For Sale 91/92 FJ80 Radiator - DEAL (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 8, 2015
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Location
Elverta, CA 95626
Location
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First off - I am NOT selling a radiator!!!!

I have been shopping around for a(nother) replacement radiator for my 91 80 series and came across what appears to be the deal of the century, so I thought I would share the knowledge.

Pep-Boys is currently offering a 25% discount (at least in my market) WITH Free Shipping to your door.

This is the common Spectra Premium CU1469 brass & copper replacement radiator (not the inferior plastic tank aluminum core) version.

Not sure if it's the same price everywhere, but for me it came up

$ 357.99 List Price
$ 89.50 25% Discount

$ 268.49 My cost

Plus another $22.15 for local & state taxes

For a grand total of $290.64

AND...- This thing comes with a friggin LIFETIME warranty (Through a local, well established business)

Now, a strange hiccup is that for some reason, they have this thing listed as an A/C condenser, not a radiator. But I did call & talk to someone & was assured their radiators DO have a lifetime warranty.

And for anyone curious as to my a(nother) reference - I replaced the radiator about 4 years ago & went with an all aluminum construction that was supposed to have a lifetime warranty (which was sourced from Amazon). This has now developed a leak in the core. Unfortunately, due to the aluminum construction, there's not much that can be done to repair it (aside from some questionable silicone based sealant that one shop suggested).

So, people, a couple of lessons from my misfortune -

A LIFETIME warranty only lasts as long as the company that sold it to ya...

When replacing a radiator, copper & brass can be repaired with solder & a torch. Plastic & aluminum, not so much.
 
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So a quick update on this (after writing this & posting, I realized QUICK is false advertising). If you're gonna order one of these, I would strongly advise you are not in an urgent rush. For some reason, the call center folks that work for Pep Boys do NOT seem to think OVERNIGHT shipping means 1 day; more like 3-5 days, despite the email confirmation stating otherwise.

I decided I really needed to get my Cruiser repaired in a hurry. As it's my daily driver & I have 3 kids to take to school 5 days a week, 10 miles across town (think divorce, then lost my lease, but wanted them to have SOME sense of stability in their lives).

Anyway, the "Smart Heads" (used antonyms for civility, so think opposite) in the PB order center decided to not ship the radiator the nedt day, but waited another day. Then shipped it "Saver" rate (3day) despite my requesting AND paying an additional $75 for 1 DAY shipping.

Radiator was ordered late Tuesday night, so it should've processed & shipped Wednesday. With overnight shipping, that would've put it on my porch on Thursday.

Thursday night, no radiator. So Friday I finally get a tracking # emailed to me, which still shows as PENDING status (ie label created, but packaged not even scanned in for pick up). I then call to find out WTF is going on with my order, that I paid a premium to get Overnight.

Call center can't give me any answers, so I ask for a supervisor.

"The supervisor will have to call you back shortly"

Noon - nothing

2pm - still nothing, so I CALL FedEx with the tracking # to see if the computer just hasn't been updated. They tell me it HAS been picked up, but it was sent 3 Day, not Overnight; expected delivery is next Wednesday. So OVERNIGHT shipping will get it to ya in 6 days.

At this point, I'm a little heated. Ya see, I work Mon - Fri & needed the radiator in my hand, so that I could get it changed over the weekend.

I call the PB customer service back. I simply suggest THEY call FedEx & have THAT shipment turned around, back to them, and send me another one out OVERNIGHT, so I can get it Saturday morning to do the swap.

The nice lady had no problem contacting FedEx & directing them to re-route the original shipment back to the warehouse. However, they can't credit my card for that purchase UNTIL it's physically in their possession; even then it could take 5-7 days for the refund to be issued.

So if I wanted another one, I'd have to order a 2nd time & pay for that one too.

Oh!!! AND, even if I wanted to pay a 2nd time, it's too late to ship it out anyway. Yeah, and it shouldn't say overnight, because the warehouse can take up to 3 days to process & ship special order items.

At this point, I'm thinking f#¢π Mannie, Moe, AND ESPECIALLY Jack. I don't want to do business with any company that treats customers like that.

So I start calling around to see who else can get me something quickly. Well, I'm looking at a cost of $80-$100 more than PB's price WITH the overnight shipping charges, & nobody can get it before Tuesday, anyway.

I finally get that return call from a Supervisor, that was promised HOURS ago.

So, I swallow my pride & explain my dilemma. I ask, politely (no, REALLY, politely), if he could contact FedEx & just request thay the original shipment NOT be re-routed back to their warehouse & it just be delivered to me on Wednesday. After a bit more "discussion" he agrees to issue a refund for the Overnight shipping charges. But only after arguing that Overnight doesn't mean 1day, since the warehouse can take up to 3 days to ship it out; however, once I pointed out that it wasn't even sent Overnight, after the 3 days, but rather Express Saver (3rd day), he kinda realized he didn't have ANY argument.

So, over the weekend, I do some more investigation & find thay my nice Tig welded all aluminum radiator has a neck thats just crimped into the top tank, and that's where my leak is coming from (well, that and a little more torque on the hose clamps); so managed to seal that up with some silicone, at least until the new radiator arrived later in the week.

Well....

Wednesday comes, no radiator.

So I wait, thinking "maybe, it'll come Thursday"

Nope!!

Friday - still nothing

So I just call FedEx to see WTF is going on.

Apparently, they got the message to return to sender, but not the request to cancel that.

At this point, my leak seems to be handled (for now, anyway), so I figured, screw it I don't need this damn radiator, let it go back & just get my money back.

So I wait a few more days & check the tracking information.

Monday, nearly 2 weeks after I ordered this thing to be Overnighted to me, it shows it was delivered back to their warehouse.

I figured I see my refund soon. A day or two later, I get the refund for the shipping charges.

A few more days, nothing. So I'm a little ticked off & decided to call to see when they'll be giving me back my money for an item that THEY'VE had in THEIR possession for almost a week, that incidentally was ordered THREE WEEKS prior, with OVERNIGHT SHIPPING.

Well, my refund went through THAT DAY.

Now, I should've known better. I worked for Pep Boys back in 2001. The joke, back then, was that even with an employee discount, you could still get a better price on a better product by shopping for your parts at AutoZone. And, in the Service Department, we made sure to bench test any electrical components before they went from the parts counter to the Service bay; because 2 outta 3 starters or alternators were BAD OFF THE SHELF.

Guess things haven't really changed...

So, the moral of the story is - While that price is pretty damn good; THAT doesn't really help if ya can't actually put your hands on the part in question.
 
Hi, This should be sent to their main office. Mike
 

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