I’m out in BFE so there’s no such thing as a quick trip to town. Go to Advance Auto get a bulb that’s $20 go back home, do the finger yoga necessary to get the old bulb out...guy gave me the wrong bulb. Yeah it’s basically auto parts fast food, should’ve checked my order.

Second trip, “Wut year ya say it wuz?” Still a 2012 Tacoma Get home, finger yoga (it’s the passenger side light with about 2” clearance from the windshield washer reservoir), finally done. But hey, the right bulb was $5 cheaper and they threw in a packet of bulb grease for my trouble.

And now I have to go to work and deal with people that make pond scum seem like an intelligent species. :need a banging my head against the wall smiley:

Not to be Captain obvious, but did you drive the truck to the auto parts store?

If so why not just change the bulb There?

If not, why not take the bulb with you to compare?

I know, I know you're ranting and I should leave you be

Whenever I need to deal with the auto parts stores, I always have the correct part pulled up on my phone on their website and then hand the phone to them. Then when they hand me the part I check and make sure the number on the box/package matches the part number on the phone.

Also, if the box/package is unsealed I make sure someone didn’t do the switcheroo.

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
Not to be Captain obvious, but did you drive the truck to the auto parts store?

If so why not just change the bulb There?

If not, why not take the bulb with you to compare?

I know, I know you're ranting and I should leave you be

And, I always know the part number before I darken the door of a parts store. I have no reason to trust they will give me the right part

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
Not to be Captain obvious, but did you drive the truck to the auto parts store?

If so why not just change the bulb There?

If not, why not take the bulb with you to compare?

I know, I know you're ranting and I should leave you be

Because I was in a hurry and naively believed they couldn’t possibly fuck up something that simple. Also, the wind is blowing like mad and I didn’t trust my hood to stay up in their parking lot with nothing to block the wind.

I use Advance auto almost exclusively and they are 11 or 12 miles away so I take the old part if at all possible.

The local place has three or four really good employees and I try to stall around until I can get one of them to wait on me. They also have some that really suck...

Could be worse, you could have a Cadillac CTS where you have to remove the front end of the car to change the bulb.

God bless YouTube.

First mistake was going to AutoZone. Last week their counterman was probably on the grille line at Mickey D's.

Isn't there a book in the bulb aisle that has a list of vehicles and their corresponding bulb numbers? Maybe i'm thinking wiper blades.

Either way, I have a picture screenshot on my phone with a chart to all the bulbs to my vehicle. I just changed out a bunch of them yesterday afternoon.

Good thing it was just the bulbs. What's worse is if you relied on one of the guys at the store to grab you an oil filter, only to find out that it's the wrong one after you drained all the oil out.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
Not to be Captain obvious, but did you drive the truck to the auto parts store?

If so why not just change the bulb There?

If not, why not take the bulb with you to compare?

I know, I know you're ranting and I should leave you be

Because I was in a hurry and naively believed they couldn’t possibly fuck up something that simple. Also, the wind is blowing like mad and I didn’t trust my hood to stay up in their parking lot with nothing to block the wind.

hehehe...…. you're right. Advanced auto could screw up just about ANYTHING. Oh and if you need something and don't have a year and model for a car, such as a 12lb radiator cap, most of the people there can't even find it or look it up.

hehehe...…. you're right. Advanced auto could screw up just about ANYTHING. Oh and if you need something and don't have a year and model for a car, such as a 12lb radiator cap, most of the people there can't even find it or look it up.[/QUOTE]

Blame the Electronic Parts Catalogs today, to access any information you have to enter the year,model,body style or in the case of dealership catalogs either the full VIN or the last eight characters. I could "game" the system in a lot of cases when I needed to find something in a GM EPC by knowing the workarounds, that came from a lot of years in the dealership end of parts. Very helpful when hot rodding, off roading, modifying like the time I worked with a limo upfitter building a armored Cadillac.

Combine the Electronic Parts Catalogs with today's mantra from management "you can train anybody to do any job", add lack of experience and that is what you get. Career people like me in the parts business are getting rarer and rarer as time passes.

Head light on our 2009 Ford Flex went out I made the mistake of choosing the longest YouTube video on how to change it... idiot showed how you had to take the whole front off the vehicle to change it... then at the end after he had removed the lighting module with all the lights in it he just took the round rubber cover off the back and pulled the bulb out.... you can access this from under the hood.... Idiots... oh but Advanced Auto wanted $125 for that bulb..I bought two for $25 off of Amazon.

One of the many pieces of sage wisdom I received from my father as a kid was, after visiting NAPA for some parts to repair the Gran Torino, "Son, a good parts man is worth his weight in gold"

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:

Because I was in a hurry and naively believed they couldn’t possibly fuck up something that simple.

I'm sorry for laughing but that is one FUNNY line!

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:

Because I was in a hurry and naively believed they couldn’t possibly fuck up something that simple.

I'm sorry for laughing but that is one FUNNY line!

Screw it, at least someone got a laugh out of it. *sigh*

quote:

Originally posted by Kevmo:
One of the many pieces of sage wisdom I received from my father as a kid was, after visiting NAPA for some parts to repair the Gran Torino, "Son, a good parts man is worth his weight in gold"

Kevmo, THANK YOU!

When changing a headlight bulb in very tight quarters, never discount your wife’s better ability with this.

We had a headlight bulb go out on a GM vehicle once that the dealer would have to remove the whole front end off of and a couple hours labor($$$).

Well, my wife asked to see the bulb and within 10 minutes tops she had the old one out and the new one in! All without removing the front end or anything. Just FYI! Saved around $200+

I always google the part so I can just go in and buy it. I hate dealing with the morons at the desk - "what engine ya got in that Jetta" - MF'er I'm getting a light bulb it has nothing to do with the engine code.

The less I deal with those people the better.