You can always count on AutoZone to prey on the ignorance of people (kinda unrelated)
Posted Aug 3, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC
14969
Well at least it has a wider neck for the huge volumes of clutch fluid you'll be pouring.
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I hateeee AutoZone but I totally agree with you this is so dumb Please people learn your car
18
I hateeee AutoZone
I love autozone. lifetime brake pads, parts are amazing.
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no but as an end consumer for working on my own cars it hasn't failed yet. but oreilly and a few others have consistently sold me crap that failed in a year.
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I've never been to an AutoZone that didn't have a dumbass teenager as the cashier who had no clue what he was talking about. And I'm not trying to be an old man. I'm barely 20. These people are my age, they should know way more than I do about cars.
O'Reilly's on the other hand I've pretty much always had great experiences with. They're usually pretty helpful and I get less "to be honest with ya man I'm not really sure" with them.
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That is why i like Napa or Car Quest. Usually, if i need advise there is some crusty old master tech with tons of knowledge reading mags in the back.
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crusty old master tech
Sometimes those guys are an even more dangerous form of idiot, but yeah, you're right about NAPA. The guys at mine are gods of both machinery repair and customer service.
They're also masters of tactfully turning away the type of customer that would ask specifically for "manual clutch fluid", through any of a variety of means ranging from intentionally bad customer service, to telling jokes about goat porn in the presence of bitchy middle-class female customers. In fact, they frequently refer people to AutoZone if they ask about something stupid, even if they do have the part the customer wants.
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This was my experience with oreillys. No Napa's or car quests near me. There's 2 autozones, 2 O'Reilly's and 1 advance Auto near me. I usually go to advance Auto for detailing stuff (they're the only one that carries collinite) O'Reilly's for parts and AutoZone if it's a quick run since they're way closer to my house.
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Hell, around here (SE PA) the older counter jockeys at AutoZone only know as much as their computer screen shows them. Not a lot of prior mechanical experience in the whole store between them
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Exactly. IDK if AutoZone is more lax in the hiring process, but I know O'Reilly's is kinda hard to get hired at. You gotta at least mostly know your stuff
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Yes I'd like to buy some wipers for my ford tempo please.
Sure, is it a v8/4x4?
Every damn time
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I’ve worked for all 3 and it all depends on the district managers. Do they want to preserve labor costs or hire people who know what they’re talking about? But once people realize you know what you’re talking about, they’ll follow you. I had customers follow me to a new store 30 minutes away because they could call me, tell me what they were doing and I’d have them setup by the time they arrived. I even had one walk-in customer who was 14% of my yearly sales one time lol
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Odd must be a local thing. I know a manager down here and have had to talk to a regional manager about one specific shop not helping my mom but other than that it's never an issue and they said recently they had a large meeting with all the managers to reiterate that everyone is paid by the hour, just give the customer their warrantied parts, it's not their concern. tbh it sounds like they are aware of those stores that are being assholes and trying to correct it. I mean this weekend I'm giving them back my worn out rotors and pads to get another set and have all new brakes, I'd be out so much money with oreilly by now, it's terrible.
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How does the lifetime brake pads thing work?
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Wait they’re the same?
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I forget if it's dot 3 or 4 but yeah its the same thing, if anything the brake fluid gets rated for certain conditions where the "clutch fluid" might be a rejected batch of something.
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^ yes, and dot 3. my friend keeps a bottle in the engine bay(old truck, loads of free space) so he never forgets it.
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I used to keep a bottle of left over fluid in my Miata by wipers, came in handy when the clutch slave decided to start pissing fluid, gave me about 8 clutch applications before running out which in turn got me home late at night. That same night I found out that floating the gears in the little bugger isn't too difficult.
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Not sure why anyone would keep a bottle in the engine bay. If you’re needing it like that, you got big problems.
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He doesn't and he hardly touches it, but he has a cavernous spot in his bay where it sits nicely.
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Manual clutch fluid = dot3 brake?
Bigger scam? 50% water anti freeze. $13
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I was just at Menards, and they had premixed 2 cycle fuel. I have never seen that before.
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Yep. I have a friend who works for VP Racing Fuels, asked him about it - if it's legit or just marketing hype. He runs their 4-stroke gas in his generator at the race track. The 2- and 4-stroke fuels they sell in stores don't have all the additives the pump gas has. I think the 2-stroke fuel is 94 octane, not sure if the 4-stroke is, too.
I bought a can of the 2-stroke fuel to try in my weed eater and blower but I haven't ran it yet.
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Last I went to pick up antifreeze it was lowered to $9. The Full Concentrated is $13 now
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I’d bet the water they use to dilute the straight anti freeze is really expensive , super purified, specially fortified stuff!
