Auto Zone
Engines, bad parts and more bad parts

In October, 1999, I purchased a remanufactured engine for my 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer from my local AutoZone store. I looked at several other retailers and decided that they had the best deal to offer, including a 1 year unlimited mileage warranty. The engine cost about $1100.00 and the quote I got from my mechanic to install it was $750 (15 hours of labor.)

I waited nearly 2 weeks for it to arrive, no problem, and then had my mechanic install it. Come to find out 2 days later, AutoZone had shipped me the gasket kit with the for an Oldsmobile engine! They made good on that the next day. No more than 80 miles later, I was in to have a brake adjusted, and while I was there, we noticed that ALL of the antifreeze plugs were leaking. Not only that, but while we were troubleshooting the plugs, the engine spun its bearings off and it was obviously shot!

AutoZone shipped me another engine, about a month later, without the right gaskets (as I expected and paid for out of pocket) and only covered $600 worth of the labor, not to mention my mechanics charges for fixing the freeze plugs on the dead engine werent completely covered.

The second engine was installed by February, and ran fine until March when the rear-main seal started leaking. I had that replaced by AutoZone's local mechanic, and that took a good 2 weeks more. Having about 2500 miles on this engine, and a buyer waiting to purchase the truck, the rear main seal has blown again a month later! Now there's another 2 week delay for me to get that fixed, and I may lose a buyer.

In short. I want the warranty to be transferred to the next owner for the duration of the year I was promised so that I'm not screwed by the massachusettes lemon law and am forced to buy the jeep back within a month. This is a very small price to pay in that I am already out about the cost of the engine in repairs and down time that this has caused me. For $500 more, I could have gone with another company and had a 5 yr 100k mile transferrable warranty, but I chose a local shop to give them my business... Guess I'll think twice next time.

Dont buy an engine from AutoZone, period. The folks at the store won't recommend one either as I have heard.

Company: Auto Zone
Country: USA
State: Massachusetts

  <     >