to sell more parts school, not how to repair a car school.

A parts store clerck's job is to look up parts, not provide expertise. Years ago parts clerks were usually smarter, because the had worked there for 15 years. Not the case any more. I rarely see the same people each time I go there.

They are trained where stuff is in the store and hou to use the computer parts lookup.

In the old days mostly mechanics, called the parts store and ordered what they know they needed. Now there are many people with little no mechanical ability (not you, RP), that simply go to the store and simply hope that the parts store gets them what they need. I see this whenever I go there and it is frustrating for the minimum wage workers, asked to perform miracles.

While it can be handy to know how parts function together, it really is not the job of a parts man to educate back yard mechanics, only to sell them the parts they ask for. Unless they have a sign posted that reads something like "auto parts and trade school" I would not expect them to be in the teaching business. I would ask a mechanic that knows his berries if I wanted to pick some ones brain, rather than a counterman at the parts house.

Think about it. If the clerk knew everything about brake systems for every make and model car out there, he'd be working as a brake repairman, not as a minimum wage clerk.

I always buy at the local NAPA. It costs more, but they seem to be able to get me the correct part, so I don't get home and find that whatever they sold me doesn't fit.

The other local parts stores seem to have young dumb clerks who apparently don't read very well and don't actually understand that the numbers in the book have to match the numbers on the part.

I'm sure that the local NAPA is paying higher wages. Their clerks are older, know what they have in the stock room, and have been there forever. It's paying off for the store. The cheaper parts places come and go, but the NAPA is still there and it always has customers. People who like me who just want to go in, give the make and year of the car, and then go home and do my repair, without having to make 3 more trips to try to get the right pieces. Fine, I'll pay more. Just give me the correct part do I can get on with my day.

there should be an online forum for your truck with someone having your same problem and solution also online parts suppliers with exploded view parts pictures of wheel assembly

Ok my wife brought up the fact is they advertise that they are knowledgeable about vehicles and help you with your repairs.This tells me you go in there asking something simple they should be able to tell you :shrug:

big rockpile

Well most so called Mechanics around here don't know their A from a Hole in the Ground.My wife took her Pickup into the Shop because Brake Light came on and she didn't have time to look at it.The so called Mechanic took everything apart couldn't figure it out sent her on her way.She gets home looked into it to find it was a Blowed Fuse.

We hadn't worked on this type of system but we're not afraid to try being Homesteading Self Sistaining type of people.Did have Mechanic on hand if we needed.

big rockpile

A good parts person would have been able to pull up (on computer) an expanded view of your brake assembly and identify the part. I agree with Oregonwoodsmok that NAPA is the better option when it comes to that sort of thing.

Brakes aren't simple.

Now you got to figure out why the fuse was blown. :hair

Well actually NAPA was the worst.

We went to another Parts Store that didn't have the Parts but found a place that did no problem.But I went in there a few days before looking for Wheel Bearings was changing Spindles the Girl helping me couldn't use her Head and figure what would work and couldn't figure why the Old Bearings wouldn't work.Finally give up and figured it out and Orderd what I needed.

big rockpile

I enjoy threads like this. It reminds me of how little I miss dealing with the public running an auto repair shop.

I'm going out to find a hole in the ground and study it.

Had a Short she found it.Actually she is better at finding shorts than I am.

big rockpile

Are you trying to tell us that you are doing all this running around without your shorts?:run:

If it had been simple, one would have thought you wouldnt need help. ;) I went to real estate school too. And all the junk they taught us, albeit accurate, was pretty much useless in the real world. Nothing is ever easy until you learn how its done, if it was, anyone could do it. Once you know how.... its all pretty simple. This applies to most any endeavor, gardening, mechanics, legal issues, cooking..... You would not believe some of the messes I have made in the kitchen! ;)

True I've done many Jobs and Adventures and done well.Found it was a matter of being showed and getting my Head out of my Backside and applying it. :goodjob:

big rockpile

Ok I can put some opinions in here. I work part time parts counter for a large chain of auto parts. I have a very good mechanical background and also do field service work on fabrication machinery for my full time job. The computers are only as good as the people who put the information in them. I have to try and think like the person who entered the information to the computer to be able to look up parts. There aren't always exploded diagrams available for what you are doing. That is why there are manuals for sale and mechanics have jobs. I see the other side of this though. Lots of people should not be working on vehicles. I have to go and refuse a sale because people don't understand that a compression fitting is not safe for a brake line. I personally won't sell them this if I know they are working on the brakes. We do have an ASE certification for parts counter, but most people don't want to invest the time for the extra $.10/hr. It is basically minimum wage pay, but it is flexible most of the time.

