Ready for a story? Might wanna pop a squat for this one.
Packed our 5 month old daughter in the backseat of a 2012 Toyota Highlander - a vehicle that had seen nearly 300k miles without issue - for a fun family road trip. Had a shop near home in the Twin Cities put it in the air and check out a couple things for peace of mind, but (foreshadowing) my gut told me to check the battery/alternator and I didn't listen.
Stop in Bismarck for a few things on the afternoon of Friday, July 3rd on our way to Teddy Roosevelt NP with plans to stay near Grassy Butte. Well, fate had other plans. Fortune smiled on us that day by throwing the battery light before we got out of Bismarck. Stop at Fleet Farm. It was hot.
Confirm alternator is the issue, talk to Dan who has like 6 alternators in stock, and buy a battery at Fleet Farm to get me over there. AutoZone staff are super friendly and tell me it's not a problem to rip into this thing in their parking lot. I had some tools, AutoZone lent me the rest. 4-hour job? HA! I'm gonna have this thing done in 1. Rain, hail, tornadoes, etc. Proceed to break stuff.
Dustin the Bull Rider is on his 2nd day at AutoZone and stops out to check on us after the weather clears. Turns out he is a tech and knows a thing or two. This being a holiday weekend it was slow enough and he offered his skills. We get the new alternator installed after a couple hours (finally!)... turn it over and... now we have a crank/no start on our hands.
Now, Dan the Man from Mandan comes out to check on us, turns out he knows a thing or two as well. The three of us run through a few of those things and I figure it may be a broken wire somewhere or something electrical (more foreshadowing). Dan starts making calls because, not only does he know a thing or two, he also knows a person or two.
Having received recommendations from Dustin and Dan we can now make the most out of our (now) Bismarck trip with a rental car and hotel booked. Dan actually had a local guy who could look at this thing over the holiday weekend when everyone else was closed and a couple beers deep. In my haste I cut a few corners and broke the wiring to the crank sensor (among other things), so now it needs a hook to the shop.
Dan kept me in the loop on this thing all weekend, and we were all fixed up on Monday before noon - I didn't think this thing was going to be looked at before Tuesday. I'm telling ya, these folks at AutoZone are top tier, awesome people who actually care and they know their stuff. Alternator is working great, made it home without issue, all thanks to the people who happened to be working and were willing to help out a couple of out-of-towners in need.
Thank you!!!! With the help we received from Dan, Dustin and Jesse the Toyota is still going to hit 300k. Looking forward to the next time we pass through.
