Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The Adventures of AC Delco
Were I to budget time to change a car battery, I would worst-case it at an hour or so. Ha ha.
When Shawn got home last night, we opened up my hood to take my battery out so we could haul it down to AutoZone and turn it in at the same time as I bought the new one. At that point, we discovered that, unlike normal cars, a 2001 Saturn L-300 has a battery that's very hard to remove, including the contacts being awkwardly bolted on the sides and the whole battery being bolted down to something below it in a way we couldn't determine or reach. So we decided that, since auto parts stores offer free replacement when they sell you a battery, we'd just jumpstart my car and head down there and let them do it.
We arrived at AutoZone about 8 PM to find that they could do it, but only during daylight hours, for reasons that weren't adequately explained to me. So I bought the battery and we headed home, planning to jump my car again this morning if it was necessary so I could go back to AutoZone and let them install the battery. This morning, my car was unhappy, but it did start, so I headed down to AutoZone about 9 AM sans jumpstart. After an employee looked at my car, he fetched his manager, who informed me that they in fact could not install this battery for me because there was a fuse box on top of where the battery bolted down to whatever the hell it bolted to, and they aren't allowed to touch electrical components (except batteries, I guess).
At this point, I had to head across the street to Midas to find a mechanic for the arduous task of lifting up a fusebox to loosen a bolt. I arrived at Midas to find that they were working on a skeleton crew because it was Halloween. (I was in no mood to appreciate the unintentional pun.) After they actually talked to the AutoZone manager, a mechanic who said he'd never heard of AutoZone refusing to install a battery before did the work for me in about 15 minutes. I then had to go back across to AutoZone to turn in my old battery and get a credit against my bill for the new battery.
Total time spent over two days: 3-4 hours.
Total money spent: $115.
But now I have a working car, a new cellphone, and new speakers. And I'm much happier.
When Shawn got home last night, we opened up my hood to take my battery out so we could haul it down to AutoZone and turn it in at the same time as I bought the new one. At that point, we discovered that, unlike normal cars, a 2001 Saturn L-300 has a battery that's very hard to remove, including the contacts being awkwardly bolted on the sides and the whole battery being bolted down to something below it in a way we couldn't determine or reach. So we decided that, since auto parts stores offer free replacement when they sell you a battery, we'd just jumpstart my car and head down there and let them do it.
We arrived at AutoZone about 8 PM to find that they could do it, but only during daylight hours, for reasons that weren't adequately explained to me. So I bought the battery and we headed home, planning to jump my car again this morning if it was necessary so I could go back to AutoZone and let them install the battery. This morning, my car was unhappy, but it did start, so I headed down to AutoZone about 9 AM sans jumpstart. After an employee looked at my car, he fetched his manager, who informed me that they in fact could not install this battery for me because there was a fuse box on top of where the battery bolted down to whatever the hell it bolted to, and they aren't allowed to touch electrical components (except batteries, I guess).
At this point, I had to head across the street to Midas to find a mechanic for the arduous task of lifting up a fusebox to loosen a bolt. I arrived at Midas to find that they were working on a skeleton crew because it was Halloween. (I was in no mood to appreciate the unintentional pun.) After they actually talked to the AutoZone manager, a mechanic who said he'd never heard of AutoZone refusing to install a battery before did the work for me in about 15 minutes. I then had to go back across to AutoZone to turn in my old battery and get a credit against my bill for the new battery.
Total time spent over two days: 3-4 hours.
Total money spent: $115.
But now I have a working car, a new cellphone, and new speakers. And I'm much happier.
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The Auto Zone I worked for in high school wouldn't do dick for a customer but sell them shit they didn't need.
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