The other part of this is the availability of paper catalogs to source out parts and diagrams to help our customers. We try and do this, but time doesn't always allow us to be as thorough as we always want. When you have 5 guys standing at the counter and the phone is ringing, it gets difficult to concentrate on a level above and beyond just getting them a part. The hardest part of this job is that everyone wants you to accurately diagnose their problem when they can't even describe it in detail with correct names and terminology.

Theront
(Lisat DH)

My brother works for a parts store and he certainly never went to school for it.
He doesn't even change his own oil.
I doubt he'd know a tail pipe from a chrome reverse muffler bearing.

Its not?? I wish I had known that 40 years ago! LOL I have fixed lots of brake lines with a compression fitting over the years..... sure beats hammering the line to one wheel closed. ;)

Big Rock,

You need to understand that the clerk was just a gleam in their daddys eye when your truck was built in 1990. They were only 10 when most of the 1990 trucks were crushed into cubes. I don't think they have any practical experience working on that vintage vehicle. That said, I do think you are right in expecting them to know what they are talking about or to put you on to some one who does.

Several things bug me about the current state of the auto parts stores. The new cars are made so it is impossible for the owner to do any work on them at all. The only thing the clerks can sell these owners are soap and wax. The computers the clerks look up parts on are frequently wrong. I have often had to take the bus back to the store, carrying the old part to get the right one. Don't know what I'm going to do now that I live 20 miles from the nearest auto parts store and there are no buses. The quality of the parts is dreck. I worked on the front end of the '96 Bronco last summer. Got the parts from NAPA. The ball joints are sticky so the truck won't go straight down the road without constant correction (not an alignment problem). I bought their standard ball joints. It seems they now carry rotten parts to compete with the chains on price and call them the standard quality. I bought torsion bar bushings from NAPA and the standard version were too thick. I had to return them and get the better ones. I bought torsion bar brackets, also from NAPA, and they were the right shape and size but the holes in the brackets and the bolts that came with them were too small. I had to drill the holes bigger and re-use the old bolts. The tie rod ends, drag link, ect. fit alright and seem to be OK.

I am glad too see that someone else is keeping an older vehicle alive. I have not replaced mine because it is the basic Bronco, no power windows, power locks, fancy trim, carpet, or tachometer. As far as I am concerned these are all things I don't need and don't want to pay more for but you can't get a newer vehicle without them. It did make me feel old when my 9 year old nephew got in, pointed at the window crank, and asked "What's that".

BR sometimes the most critacal skill in a job is knowing you DONT know enough to do the job safely.
Brakes are one of those jobs where most times any idiot can get by but once in a while a fairly competent guy will accidently kill a few people.
like they used to say on a old Cop show.

BE CAREFULL OUT THERE!

Yews it is But that doesn't stop me going to ANOTHER hardware store and picking up these compression fittings. LOL
ANd in a few weeks I will be doing just that on my '89 GMC PU. Not going to spend big bucks on something that has 300K on it. A compression fitting will work just fine for the years that maybe left in that truck before I junk it out.; This is the same PU that I TOOK out the catalytic converter on when it went bad, and just put a straight pipe in.
No Big deal. I can do it just that garages can't. And we don;t have smog testing here. YEAH.

I'm in parts at a dealership. You tell me what you need, not the other way around. I don't know what on your rig is actually broken or will break during your repair. I can sell you everything on the page and be evil and greedy because there was something on the list you didn't actually need or just sell you what you tell me you need- and then be incompetent.

I don't care what tools are required or how to go about installing the part. If you have to ask... I've seen ads for stores that say they'll tell you how to do it. Those ads are funny, especially when people who've seen them want me to do the same thing. What I get asked a lot is "Can I install that myself?" And the answer is always "I don't know, can you?" My installation advice is always to get your checkbook out and go see the nice man at the service desk.

