Auto Parts Store Free Service Leaves Customer Stranded

It Happened in Our Family

This fall, I got a call from my son asking if his car’s battery really did need to be anchored in its battery tray or if it is okay for it to slide around just a little. I explained to him that even small movements of the battery, leads to unnecessary strain on the battery cables and battery posts and would likely lead to a damaged battery over time.

When I asked him why the question, he explained that he went to an auto parts store to replace his old battery with a new one. With the purchase, the desk employee offered to take his old battery out for its core charge and put the new battery in as part of their free service. He accepted the offer.

Big mistake.

While switching batteries, the store employee doing the work used a power tool to loosen the bolt in the battery tray that held a clip against a lip on the bottom of the battery to secure it in place. As a result, the power tool snapped the bolt in two pieces leaving part of the bolt still in its screw hole in the battery tray. Too much force with the wrong tool cranking in the wrong direction…righty tightly, lefty loosey and all that. Sigh.

The employee refused to repair the broken bolt telling my son that the store is not responsible for any damage caused during their free services. He continued to replace the old battery with a new one and my son drove home with a loose battery in its tray. And then called me.

The Problem Grows

The next day my son drives over for me to fix the broken battery tray bolt problem. I wind up having to drill the broken bolt out, re-tap the hole to a slightly larger size and put in a new replacement bolt. Easy-peasy.

However, while looking over his new battery I noticed a small flat piece of lead shim wedged between one of the battery posts and its cable clamp. When I asked my son what that was for, he explained that he asked the auto parts store employee the same question and was told that, “It’s to help prevent the battery post terminal from corroding.” My internal BS meter went off-scale.

On closer examination, I realized that the battery posts on the new battery were too small for the original cable clamps and so the employee decided to shim the extra space with a flattened piece of lead so the clamp could be tightened. Sigh.

I then advised my son to take his car back to the auto parts store and either have them replace the battery with one with the correct size posts or install a smaller cable clamp to fit the new battery. I offered to do the job for him, but he lives a two-hour drive from me and needed to be home that night. He left reassuring me that he would get it taken care of.

He didn’t.

What Happens When You Don’t Listen to Your Old Man

About three weeks later I got a call from my son. His wife had to borrow his car and after parking it away from home and returning later to head home, the car would not start…leaving her stranded…and unhappy.

An Uber ride to the rescue later, my son opened the hood to his car and found the shimmed battery cable had worked its way loose and was not making electrical contact resulting in the car not starting for his wife. DOH!

Kids!

Fortunately he knows enough about jerry-rigging repairs from actually paying attention (once in a while) to his old man, and managed to get home and then finally get the battery replaced like he should have in the beginning.

The Point to All of This

The point to be gained from this true story is that you should never, ever, let an auto parts store employee work on your car. I’m not saying that all auto parts store clerks are as incompetent as the ones my son dealt with―I’ve known a few who were very competent mechanics―but since the pandemic occurred, finding trained and experienced employees to man businesses like auto parts stores, tire shops, and lube centers has been a problem for these business owners.

To be fair too, if you’ve ever hung around an auto parts store long enough you will also see customers coming in with a problem trying to wheedle some mechanic work or repair instruction out of clerks to save money. So there’s that too.

However, my son’s wife was lucky that she did not wind up stranded far from help on a busy roadway. But it could…and does happen. And serves as a warning to customers that even a job as simple as replacing a car battery is not without its risks.

Another Reason Not to Allow an Auto Parts Store Clerk Replace Your Battery

Battery replacement used to be one of the simplest, most basic of all car maintenance tasks you can do. However, with today’s modern computer-controlled cars it has become more complicated.

In some models, once the battery has been disconnected all power has been lost and in turn could result in some operational memory loss that requires resetting either automatically by the car’s ECU (electronic control unit) or a trained mechanic with a scan tool. ECU’s typically possess an adaptive memory function that can reset after the car has been driven a while afterward, but depending on the model it might not. 

While a car should start even with the loss of information, it can lead to:

• Rough idling
• Poor acceleration
• Reduced fuel efficiency

Not good if you have an emissions test coming up. Eventually it will require a mechanic’s hand to set things right again.

Just so you know, a way to avoid this memory lapse is to use a battery memory saver (BMS) plugged into your vehicle’s onboard diagnostics (OBDII) port to temporarily keep your electronics powered during a battery change.

When in doubt, consult your vehicle owner manual before switching out an old battery with a new one and/or take it to a mechanic who will know what to do…and won’t leave you stranded down the road.

For additional warnings you should heed, here are a few for your consideration:

• Missed Free Software Update Warning for Car Owners
• Toyota Tacoma Service Warning
• Toyota Prius Hybrid Battery Replacement Warning

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on  “Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair” website, the Zen Mechanic blog and on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites  and Facebook for daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

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Image source: Deposit Photos