!$%@#&% Napa auto parts

99runnerwa

99runnerwa

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Ok so i am fairly irate at the moment. My transfer case was leaking from the front output seal so i went to multiple auto parts stores no one carried it. I ended up at a Napa and guess what the store in the next town has one left. I run over there grab it and head home to fix my leak. I pull it all apart, get the old seal out and open the box for the new seal. Hmmm they aren't quite the same, well the one that was on there was factory and this is a cheap replacement....so maybe..... Slide the new seal in and it goes all the way through. The outside diameter is just barely too small. :redbrick: I call up Napa with the numbers off the original seal. Oh hey we found the right one, but it isnt linked to the 4runner in any way. Also they cant get it until Tuesday. I call around and the best answer i get is 930 tomorrow morning but no one will deliver. I kinda chewed up the old seal getting it out, so ill just have to leave a nice trail of gear oil to the store and back.
Moral of the story is: dont trust the parts store computer, look at your parts and verify that they are correct before damaging anything while dismantling it.
 
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oh yeah, Napa computer comes up with P/N: 15920 as the part number for the front output seal. it is wrong.
the number on the seal that came out is P/N: bh3670f which i am told coincides with P/N:16037
I will find out tomorrow morning if this is the correct seal. Hope this helps someone
 
get toyota seals. They can give you the part number off your vin# I did this last month and got the right seal the first time even though my t-case is from a tacoma
 
The quality of help at OTC stores in general has fallen over the years. You do get some good independently owned ones here and there, but when someone is working for $10/hr, you can't expect too much.
 
I have been buying at the same NAPA store since it opened in the early 70's. A few years ago they fired all the guys that had been there forever and hired kids. I used to be able to hand a counter guy an electrical part off a 50-year old tractor and he'd walk back to the bins and he'd come back with something that would work. All the old paper books are gone and the computer doesn't list my applications.

Fortunately, I have a notebook where I have been writing down NAPA part numbers for over 30 years, now on my computer. I embarrass these kids regularly but they really know nothing. The good counter-guy is a vanishing breed. I always go in there knowing the Part Number. Otherwise, you are asking for trouble.
 
as much as i hate going to the dealership for parts i think i may have to start doing that. this isn't the first time i have gotten the wrong seals from an auto parts store only to go get the correct one at the dealership. I guess it took me having to put a bat part back in to limp to the dealership for this lesson to really sink in.
The durk, back home we had an auto parts place like that, my family had been going there since they opened and you could walk in there with a random part and they could find something to get you back on the road. i miss that kind of customer service.
 
NAPA is the only place I will buy parts from. The one here in Encinitas is very good with all older guys who know what the hell is going on...

I think you just got some bad luck, it happens... Sorry to hear about that.

But its a Sunday -- The dealer isn't open... NAPA is the call and they will have your part!
 
Join the club. There is a 40mm seal and also a 40.5mm seal (if i recall the numbers correctly) and they are both listed by Toyota as the correct one for our front t-case output seal. Three different Toyota dealerships could not tell me for sure which one mine had based on the VIN. After getting the wrong one (which was the Toyota parts manager's best guess), I just had to borrow a chick's car from work and go on a wild goose chase to about 7 different parts stores to find the right one with my old seal in hand. I don't think it's NAPA's fault since Toyota doesn't even know WTF.
 
Yeah auto stores are sketchy if you don't know exactly what you are getting. My napa is pretty good and one guy who works there owns a 2nd gen on 33's. We have one shop that is like TheDurk explained. They are younger guys, but really know their stuff. Kragen makes me cringe every time I'm in there.
 
I had a very similar experience at my local NAPA store this weekend. Luckily, my parts weren't quite as critical. I just needed a new radiator cap. When I got it, it didn't look quite right....but thought it must be me. Didn't open the box until later and it wasn't even close. I figured that they must have grabbed the wrong box. So, when I went to exchange it, thought I should change the fuel filter too. I opened the box of that before I paid....and it was not even close to what mine looks like (wrong orientation, wrong connections, just plain wrong).

