Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

Crappy Autozone stoplight switches (2 kinds)


Recommended Posts

<rant irritated="on">

 

My stoplight switch went out in my '96 outback wagon and my wife got stuck with a car that wouldn't come out of part. Unhappiness ensued. So, I got her home and thought "Not a problem, right? Just get a new switch and slap it in."

 

Well, I ordered one from the dealer, but it wouldn't be in for a couple/three of weeks (special order). So, as a quick fix, I got the cheapest one they sell at Autozone. It only lasted 300 miles.

 

The OEM switch still wasn't in, so I went back to AZ and traded their piece of junk in for their more expensive piece of junk -- a "Duralast Gold" switch that has a lifetime warranty. I slapped it in and was good to go, right? When the OEM switch arrived, I thought I might as well keep the AZ one in because it was working fine. It lasted a lousy 1k miles. My wife got stuck with a car that wouldn't come out of park again. Unhappiness ensued.

 

Finally, I put the OEM switch in and am hoping it lasts 250k miles like the last one.

 

Conclusion: don't buy Autozone stoplight switches. Pieces of junk.

 

</rant irritated="still on">

 

BTW, I drilled a hole in the cover the first time this happened, right over the solenoid override lever that you can use to get out of park when stuff like this happens (normally, you have to remove a large cover to get to it). I then put a round body panel clip in the hole so it looked like it was meant to be there. This new "feature" came in handy when the second switch failed -- I just had her pull up the clip and push a pencil into the hole to get it out of park.

Edited by bendecker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've refused to even as much as go into an autozone for over a year now.

I'll go to advance occasionally, but I much prefer Napa or Federated. Especially after advance tried to sell me 15 psi rated fuel hose when I asked for high pressure fuel injection hose.

300psi injection hose from Napa.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...