Parts guys

[VTJUNK]

Yeah, I'm a parts guy. I don't always admit to it though, I don't like being lumped together with the mindless drones that populate the various chain stores across the country. I've been doing this for quite a while, 10 years just at Ford. I also was a tech at one time and started my work experience at a bodyshop. I like to think I'm top of my game, and I must be, as I make more than my boss does. (the big boss must think I'm worth having around)

Anyways, we've all heard the stories in our favorite magazines about how stupid the kid behind the counter is. Well, let me tell you how my day is going standing on the other side of that counter.

Today I had a hat trick. What these people were thinking, I can only guess. This is a Ford, Lincoln, Mercury dealership, and it says so a few times on the building. Keep that in mind when I tell you these people walked in here and asked me these questions.

1. Do you have battery cables for a Honda 4 wheeler? Well doesn't Ford own part of Honda?

2. I need a price on a gas tank for a '96 Toyota Tacoma.

3. I want a bra for my 08 F150 that goes over the bug deflector. The bug deflector is getting trashed from hitting bugs.

The best was a woman who CALLED for a taillight for a 96 Contour. I told her the price and she said I was charging her too much, and I was trying to rip her off because she was black! Uh, ma'am I can't see you to tell what color you are.

I know there is other parts guys here, feel free to chime in and tell your stories. Dealing with the public is so fun sometimes : If you have a good one to tell about a parts guy, let's have it.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Parts guys

I sold parts at AutoZone for three years after working at both a GM and Ford Dealership and learning a lot about the workings of various car/truck systems from the mechanics. I knew too much for my own good working there. I loved the job interview though, the guy asked me to name as many parts of a standard internal combustion engine as I could, starting from the top down. 20 minutes or so later I covered EVERYTHING for both gas and diesel engines, EFI and Carb, V and inline engines, down to the oil drain plug :D He couldn't come up with a single thing I had missed, it was great the look on his face. Then his trick question that he prefaced with "No one ever gets this one", "Once you open a bottle of brake fluid you should use it all or throw it out, do you know why?" I looked at him like it was a dumb question and answered 'because it emulsifies, you know absorbs water' :o again that same look. My friend had the district manager telling this guy he had to hire me almost regardless of the interview, the fact I knew what I was talking about was just a plus. Took the ASE test six months later and passed it easily, not sure if I'm proud of that or not.

The store I worked in was in Pomona,CA and we got all sorts people. My favorite was always the Guy who had sent his girlfriend or wife in 20 minutes earlier to get a part and they have no clue how to answer some pertinent question, so the guy ends up in the store anyways and usually pissed off. The usual "Well the car is red.." as an answer to what kind of car. Your phone lady reminded me of a guy who was in the store, and said I was over charging him for a Thermostat for a Lexus($12), said Kragen had it cheaper, so I was going to call Kragen to verify (standard proceedure), then he didn't want me to call and verify, just give it too him for $5, I said 'No I have to call' then he said I was only charging him more because he was Black, I said "Sir, the computer here doesn't know that you're Black, and that is the price for anyone, I can still call Kragen.." He stormed off pretty pissed.

Working with the public is a daily struggle.

[A/Fuel]

Re: Parts guys

you got a lower radiator hose for a 67 vw bug?

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Parts guys

you got a lower radiator hose for a 67 vw bug?

Slow nights we'd call other stores for a Distributor cap for a Chevy 6.5L ;D

[VTJUNK]

Re: Parts guys

ahh yes, the arm chair quarterbacks. We had one of those guys who would make his wife call, then drive her down here to get the parts, and send her in to pay and pick up the stuff. She only had one arm. Must have chewed the other one off in an attempt to get away. ;D

[Screaming Detroit]

Re: Parts guys

the parts guy at our Ford dealership cant find a part in his computer its either obsolete or not available from ford yet

[Gary 351C]

Re: Parts guys

I know parts guys have to deal with some strange crap, so do service advisors! In the early '90s I was a S.A. at an ACURA dealer for 2 1/2 years. The best one by far is the time a couple brought in their '88 Integra complaining of a rattling noise and it was smoking. I lifted the hood only to find #3 connecting rod had kicked a hole in the block! They drove it in by the way! This car was barely 2 years old, had 62,000 miles and was beat up and filthy. When I asked them how often they changed the oil they just looked at each other with a blank stare, then later hit the ceiling when we told them warranty wouldn't cover it. :

[fabricatordave]

Re: Parts guys

i turn wernches for a living i tried to get a job at advanced and auto zone told me they wouldent hire me because i was over qualfied for the job???????????/

[tiresmoke!]

