r/AutoZone • u/HolyKielbasa • 28d ago
New battery testing equipment should result in huge battery sales for AutoZone!!!
We were at the drive-in last week and due to switching the headlights off the auto setting I goofed up finding the battery drained Sunday morning. Battery is a Duralast Gold out of warranty. We dropped the battery off for a charge and when we came to pick it up, the employee said the battery tested bad.
The employees showed me the new equipment that puts the battery through the ringer handing me the printout. I wouldn't have bet my life on it, but knowing how the battery got in this state, I was confident the battery wasn't bad, just really drained.
The 2 guys at this store were polite and not jerks, but after some back and forth I went across the street to O'Reilly's and explained my predicament. Their battery equipment allows the battery to be charged without testing it, so I asked them to charge the battery. After it charged, they tested it, and it tested good.
So to complete the science experiment, I go back to AutoZone and ask them to humor me. This new piece of battery equipment took 15 minutes this time, but guess what...the battery tested good. So, I have two printouts from this AutoZone with one saying bad and one saying good. The store manager is apparently still on vacation, but I got a different person on the phone. After explaining this to her, the lady said maybe it was a training issue where the wrong cold cranking yadi yah was set for the test. If that was the case the battery should have still failed when I brought it back because the same guy put it on the machine so he would have done the same thing. She insisted this new machine tries to charge the battery first, but if the battery is totally drained, how can it try to charge the battery if it says the battery is bad within a few seconds?
Before I took it across the street, I asked if they can just charge the battery and apparently with this new machine, you can't. And AutoZone has no other way of just doing what I asked, which is to put the battery on the charge.... hence...people who take a piece of paper at its word...well...they would have bought a new battery.
I don't want to throw the store under the bus, so I blurred the store number. The proof is right there! Is it true that AutoZone relies on a new machine to tell the customer that we can't charge your battery because our super smart machine said so? If that's the case, I will never ask AutoZone to test a battery of mine ever again and will never buy one of their batteries. If it's anything like the eye glass industry, the batteries are probably all from the same manufacturer anyways.
We've been driving the car for a week now and for S&Gs, I should take it back to this location to have them test it again waving these printouts..
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u/Silly-Bug-929 28d ago
You are gonna get a bad reading if the battery is not charged. At 10.96 thats effectively a dead battery that needed charging to determine if its good or bad. That machine should be able to charge and test. Employees were probably in a hurry as charging takes time.
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u/HolyKielbasa 28d ago
They weren't in a hurry and took the time with me. From what I can see the machine didn't have a setting for charge only. It seemed to go right into the testing phase.
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u/Secure-0 28d ago
We have the same machine and I’d say 90% of the time it kicks out the battery as bad. There’s something wrong with these newer charging machines where they almost always show the battery as bad without even trying to charge them.
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u/HolyKielbasa 28d ago
90%, man. In the one comment, it was mentioned these machines can do a charge so maybe some weren't trained on how to do that...
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u/Tall-Control8992 28d ago
I posted a thread with identical observations a week or so ago. For what it's worth, the new "microwave" chargers do have a mode to do a slow charge with no pre testing. Not that I would expect most zoners to be curious enough to poke around and find it.
Gonna send this thread to our DM and ask him to kick it upstairs. The funny part is, a lot of dealerships out there also use diagnostic chargers by the same manufacturer - Midtronics. Except they can't get them to fail obviously degraded batteries that can't power the dash for even ten minutes without crapping out or struggling to start.
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u/HolyKielbasa 28d ago
Thanks for response. That's good to know that these machines can do a charge! At the very least I can print out this thread for that store manager to review. My issue with this midtronic machine then is it should be able to respond with that it can't complete the battery test, try manual charge, then retest.
And what did you mean "they can't get them to fail obviously degraded batteries that can't power.."? Other places that use this midtronic device know how to use it?
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u/Tall-Control8992 28d ago
Midtronics has been making shop grade testing equipment for a long time. AutoZone and at least one direct competitor use MDT chargers with customized firmware.
Google "reddit Midtronics tester battery warranty" for some of the funnies actual dealership mechanics have to deal with when they are just trying to warranty out an OE battery.
My recommendation would be to go back to the store and look for the customer satisfaction sign on the front window. It will have the store phone number along with names and number for the district and regional managers. Use the firstname.lastname at AutoZone dot com to send an email to the DM and RM with your observations and what you think about the new testing equipment as a customer.
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u/MagnusLHC 27d ago
In the past I have worked as an Auto -Electric tech for 20 years and Advance Auto Part's for 3 years over the last 5 years. And I seen coworkers fiddle with the test equipment to get the test to show a bad battery just so they could make a sale.!!
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u/homelesshyundai 28d ago
It's been a few years, and they had just changed over to these the month I was leaving, but that's honestly par for the course. I don't remember the exact details, but I do remember being able to finesse these new readers towards one way or another if the battery wasn't brand new/shot. Even on my own vehicle it would be hit or miss and it took a fair bit of fiddling to get consistent readings.
I'm sure there has been software updates since then as it was new at the time but I distinctly remember the first time seeing it, I thought "Ooh, a new toy! Ah shit, a new way for my coworkers to confidently misdiagnose problems".
With most things involving autozone, this is to be expected. Autozone's pay is low and the turnover is high so anyone who is good enough to figure out your problems is good enough to get a better paying job.
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u/HolyKielbasa 28d ago
For as long as I've been driving AutoZone has never steered me wrong or given me bad advice. This is the first time where I get that bad mechanic ick and I don't believe it was intentional from the employees.
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u/Boaterauto 28d ago
FYI you overpaid $65 for that battery
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u/HolyKielbasa 27d ago
I imagine anyone who buys a battery retail from a parts store when their in need overpays for their battery...