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Here it's about a 1$ difference. If it was half price, fine.
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Cheapest I can find is $8 at Walmart, last I checked.
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To be fair. The brake fluid is marked as new lower price. So there is the chance that they were the same price but who ever is in charge of setting the price only changed one SKU.
Other theory: the quantity of "brake fluid" sold is much higher so they have a lower cost per 100 to have those bottles done up.
Though Of course there really is no actual need for two different products. I would bet this idea was born from a bunch of issues where a customer would refuse to take an employee's word that brake fluid is also used as clutch fluid.
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Yeah we can’t necessarily discount the stupidity of some customers...especially in this sub
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It's guaranteed that there's clutch fluid because of customer demand.
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No it was like that when I changed my CMS last year. I had to take a second and be like....is that what I should be buying?
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The DOT 3 even has one more milliliter in the bottle
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Me: 'Need slave cylinder replaced.'
3 hours later.
'You have a brake leak'
Me: ?? Working on cars 20 years. No leak earlier. Leak source: copper brake line along firewall steering wheel height.
Told the manager.
Manager Insisted and was not budging.
So i paid.
'Bonus' All new brake pads. Not a word mentioned by them re new pads. Or bill.
Edit words
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That’s a lousy way to cover up an employee’s mistake. They should have owned up to it and comped you the repair. Were you surprised by this outcome?
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I didn't write this right. I determined it was the slave cylinder. Weak to no clutch. Leaking from the engine gear box coupling. Slave on a 91 Jeep Comanche is in the bell housing.
Couldnt do the repair myself w no garage and snow on the ground.
They fixed the slave but then said brake line leaking too.
I had thoroughly examined the engine and the only leak was no higher than the bottom of the engine.
Plus that line encounters no movement. Had to be cut. Zero corrosion.
When i told the manger ive worked on cars 20+ years and was positive there was no leak there he wouldnt budge.
Car came back with new pads all the way around. Admission of guilt w/o admitting.
Told that story to an autozone guy months later. Said he quit there bc they were having him sell unnecessary parts.
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The difference is so obvious. One is 354 ml and the other is 355 ml.
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"Manual Clutch"
Not "Manual Transmission Clutch", not "Transmission Clutch", but "Manual Clutch"
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*finds clerk*
Sir, will this work in my foot-actuated clutch?
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You mean to tell me that I didn't need the blinker fluid they sold me? Those bastards lied to me.
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If the Clutch Fluid is DOT 4 then a higher price is justified compared to the Brake Fluid which is lower grade DOT 3. Assume this would be revealed on the labeling on the back of the bottle? If the clutch line has a run length in the engine bay exposed to high under hood temps it might be wise to hedge against the heat by using DOT 4. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.autoblog.com/amp/2018/08/06/brake-fluid-101/
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the "clutch fluid" is DOT 3
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Oh my gosh. Well sorry I gave Autozone even a little benefit of the doubt then. Corporate America is riddled with this kind of thing I think. My company makes an industrial catalyst that is way overpriced to start with, but they rename it and double the price for certain applications. What do you do...
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One do you get 1 more mL of Brake Fluid?
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wait what? Cars have wet clutches now?
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Little known fact...354 ml in 12oz. of clutch fluid, 355 ml in 12oz. of brake fluid.
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When i worked there I’d make sure nobody ever bought it. So stupid.
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is this post because brake fluid is used in both hydraulic brakes and hydraulic clutches, and "clutch fluid" is not a thing?
Yep. Both are identical hydraulic oil for very different prices.
I like to save even more by using regular hydraulic oil in my brake system. $0.37/ gallon for Tractor Supply's brand that doesn't meet any accepted industry specs.
Also, do you guys know a good place to buy degreaser? My wheels always have some kind of liquid crud spewing out from around the backing plate.
I recommend just burning the grease off since it’s flammable. Also it’ll make your disc brakes colorful so that’s a plus in a my book.
I bet they've got a great deal on left-handed smokeshifters for the camping crowd, too.
if they really wanted to screw people, why wouldn’t they just make both $5.99?
edit: looks like the $2.99 price is a price cut
https://www.autozone.com/brake-and-power-steering-fluid-additives/brake-fluid?filterByKeyWord=brake+fluid&fromString=search&isIgnoreVehicle=false
all the non-auto zone 12oz brake fluid brands are above $6. it’s silly that they’re different prices but i’m going to chalk this one up to Hanson’s Razor.
*Hanlon's
thanks, autocorrect.
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Yes. Some vehicles do not even have separate reservoirs, the clutch master cylinder is plumbed into the brake reservoir instead.
I have a 2012 Jetta, the clutch system does tap directly into the brake reservoir.