Engine Works

Eric is my happy ending to a lousy story. I’ll begin at the end. He said, «It cost $ 100 less than I thought it would because we didn’t have to program it after all.»
The beginning: frantic search to get a quote that was less than the ridiculous one I had for my dead power steering on my Ford Escape Hybrid that I was quoted by the dealer. Eric was the only person I reached that day who 1. asked all the right questions. 2. made all the right suggestions to get him what he needed to give me an accurate quote. 3. emailed me a quote that was $ 500 LESS than the quote I had, so that I had it in writing. 4. ordered the part before my car could be towed to his garage. 5. completed the job sooner than he said he’d be able to. (Compare this to the guy at another top reviewed garage who spent 10 minutes reading to me from the manual (Eric did his research by himself and got it all organized before he called me back with the quote), gave a list of about 10 reasons why he couldn’t give me an accurate quote because he suspected all kinds of weirdness about the diagnosis, and talked smack about other garages in a way that creeped me out…) SO HAPPY TO HAVE MY MECHANIC AT LAST! Alameda wouldn’t have been my first choice for location, but you’ll never hear a complaint out of me when I have to make the trip again. I know I’ll have a happy ending there for sure…

Updated review. Long turn arounds. They do good work most of the time. Too many cars coming in and out which leads to some sloppy work. Being told things were done and they were not. Just not feeling so good about the overall experience. I spent at least 10K dollars with them and I’m not willing to give them any more chances to make it right. Sorry Engine Works but you’ve lost a loyal customer. Thanks.

Can’t recommend Eric and his team highly enough. I came in late in the week with a 1981 Ford cargo van that had been having a real bear of a time passing smog. They were upfront about the fact that they’re not the cheapest place around, but they proved to be thorough, reliable, and effective: by Friday afternoon my tags were current and the van was running better than it ever has. All for $ 100 less than estimated. I can honestly say I’ve never had a better experience with a mechanic.
(And if you happen to come by when Eric’s slow-​cooked a chicken on the grill, and they – so generously! – invite you to have a bite, don’t turn them down.)
This place is the whole package and the real deal.

These guys are the best! Eric and Roberto know what they are doing. They never do unnecessary repairs and get it right the first time.

I took my truck in for a knock in the engine when hot… The diagnosis, $ 500+ and a week later… I received a call stating 2 options $ 5000+ to repair or their recommend engine replacement at $ 8000+… I declined the options and went to pick up my truck… Upon my inspection… The engine now has a continuous knock and I swear my engine compartment had a shroud covering the electric fan for my radiator, which was missing… I was promised a call back or replacement shroud… Never got it…
Good luck… 1 star for courteous customer service and bullshit !

I really wanted to like Engine Works. Local Alameda business, great Unilocal reviews, etc.
Scheduled a deluxe oil change for my minivan. We usually have all our major work at a Honda specialist I’ve been using for 30+ years over several Hondas and Toyotas. But he’s 45 minutes away and all I need is an oil change and I’m too lazy to do it myself.
Asked we come in early, so we did. We were there at 8:30am. The said they needed it all day and would call us when done. No problem. By end of day, no call.
Thought that was odd, so called next morning, they said it was ready (then why no call?), went by and picked it up. They mentioned the brakes needed immediate replacing with less than 1 mm left. The rest of the service looked OK.
A week later I took it to my regular mechanic. He measured the brakes and said they had 2.5mm left, probably good enough for 10k more. That discrepancy, combined with the no call after service, leads me to the 3* review. For anything other than an oil change, I’m going elsewhere.

I came here to have some shorty headers installed in my 2013 Dodge Challenger R/​T. Eric and the team there did a phenomanal job. I cant be happy enough. Clean install with no leaks. He also went the extra mile and showed me pictures of the install and explained everything in detail.

Today’s cars are half mechanical and half electronics — these guys know it all.
Although it’s nice to know I can always reach the owner I have to point out the incredibly friendly team there. No matter who I spoke with, they knew about my car and what was happening with it.

Eric was able to help me figure out why my check engine light was on and help me find a shop that could take care of the problem because they were too busy! Amazing service at this place!

The service is good, but the labor rate is relatively high.

Eric at Engine Works is the real deal!
Many of us have know Eric since high school and he’s been repairing and modifying cars (or anything with an engine) since then.
Eric has all the certifications, tools, equipment, and a well trained staff to get your job done correctly, quickly and all at a fair price.
You can’t ask for or find more n a Business, call Engine Works today!

Went in for a Smog check and they were so sweet. They were very straight forward, honest, and helpful with all my questions. I’ll be back for my next Smog check for sure.

I took my 2002 Maxima and 2000 Forester here for all work. The team is very helpful and straightforward, which is a serious complement when I think about the cast of mechanics I worked with previously. Even for routine maintenance they give an extensive evaluation. And they don’t push for unnecessary maintenance at the end.
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars (which I almost never award) is that the cost is not exceptionally good. But I would still pay their fair prices any day rather than risk my car and sanity.

The car was brought in due to a faulty battery — a diagnostic was run to find the cause of the battery drain. No cause was found, other than the battery had died. That was fine, but the other parts of the service are what led to the 1 star. The car was not ready when we were told it would be done. When my wife got there, they had no changed the battery, but did so in about 10 minutes time. Despite that, we were charged for 3 hours of labor. Upon complaint, the price and amount of labor were changed and a 10% discount was applied. In other words, they were going to charge whatever they wanted, with no guarantee of service either. There are dishonest mechanics. We will not return.

Very sweet, friendly guys that tested me for smog — the experience was very nice. I would go back again for other work.

Very friendly and quick service for a smog check, I will come back the next time I need a smog again.

OK, my experience with this shop is not quite the same. I took my Audi A4 for an oil change. I will give them on this particular procedure they are cheaper than the $ 80 I pay at the dealer for the service, but I checked the oil right after the change, and found a large rat’s nest under the hood right next to the fill tube. You make your own decision – would you expect someone seeing that would remove it – or at least let me know? I guess everyone screws up, but it makes me wonder about the thoroughness of some of their service. I drove back and showed it to them because I would want a customer to do that if I owned the shop.
So thinking this is just a fluke, I took my Subaru in for an estimate of some needed extensive repair – head gaskets. Quote for the whole thing was $ 1200 more ($ 4000) than a Subaru specialty shop for the identical work and parts. I have bought parts for this car at the dealership and the mark up on the estimate was astronomical on the Engine Works estimate. For instance, $ 18 for a required special coolant additive, that I bought a couple months ago at the dealership for $ 3.42 — that was just an example — there were other, similarly high parts markups. Their hourly labor rate is pretty much the same as a dealership when you see it posted. I will agree they have excellent customer service skills and their shop is clean, but after my experience with the quality of work and pricing makes me think they are cashing their «best in Alameda» award and the line of customers it seems to have brought them recently. To me, customer service does not substitute for quality control of the work and price. Looks to me like the oil change deals are marketing efforts for the more profitable repairs — I do not think any auto repair shop makes money simply changing oil, so that is smart marketing to have a loss leader oil change.
I like to support neighborhood businesses, but they need to earn my respect with quality controlled work and reasonable prices. My experience is that both are lacking here.

Had a great experience at Engine Works. Had a major steering problem, and they ordered the part and fixed it within two days, and I had only called ahead one day. Also, I was treated respectfully as a female customer who generally does not know anything about cars. Thank you for the excellent service.

Another great experience at Engine Works. Oil change and transmission fluid change. Best price (half of what a wheel place quoted). Nice mechanics, work done when they said it would be done. Highly recommend!

Great local mechanic to get work done!!!