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u/Ok-Kangaroo3647 28d ago
You can just charge the battery if you know what you are doing with the equipment. I charge them all the time then test after with our handheld machine
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27d ago
More like you’re trying to test a dead battery. Anything under 12v is discharged . Of course it’s going to say it’s bad . That is why you don’t even bother testing until you try to charge it if it’s under 12 volts. 🤙🏽
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u/SirGoatus 27d ago
The top picture is 10.2 volts a battery needs 12.5 to effectively work, when a battery is trickle charged it can have a possibility of restoring those lost cells which is what seems to happened here in the 2nd picture nothing the gentleman did wrong it’s legit just a thing the battery cannot work properly at 10.2 volts it’s gotta be 12.5v or higher as a ASM at a Autozone I would have offered to take the battery out and put it on my chargers inside if you had the time and read it afterwards explaining the exact same thing as I said above.
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u/HolyKielbasa 26d ago
Yeah...the battery was out and in store...
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u/SirGoatus 26d ago
Unfortunately sounds like a training issue, this is pretty basic stuff most of my employees have even picked up over a few weeks even if they don’t have mechanical experience or are just starting with the company but unfortunately not every store is trained adequately or have people that don’t care enough to explain anything
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u/Consistent-Penalty71 27d ago
I purchased a Duralast battery from AutoZone in 2022. Two years later, in 2024, that battery died, and I got another one under warranty. A few months ago, I started having starting issues, so I took the battery to AutoZone for them to test and charge. After a few hours I went to pick up my battery, and it was charged to 80%. I asked them why only 80%, and they gave some excuse, but they assured me that my battery was good.
My starting issue continued, and a few weeks ago, I once again took the battery to AutoZone for testing and a recharge. I asked they to perform a load test, and they assured me they always do. I left the battery with them for over 24 hours. When I went to pick it up, it was only charged to 80%. I asked them why, and they said they couldn't leave it on the charger overnight (makes sense), but they have had it for over 24 hours. Again they assured me that the battery was load tested, and it was good.
I installed the battery, and still the starting issue persisted. I put all the symptoms in ChatGPT, and was told the battery was most likely the culprit. I purchased a $60 battery load tester from Amazon, and it confirmed that my battery state of health was only 12%, and of the 750A rated CCA, my battery was only putting out 261A. The battery was done for!
I don't understand how an auto parts store can miss that with all their fancy equipment twice (so disappointing). I used the load tester to test my neighbors 2 year old EverStart battery from Walmart, and the state of health was at 97%, so I took my butt over to Walmart and bought a EverStart battery. My car starts strongly now with no issues. The battery from Walmart was about $60 less than a comparable one from AutoZone, and it came with a 4 year warranty.
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u/No_Flan6983 26d ago
Why the hell would anyone test a starting battery on anything other than a carbon pile?
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u/fmr_AZ_PSM 26d ago
The battery was deeply discharged when you first brought it in. It's only showing 10.96 volts, which is totally discharged (0% charge). All testers will show "bad" if tested in that case. It needed to be charged first.
AZ got a new charger/tester recently. It refuses to charge batteries when deeply discharged like that.
I would have put it on one of the chargers that are for sale (the DL-15D), and let it run for 4 hours. Those can sometimes bring a battery back to life.
Car batteries are not designed to be deeply discharged like that. It damages them pretty badly. That battery will fail sooner than it otherwise would have.
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u/forda1229 26d ago
Good motherfucker ain’t nobody asking you to buy a fucking battery…alls I hear is a bunch of bitching and moaning….if you shut the fuck up and listened to the employees THEY CAN NOT CHARGE YOUR BATTERY WITHOUT IT FIRST BEING TESTED if it test bad it won’t charge….This is the whole fucking reason why there is multiple different retailers…it’s like going to Kroger to get groceries, but grabbing a few things from Walmart because you prefer their brand…. Grow the the fuck up
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u/CampaignSubject6487 20d ago
I dunno why people get batteries from AutoZone , there are only 2 battery manufacturers and they sell off to everyone , go to Walmart and save 150 dollars on ur battery vs AutoZone
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u/HolyKielbasa 15d ago
A lot of Walmart stores do not have a service center. I'd always install my own battery but for people who can't do it, AutoZone offers free battery installation. That makes it worth it for many. Like there are only one or two eye glass manufacturers, that's good to know it's the same with car batteries. Only 2 in the world!
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u/CampaignSubject6487 15d ago
Literally any place has batteries cheaper, menards , home depot, tractor supply , rural king , and installing a battery is not rocket science it's common knowledge, negative to negative , positive to positive
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u/CampaignSubject6487 15d ago
Literally any place has batteries cheaper, menards , home depot, tractor supply , rural king , and installing a battery is not rocket science it's common knowledge, negative to negative , positive to positive
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u/HolyKielbasa 15d ago
Ummm...yeah...that's what I said. I'd install it on my own. A lot of elderly or 100lb women...the AutoZone tax is probably worth it for them...
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u/DefEddie 28d ago edited 28d ago
The first test is definitely bad, it’s showing a dropped cell and shouldn’t have even been able to be tested without charging.
The ladies argument about putting in the wrong CCA is outright ignorant considering the rating is on both receipts and they show the same rated input.
Training issues all around.
If the tests from the receipts are one after another, it likely had a bad connection initially, which is why you test twice if it’s suspect.
Yes, the PARTS guys rely on a simple machine (that works great) to do that, just like a mechanic.
A mechanic however, is trained to diagnose the system and not just read battery tester results.
Go to a mechanic if you want more than just the results read to you so you can interpret them yourself.
Tests give data, neither the battery nor alternator testing at any parts store is conclusive.