It was a beautiful August Day. The 23rd, to be specific. Gorgeous bright late summer sunshine, a rare low humidity day without a cloud in the sky. To top it off it was a Saturday. Absolutely Perfect. The Mark VIII is washed, claybar'd, waxed, shampooed interior, clean windows, looking flawless as usual.
It gets better. My girlfriend actually agrees, and seems to WANT to go to the car show at the Ford dealership. Excellent. Let's go see all the old cars. There where a ton. A 63 split window corvette, with a 327. 66 and 67 Shelby’s, mustang gt's, an old Fairlane, some old model T's. All around great show. A 70 Nova with a 6.71 Blower and dual quads, and exhaust pipes so big in diameter I think I could actually put my head into one. Old and new T-birds. Drool.....
We spend about an hour cruising the parking lot, checking out all the old cars, and lunch time comes about. So it's off to Taco Bell. After Taco Bell, we make one more stop before heading to my dad's place, to hang by the pool.
Autozone. Over lunch, I decide it would be a perfect day to drain both the Transfer case and the gear box in my bronco, to replace the fluid with fresh stuff. So, we decide to stop at AutoZone. I pick up 2 quarts of 85 140 Gear Oil, some other items, and to top it all off, it's promotion day. I get a free tire pressure gauge at point of purchase. Bonus.......Or so I thought.
I place the 2 quarts of the stinky slimy smelly gear oil into the cargo net in the trunk of the Mark VIII. I then proceed to drive the .75 miles it is distance wise from AutoZone to my Dad's house. I get to the house, open the trunk........Uh oh.
The lid of one of the quarts of gear oil is not on the bottle anymore. "That's ok", I think to myself, "the foil on the bottle should prevent any leakage". Wow, what's that smell? Nah, it couldn't....It wouldn't....Oh man. Yep. It is.
1 WHOLE ENTIRE Quart bottle of 85 140 Gear Oil all OVER the trunk. In the mat, under the spare tire cover, on the spare tire cover, on the spare tire, on top the ORIGINAL WHEEL LOCK BAG (Unopened, with original wheel locks inside), on the spare tire, jack. Everywhere except, the in trunk 10 disc factory CD changer.
There was nothing else in the trunk, cd's or cans of oil, or anything, except those two bottles of gear oil. The other bottle was fine. No leaks, nothing. The ride to Dad's from AutoZone was only .75 miles. Not enough time for any spirited driving. Too many kids, stop signs, etc. Why did the lid pop off?
I take the opened bottle of gear oil back to AutoZone. I ask the manager”are there are any products that can get gear oil out of a trunk mat?”. “Uh, well, no. Not really. The best you thing you can do is get it detailed out”. Me, “Oh man, that SUCKS. Is there anything you can do? Obviously it was a defective bottle if the TAMPER PROOF Seal came out when the lid to the bottle fell off. That seal should come off except when I punch a hole through it to get the oil out.”. “You’re right. I’ll tell you what, go get a few estimates, and bring them in here, and we’ll take care of it”. Well. I was dumbfounded. A retail Manager making a promise like this is almost unheard of these days. We agreed on this course of action, and made plans for further discussion on reimbursement of the detailing expenses.
Well, I’ve written enough here. I’ll wrap this up now. After 5 estimates, no one wanting to just clean the trunk mat, and a general consensus that new parts is the appropriate way to go, the AutoZone Manager paid me out 250 dollars cash, on approval from the regional manager for me to purchase a new trunk mat, and to cover installation costs.
I ordered a new trunk mat from Torrie at FPN, Scrubbed the trunk well until it smelled brand new, and installed the trunk mat. The only problem left is the spare tire cover. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to get that gear oil smell out of the fabric.
Sorry for the novel.
Oh well.
It gets better. My girlfriend actually agrees, and seems to WANT to go to the car show at the Ford dealership. Excellent. Let's go see all the old cars. There where a ton. A 63 split window corvette, with a 327. 66 and 67 Shelby’s, mustang gt's, an old Fairlane, some old model T's. All around great show. A 70 Nova with a 6.71 Blower and dual quads, and exhaust pipes so big in diameter I think I could actually put my head into one. Old and new T-birds. Drool.....
We spend about an hour cruising the parking lot, checking out all the old cars, and lunch time comes about. So it's off to Taco Bell. After Taco Bell, we make one more stop before heading to my dad's place, to hang by the pool.
Autozone. Over lunch, I decide it would be a perfect day to drain both the Transfer case and the gear box in my bronco, to replace the fluid with fresh stuff. So, we decide to stop at AutoZone. I pick up 2 quarts of 85 140 Gear Oil, some other items, and to top it all off, it's promotion day. I get a free tire pressure gauge at point of purchase. Bonus.......Or so I thought.
I place the 2 quarts of the stinky slimy smelly gear oil into the cargo net in the trunk of the Mark VIII. I then proceed to drive the .75 miles it is distance wise from AutoZone to my Dad's house. I get to the house, open the trunk........Uh oh.
The lid of one of the quarts of gear oil is not on the bottle anymore. "That's ok", I think to myself, "the foil on the bottle should prevent any leakage". Wow, what's that smell? Nah, it couldn't....It wouldn't....Oh man. Yep. It is.
1 WHOLE ENTIRE Quart bottle of 85 140 Gear Oil all OVER the trunk. In the mat, under the spare tire cover, on the spare tire cover, on the spare tire, on top the ORIGINAL WHEEL LOCK BAG (Unopened, with original wheel locks inside), on the spare tire, jack. Everywhere except, the in trunk 10 disc factory CD changer.
There was nothing else in the trunk, cd's or cans of oil, or anything, except those two bottles of gear oil. The other bottle was fine. No leaks, nothing. The ride to Dad's from AutoZone was only .75 miles. Not enough time for any spirited driving. Too many kids, stop signs, etc. Why did the lid pop off?
I take the opened bottle of gear oil back to AutoZone. I ask the manager”are there are any products that can get gear oil out of a trunk mat?”. “Uh, well, no. Not really. The best you thing you can do is get it detailed out”. Me, “Oh man, that SUCKS. Is there anything you can do? Obviously it was a defective bottle if the TAMPER PROOF Seal came out when the lid to the bottle fell off. That seal should come off except when I punch a hole through it to get the oil out.”. “You’re right. I’ll tell you what, go get a few estimates, and bring them in here, and we’ll take care of it”. Well. I was dumbfounded. A retail Manager making a promise like this is almost unheard of these days. We agreed on this course of action, and made plans for further discussion on reimbursement of the detailing expenses.
Well, I’ve written enough here. I’ll wrap this up now. After 5 estimates, no one wanting to just clean the trunk mat, and a general consensus that new parts is the appropriate way to go, the AutoZone Manager paid me out 250 dollars cash, on approval from the regional manager for me to purchase a new trunk mat, and to cover installation costs.
I ordered a new trunk mat from Torrie at FPN, Scrubbed the trunk well until it smelled brand new, and installed the trunk mat. The only problem left is the spare tire cover. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to get that gear oil smell out of the fabric.
Sorry for the novel.
Oh well.