Re: Parts guys

Heh....

I worked as a diesel/heavy truck mechanic for 8 years before getting behind the wheel of a rig for a living.

Between that and having wrenched on my own junk, it was pretty easy to got the part-time job that I had at the local AutoZone.

I was flat blown away by how little the general manager knew about cars, her knowledge was really in sales.

There was 1, maybe 2 guys there that knew what was up...the rest were just fast-food rejects.

I remember being told I was actually "over-qualified" as well...

The Z-net(internal computer locator system) went down one night, you'd have thought the world came to an end.

The puzzled looks on their faces when I suggested breaking out those elusive(read NON-EXISTANT) parts "books" was priceless.....


Was kinda fun doing that deal, discount on parts was a plus........ until we were held up one night. That was enough for me.....

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Parts guys

I know parts guys have to deal with some strange crap, so do service advisors! In the early '90s I was a S.A. at an ACURA dealer for 2 1/2 years. The best one by far is the time a couple brought in their '88 Integra complaining of a rattling noise and it was smoking. I lifted the hood only to find #3 connecting rod had kicked a hole in the block! They drove it in by the way! This car was barely 2 years old, had 62,000 miles and was beat up and filthy. When I asked them how often they changed the oil they just looked at each other with a blank stare, then later hit the ceiling when we told them warranty wouldn't cover it. :

Ah service advisers, outside of the occasional wrong brand car showing up my top three favorite stories from the Pontiac/GMC dealership in order of easiest to write ;D

Guy calls in saying the ignition key won't come out of the switch, but it only happens sometimes, so of course the adviser said bring it in. I was standing there when the guy pulls up, shuts the car off, still sitting down looks up to the service adviser he had talked too and say's "Oh good, it's stuck, see the key won't come out." The adviser looks in the window and tells him "Put it in Park" The guy turned super red with embarrassment and said "Oh, hmm, well I guess that's probably the problem" then heads off.

Another one was a guy come driving in with a Grand Am that is just rattling like hell. Definate rods knocking. The guy knows the engine has something mortal wrong with it and just asks to have the engine replaced (I don't recall if it was warranty or not). The mechanic that gets it while driving to the shop is revving the hell out of it trying to get it to seize or something, but nada, the thing just keeps on running with a rattle. Gets it up in the air and drops the pan and Holy @*#% there are three windows in the block, a lots of connecting rod parts in the pan. That V-6 was driving on 2 cylinders! The guy drove it in like that! Since then it has always amazed me how much devastation an engine can under go and still run, yet at the same time have the smallest issue and seize up. (Oh yeah, no sludge to be seen, the guy genuinely liked the car)

This last one was shocking to me. A 2000 or so Grand Prix was towed in (this was in 2000 or 2001), the hood bulged up just held down in by the hood latch and two hinges. Owners claimed they just "Turned the Key, it popped, and wouldn't start again. : We get the hood open and the entire upper intake is just gone, I mean there were parts of it, but not a whole lot. Further inspection there is a mysterious red button on the console... Popping the trunk we didn't see anything, but then one of the mechanic's pulls the carpet out and eureka there's a red wire and remainates of some bracketry... Further inspection under the hood reveals patched holes where a Nitrous line might have been connected in the intake tube. Despite the mounting evidence of a Nitrous backfire the people were adamant about it being a factory defect that caused the engine to break down. We flat told them there was no way it was going to be warrantied. But they stuck to their story....for a month and a half. I guess when you are making payments on a car you can't drive it gets to you. I'm not sure if they owned up to the Nitrous or not but they finally bought a new engine and hood for their car out of pocket.

Gary, we had a Pontiac Transport come in like that, never changed the oil, at 28,000 miles it seized up. It was soupy inside that engine, but the general warrantied it.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Parts guys

Getting myself back on topic

Half the time I walk into a place with a part number on hand that I pulled off the internet, since we all know a '77 Buick Skylark did not come with a 455 and TKO-600 :

I love those catalogs, I ran through them many times working at Autozone. Heck I regularly now walk into NAPA or the Local Parts store and just ask for a particular catalog and the guys leave me be until I have a part number I want. The System Works!