Really the problems are familiarity and distance. If a tech isn't too familiar with a job he can ask the other guys, and the writer has already looked up the time on Alldata. They've got steps on there too. If halfway through he needs another part, he can go to the parts counter. At home you've got none of that. My last brake job was a disaster because of a Napa catalog error and I had to put my old brakes back on the car and drive it to the dealership to get their parts. If it had happened at work I could have just called and had them delivered and the tech could have worked on something else in the meantime.

A couple months ago I sold a t-case rear output seal to a guy. He started our conversation by telling me he wanted a seal for "the front rear end." We talked for a few minutes and after pulling several teeth I found that it was at the front of the prop shaft. The front of the rear prop shaft makes it the rear output seal on the t-case, and I used those words and he agreed. The next day he returned and was angry- it turns out that his word for "axle assembly" is "rear end," no matter which end of the vehicle it's on. He needed a front pinion seal and I was somehow the idiot.:shrug:

It's guys like that, big rockpile, that are why no parts guy is going to make guesses for random people in off the street. If it's a store that knows you they might be more willing to go out on a limb, maybe even call someone to get info for you. Otherwise you look like a disaster in the making and they don't want to deal with it. Aftermarket parts catalogs make the problem worse. I use two of them every day and sometimes they disagree with each other and with my factory catalog. If I worked at one of those stores I wouldn't say a thing unless my catalog spelled it out. If it didn't I'd have to keep my mouth shut and be unhelpful. According to my store's catalog, that would be our official position. Sucks, doesn't it?

Yep there seems to be plenty of evidence in just this thread that people are totally willing to take a chance at killing a busload of kids to save $2 on their brake job.


(walks away shaking head)

Sounds like BRP spent enough on gas running around to pay a mechanic to do the job in the first place.
And then he'd complain about that...

big rockpile

You just made me appreciate my local independent auto store's counter help much more then I already do. Most parts I buy are beyond the chain stores capability any way.

As far as feeling safer taken things into a mechanic or dealer ship to have worked on, there are compenent mechanics out there and thre are idiots and every where in between. It doesn't take me long to figure out who I am dealing with, and they go on the list. If there is a bunch of pups in the back just out of trade school, good luck.

Yea I took a vehicle in to have Transmission Rebuilt there was kids in there just out of school.Before I got it Home U Joint come lose and Gear Shift came off in my hand :grumble: I think that was the last straw with my wife as far as taking anything to any Mechanics around here.

Time before took a Pickup over to have Engine Overhauled the Guy Quoted a fair price then once he had it tore down tripled the price.

big rockpile

The auto part stores are just like a walmart.
I do not expect them to know anything but how to find the part I asked for on the shelf.

I go to Autozone of Discount when what iI need is something real simple (light bulb, oil, ect) and to a Mom and Pop place when I need a more important part.

Perfect example. A week ago I needed some lug nuts for my custom built off road buggy. I brought with me a lug nut from the buggy figuring it would be real easy to match it up.

Discount wass next door to where I was shopping so I went it. As soon as I told the guy behind the counter that I couldn't give him a year, make, and model he got a glazed over look on his face. He told me all the lug nuts were in sealed bags and he couldn't open them all up to find a match.

I ended up going to the Mom and Pop shop. You can't even buy lug nuts easily anymore.

I like O'Reilly Auto Parts, they have been very helpful, and in doing so have saved me bucks in the process.

I don't know what I would do with out our local parts store. Most of their prices are competitive with the chain stores and the remanufactured parts I get there last. I guess really there are several places I buy parts most all of them are independently owned. I've bought parts at Oreilly's but ran into problems with durability or their cheaper price meant missing parts that the competition included.

Around here I see ads in the paper on ocassion for counter help at one of the local auto parts stores. These are always minimum wage jobs for teens.

Let's see, I can flip burgers, sell donuts, or work at an auto parts store and gets discounts on the body kit for my honda (or lift for my 4x4, if the kid lives out of town).

The store manager MIGHT have some knowledge of cars.

A lot of my parts come from Harry's U-pull it.