So, I got the same story. There's an OEM equivalent replacement and and aftermarket replacement (for what they assume you may have replaced it with, I guess). In both cases, the aftermarket replacement was the first # that comes up, but was not even close to the stock part. The counter person proceeded to tell me my rig must be weird.....really? Yeah, you almost never see a 4Runner these days. Huhhh?

I have had to return parts to several different chains recently because I got the wrong part. It's just not like the old days when people at the counter actually knew that you didn't need to know what engine you have to replace a windshield wiper.
 
hahah B4Man, you just reminded me of the way the conversation went when i picked up the first seal.
Me: Hi, I need a seal for the font output on the transfer case of my 99 4runner
Parts guy: ok, 99...toyota....4runner, SR5 or limited?
Me: SR5
Parts guy: is that the v-6?
Me: Yes
Parts guy: Is that two wheel or four wheel drive?
Me:...........ummmm four wheel.......
that should have been my first indication
 
For items like seals, ask them to use a micrometer to check the actaul measurements before you walk out. Measure inside and outside diameters and thickness.

I think this is not really a Napa problem. You cant expect the guy to know every part of all trucks and like a previous poster said, even the dealers arent always accurate. I get them to measure first too, or I'll take my own micrometer.
 
Overland Warehouse said:
For items like seals, ask them to use a micrometer to check the actaul measurements before you walk out. Measure inside and outside diameters and thickness.

I think this is not really a Napa problem. You cant expect the guy to know every part of all trucks and like a previous poster said, even the dealers arent always accurate. I get them to measure first too, or I'll take my own micrometer.
Click to expand...

if i am able to have the part in hand when i walk in i do. but since i only have the one vehicle i had to trust his computer to bring up the right part number.
 
99runnerwa said:
hahah B4Man, you just reminded me of the way the conversation went when i picked up the first seal.
Me: Hi, I need a seal for the font output on the transfer case of my 99 4runner
Parts guy: ok, 99...toyota....4runner, SR5 or limited?
Me: SR5
Parts guy: is that the v-6?
Me: Yes
Parts guy: Is that two wheel or four wheel drive?
Me:...........ummmm four wheel.......
that should have been my first indication
Click to expand...

It may seem obvisious but hell i could have forgotten you said transfer case seal, especially when im at work, sometimes ya zone out, give the guy some slack. And let me know how much this seal is, im in need as well, and how big a ***** the job is.
 
Again get toyota seals. They are cheap

here are the part numbers straight off the bags the seals for mine came in. I saved them just incase someone may want PN because i had a hard time over the phone getting it right.

It takes two seals. a small inner seal that is a hard plastic ring roughly the size of a quarter and a larger outer seal, which is likely the leaky one, but i recommend replacing both since it in no more work

I cannot tell what seal came in which bag but the Pn for both are
90311-41012 and
90312-23001

I believe the small inner is the first listed and the large outer is the second.
and order a new nut for the front output shaft. They are suppose to be 1 time use. they have a place where they get smashed into a groove in the shaft to lock it on

Now is this job hard.... Its five bolts. 4 on the driveshaft, and one for the t-case flange. Also while your out getting your seals remember to get yourself a 30mm socket if you don't have one. thats for the t-case flange nut. it may be hard to get off since its smashed into the groove and its hard to un-smash it. i used a 1/2 impact and it spun it right off. and dont forget to drain the oil first. and you should pick up 2 qt's of gear oil while your out getting the seals and 30 mm socket.
 
Oh cool, thanks jason, that doesnt sound too bad, and i was dreading doing this too, now it sounds a bit better, guess ill pick the seals up this week.
 
Its really a pretty easy job. Something that will make it easier is to remove the zerk fitting on the slip yoke so you can pry it forward off the studs. I used a big breaker bar to get the nut off.
 
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