Ah, being held up. Never happened to me. Some group hit every store around ours, literally they hit like 6 Autozone's around the one I worked at. Then they even hit the same one a second time (is it bad to laugh when the thieves take the rolls of pennies too?). We figured it would only be a matter of time before we were robbed, since our store hadn't been yet and we were in a way better location to get away (read closer to major streets AND freeways). Never happened though.

Adding to the topic, what floor items do you notice turn up missing? Most? Funniest?
People loved stealing those fake glue on Hood Pins at our store. :P We had a guy try and steal and OBDII scanner once, before they dropped below $150. Pretty funny, door alarm goes off, he drops it, runs out to his truck in the pouring rain, and his truck won't start! haha, we didn't go after him, I just sat at the window looking right at him laughing (I was at a register at the time).

I found it funny that the Mexicans would use the language barrier as an excuse when they steal something, like they don't know what we are talking about when we confront them. One night I was working with this Black guy that was real fluent in spanish, he was also a wrestler in high school and college, like to weight lift too so he was pretty big. Completely caught these two mexican guys off guard as they were trying to walk away saying they didn't speak english and the black guys says to them in spanish, "That's ok I speak spanish" and continues on in spanish. The looks on their faces, they just started unloading their pockets completely afraid of my Co-worker and busted. Priceless.

[VTJUNK]

Re: Parts guys

T-shirts and hats turn up missing most. The sales dept. takes them and gives them to customers and then they "forget" to tell us. We've had quite a bit of stuff go missing on the lot though. Just last week someone took off all the Super Duty emblems and F150 nameplates and the fake gas filler doors on the back of our C/S Mustangs. Added up to about $4K in missing stuff. We've had tires and wheels, tailgates, driveshafts, "cadillac" converters go missing.

Not really related, but once I took an old toilet and put it next to the service entrance door with "key drop" written on it. I didn't work there anymore, and not that I left on bad terms, I just thought the guys would get a kick out of it.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Parts guys

parts guys aka support staff ;D

[66gg1tnc]

Re: Parts guys

Try working in a Navy Tool Room sometime :

I was an Airframes mechanic for 20 years so I know a little about Navy Aircraft and what you need to fix 'em. I am not however so clairvoyant that I can tell some of our "mechanics" what kind of tool they need to fix whatever it is they're supposed to fix.

Mech: I need a torque wrench
me: what kind
mech: um.....
me: <sighs> Inch or foot
mech: uh...
me: what's your torque ratio?
mech: I dunno, they said a medium one
me: go look in the ####in book! Then come back and tell me what you need <you moron I think to myself>
mech's supervisor: why you gettin on my guys case!
me: he lost his clue and I didn't have any replacments in stock. Do YOU know what kind of torque wrench he was supposed to get?
mech's sup: yeah, a medium one! You know, we's torqin bomb rack sway braces!
me: <actually I do know what he needs now, but at this point > > So what's your torque values.
mech's sup: uh... up to 1600 inch pounds I think.
me: thank you. Here's a 500-2500 inch pound, 1/2" drive that'll fit your needs. Got a tool tag?
mech's sup: uh...no
me: no tool tag, no tool
mech's sup: <stomps off to get a tool tag>

I get at least one like this every night. Gotta love contract maintenance ;D

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Parts guys

I've got a couple great parts guys I go to now, but before then I had to deal with some alleged "parts pros". Here's a conversation I had about my Caprice:

"I would like brake pads for my 70 Caprice"
"what kind of car is it?"
"A Caprice. 1970."
"I never heard of that car company"
"That's because it's not a car company; it's car model you twit"
"Twit I don't know that one either"
"look in a mirror"
"Huh?"
"Brake pads. 1970 Chevy Caprice"
"oh, OK, what engine does it have?"
"doesn't matter, they all have the same brakes"
"It has to know"
"Nosy computer, isn't it?"
"Sorry?"
"454"
"How many cylinders is that?"
"8"
"How many liters"
"7.4"
"Oh that's big. Does it have air conditioning?"
"What the hell difference does that make?"
"It's asking."
"I want brake pads, not an AC compressor."
"It needs to know"
"Jesus, who wrote that software?"
"AC?"
"Yes!!! It has AC!!! It also has power windows and power seats."
"Thanks..... oh, it says you don't have discs. Just drums."
"Oh really, does it also know that Caprices had disc brakes as an option in 1970?"
"It doesn't show pads. Just shoes."
"Why don't you look it up in the book."
"Book? We just have a computer."
"You sure you don't have any parts books.
"I don't know."
"Ain't that the truth."