this story could get long!first,the ZONE DOES have a high return rate on their distributors.there is so high of a mark up on auto parts that they can exchange it several times and they still make money,plus get credit for whatever they send back.lots of commercial shops won't use them because of the junk they sell!but some will.also lots of walk ins will use them because of their Limited Lifetime Warranty.now that warranty means different things at different autoparts retailers.i know for a fact that Autozone will swap out any part with that warranty with NO questions asked 99% of the time.now at Advance that same warranty may mean that they may only swap it out 1 time,and unless you bought it at that store you go to,you MUST have a receipt.where at the ZONE no receipt needed,because your warranty is stored in their world wide database.you never know who makes their parts,because they rebrand it to carry the Autozone Duralast Logo.they do and will change vendors.they have over 60,000 employees,they are under paid,over worked,not properly trained and care nothing about their employees.most stores get one truck a week,and some of the high volume stores get two truck loads of parts.when they go to put parts up on the shelf,if you read the box it may say made in singapore.the next week,same part may say made in china,made in mexico,made in taiwan.anyways these folks love Autozones lifetime warranty,because their job is to go over and beyond to make you happy,what they call the (EXTRA MILE),so you will come back.i know a guy who has an 80s model chevy truck,and has swapped the starter 18 times,free!i know lots of folks that have got so fed up with the parts houses,that they now get their parts from e-bay.most are aftermarket parts anyway,so why not get them from e-bay for 1/3 of the price you would pay a local parts retailer!NAPA seems to have good parts,and have been around since 1925,and they have parts that none of the other parts houses can even get.as a matter of fact,some Autozones,Advance stores have accounts with NAPA,just so they can get that sell and mark it up a little,and make a profit!
Hi,
I did the same thing. bought a duralast distributor and have replaced it half a dozen times in the past 2 years. under warranty and kept replacing it. This time when it started missing I replaced it with a ac delco distributor and rotor and no miss at all. I read other reviews that the problem was the cheap rotors from autozone. You may can buy another brand rotor and use it with the duralast gold cap and see if the miss goes away.
Just to throw this in the mix... This distributor has a TWO piece shaft... Remove rotor button and down inside the hollow shaft about 2 inches is a Phillips screw... I've had a couple get loose and that really fouls things up... Had one, on a new dist, the top shaft section & rotor just fell off!.. Just something to keep in mind...... Hell, these distributors are junk to start with from the factory!.. Too many components inside... Usually run good with cold engine... Can stand there and watch engine and the more it warms up, the rougher it runs.... NAPA's 'new' distributors are bout as good as you can get!
Thanks for that reply and information. It is very similar to what I've heard from some others, including mechanics, about Auto Zones products. Even one of the store managers told me yesterday that a "new" wheel bearing that came in was opened in the store by the customer and it was obvious to all that it had in fact been installed and used! He had a few other instances of supposed "new" products coming in that had obviously been used. I wasn't aware the they had more than one manufacture for products and were rebranding. NAPA has one on the shelf, more money of course, but the "savings" of dealing with Auto Zone is no savings at all when a 2 hour bill out job ends up taking 9 days while they swap out distributor after distributor hoping to get one that works! Again, thanks for the insights!
your welcome.also i know for a fact that NAPA has a LOW return rate on any of their parts,believe me.Autozones return bin is a 4X4X4 FOOT CAGE,which is sent back weekly over 1/2 full,where a NAPA has a 10 gallon barrel sent back once a month?!)<<<<good luck.NAPA Echlin Parts!!
A special thanks to you for your knowledgable insight on both AZ and NAPA and your willingness to share it. I am on several car forums, a couple of them Nissan specific and hands down got the best and most complete feedback here. This forum will be my exclusive "come to" should I have questions/problems in the future for my vehicles, hopefully one day I can help someone as you've helped me. Most of the other responses on other forums were "run diagnosis again and if you do and it keeps telling you it's the distributor then it's really something else because it can't be 4 bad distributors". I was spending enough time arguing that point with AZ, didn't want to do it with strangers on a forum too! Your response strengthened my argument with AZ and I went at it with more confidence thanks to you and 3 different mechanics. Thanks again for your frank, knowledgeable comments.