Bruzilla
Well-Known Member
I was once again working on getting the 440 in the Roadrunner working, and I suspected one problem I might be having was the starter was turning awfully slow and the battery cables were getting really hot. I cut the end off the positive cable, which was pretty corroded, and when I cut off the insulation along the cable I saw the corrosion continued on down the cable. Yep, it's shot.
So I head off to the closest store, Autozone, and go to get a cable. My target is a 2-gauge, red, about 53" long. I look at their selection and I see they sell nothing but black cables. They sell red caps/covers to put over the clamp, but no red cables. I asked the counter guy if they have any red cables and he said nope, all they carry is black. WTF? They do have a 2-gauge cable that's 72" for $19.99, but it's black so I pass.
Next store is O'Reilly's, which does sell red cables but they only carry 4-gauge. I ask the counter guy if they have any 2-gauge and he says nope, just 4-gauge. I find a 4-gauge 54" cable for $13.99, and take it to the counter. While I'm looking for the cable, some guy comes in and has one of the two guys working on a Sunday morning helping him troubleshoot some mysterious air conditioning problem, and another guy has the second counter dude playing Guess My Ignition Problem. I look at my watch and it's 9:35, then 9:40, then 9:45, and all I keep hearing is "we'll be right with you sir."
At 9:46 I say "I'm sorry, but is this a parts store or an automotive diagnostics shop? I'm a paying customer and I've been standing here for ten minutes.", which gets me a "what the hell is his problem?" look from one of the counter guys and he says "we have to take care of these customers and we'll be right with you sir." At this point I've really had it and I look at the A/C guy and say "Sir, you really need to take your car to an AC shop and have them check it. They'll do it for free. This guy can't possibly tell you what's wrong based on what you've been telling him and he can't even see your car!" Then I looked at the other guy and told him he needed to take the car to the shop because the code he's getting, misfire on cylinder #3, could be caused by a host of issues and he'll be buying parts for a week trying to chase it down himself. Then I left the cable on the counter and walked out.
Now totally pissed off, I head to Advance Auto Parts, and I can't even find their cables. Finally a young hippie-looking guy named Chris comes up to me and asks if I need some help. I told him I'm looking for a battery cable and he asks me what kind. He told me they are in the back, and invites me to go back to where they are. They have 4-gauge red ones, but no two gauge. Then he says if I want two gauge he can sell it to me by the foot, but it won't have the stud for attaching to the starter. Then he looks around some more and he finds this old 2-gauge 60" cable that's in a clear plastic package that's so old the clear on the front has turned yellow/brown. He asks me if that would work, and I said I was going to cut the clamp off anyway so I could mount the cable to my existing heavy-duty one, so this cable would work just fine.
We go to the register, and apparently this cable's never been updated in their system since it came in God knows how long ago. The price comes up as $3.29! Then Chris asks me if I'm retired military, and I said no. I'm just a vet. He says "Just a vet works for me" and gives me a discount. Out the door price is $2.89! I think I'll start going to Advance more often.
As a prologue, when I pulled the old cable off, it was a mess. Frayed wires sticking out here and there, insulation missing, and corrosion out the wazoo. No wonder why things weren't' working right.
So I head off to the closest store, Autozone, and go to get a cable. My target is a 2-gauge, red, about 53" long. I look at their selection and I see they sell nothing but black cables. They sell red caps/covers to put over the clamp, but no red cables. I asked the counter guy if they have any red cables and he said nope, all they carry is black. WTF? They do have a 2-gauge cable that's 72" for $19.99, but it's black so I pass.
Next store is O'Reilly's, which does sell red cables but they only carry 4-gauge. I ask the counter guy if they have any 2-gauge and he says nope, just 4-gauge. I find a 4-gauge 54" cable for $13.99, and take it to the counter. While I'm looking for the cable, some guy comes in and has one of the two guys working on a Sunday morning helping him troubleshoot some mysterious air conditioning problem, and another guy has the second counter dude playing Guess My Ignition Problem. I look at my watch and it's 9:35, then 9:40, then 9:45, and all I keep hearing is "we'll be right with you sir."
At 9:46 I say "I'm sorry, but is this a parts store or an automotive diagnostics shop? I'm a paying customer and I've been standing here for ten minutes.", which gets me a "what the hell is his problem?" look from one of the counter guys and he says "we have to take care of these customers and we'll be right with you sir." At this point I've really had it and I look at the A/C guy and say "Sir, you really need to take your car to an AC shop and have them check it. They'll do it for free. This guy can't possibly tell you what's wrong based on what you've been telling him and he can't even see your car!" Then I looked at the other guy and told him he needed to take the car to the shop because the code he's getting, misfire on cylinder #3, could be caused by a host of issues and he'll be buying parts for a week trying to chase it down himself. Then I left the cable on the counter and walked out.
Now totally pissed off, I head to Advance Auto Parts, and I can't even find their cables. Finally a young hippie-looking guy named Chris comes up to me and asks if I need some help. I told him I'm looking for a battery cable and he asks me what kind. He told me they are in the back, and invites me to go back to where they are. They have 4-gauge red ones, but no two gauge. Then he says if I want two gauge he can sell it to me by the foot, but it won't have the stud for attaching to the starter. Then he looks around some more and he finds this old 2-gauge 60" cable that's in a clear plastic package that's so old the clear on the front has turned yellow/brown. He asks me if that would work, and I said I was going to cut the clamp off anyway so I could mount the cable to my existing heavy-duty one, so this cable would work just fine.
We go to the register, and apparently this cable's never been updated in their system since it came in God knows how long ago. The price comes up as $3.29! Then Chris asks me if I'm retired military, and I said no. I'm just a vet. He says "Just a vet works for me" and gives me a discount. Out the door price is $2.89! I think I'll start going to Advance more often.
As a prologue, when I pulled the old cable off, it was a mess. Frayed wires sticking out here and there, insulation missing, and corrosion out the wazoo. No wonder why things weren't' working right.
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