I have had a nightmare with Autozone engines. I purchased a top of the line Mitsubishi 2.6 liter engine with a 3 year guarantee for my 1989 Dodge Ram 50 4X4 pickup. The cost of the engine was $2250, without tax or core charge. The first motor I purchased did not have anything in the block... It was just the head mounted on an empty block. That one was sent back and another one was sent to me. This one lasted 8 miles. The remanufacturer put the head gasket on upside down and backwards. This meant no fluid was going to the head and it overheated. This was taken out and a new one sent to me. The third engine lasted six months and the water jacket broke ruining the engine. The vehicle has been in storage since December.
I chose Auto Zone over local rebuilders because I drive to Denver and Seattle a lot. The sales associate told me that Auto Zone backs up their warrantee in all 50 states, plus they will pay up to $400 in labor expenses. I was going to have the shop that was doing the installation pay for it and charge me for the cost, but he said that I should buy it myself, that way it would be in my name and if anything happened on one of my trips I would be able to have the truck fixed by them. If I had the shop buy it I would have to have the truck towed to the shop then Auto Zone would pay for the labor. Did I want to pay towing from Idaho to Missouri? No, so I bought the engine myself.
After the first motor was returned I was told that since I had it in my name Auto Zone would not reimburse me for any labor, that I would have to pay that out of pocket myself since it was not in a shops name, even though I had a bill from the service station. That cost me $300.00. The second engine cost me $500.00 to pull and replace, and this next one will cost me the same.
When the second engine was returned, and the third engine picked up, Brian, the former sales manager of the Rolla (Missouri) Autozone had never done an engine return with labor refund and hopelessly screwed up the paperwork (he showed it as being the same engine remanufactorer just a different engine ID, when it was really from another remanufactorer) then "lost" all of the paperwork I turned in. Now the new manager, Priscilla, says she can't find the
transaction on the store's computers. I gave them a copy of the repair shop's billing that showed the date they put the motor in, and she still can't find it.
I gave her the engine I.D. Stamp numbers, but she is out of the store for two weeks on medical leave, and no one in that store wants to help.
I have been given the run around so much that I went out and bought a wrecked donor truck with a fuel injected 2.4 liter engine and will swap everything out myself. This is not a $200.00 piece of junk engine, it was almost $2800 with tax and core charges. I have contacted the remanufactorer with the engine identification stamp that I wrote down from the dog ear on the block and he verified that it was indeed shipped to the Rolla Auto Zone. I feel as if I have no choice - I am going to have to sue them not only for the cost of the engine, but tax and ALL of the labor charges that I have incurred.
My viewpoint? If Auto Zone will not take care of the large cost items, why would anyone think they would care about the smaller stuff? I have stopped doing any business with Auto Zone. They apparently like to sell junk, and do not like to service the junk they sell. Oh yeah, since I originally purchased this engine I have also purchased a 140 hp rebuilt Chevrolet Corvair engine, a 350 high performance crate engine, and a rearend for a Ford pickup... And nothing was purchased from Auto Zone...
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