Blake’s Auto Service

A couple of comments first: The place is extremely hard to find, especially since there’s no sign in front. Look closely for the candle making shop and a lot of broken down cars by the building next door. That’s Blake’s. Secondly, don’t be alarmed by all the broken down wrecks surrounding the place. Blake mentors high school students in automotive service, so they get to come practice on older cars.
I have a Land Rover LR3, not something I’d trust with just anybody. When the tow truck first pulled up to Blake’s, I was ready to turn tail and run, just from the initial impression. Then Blake came out and started the initial diagnostic. You can tell in about 5 minutes that the guy is more than competent. He’s like some mad scientist with cars. Explaining what he was doing every step of the way (easier since I was standing next to him and not watching my car in a service bay which I was forbidden to enter), Blake went through each item logically and methodically, ending up with: it’s either out of gas or you’ve got a bad fuel pump. Since a fuel pump for a Land Rover costs over $ 700, I was expecting the worst. Blake crawled underneath and dropped the gas tank in about 30 minutes. He commented that my gas gauge read half full, but the tank was extremely light. At this point, he’s thinking it ran out of gas AND the fuel level indicator is off. He drained the gas from tank, took it apart and cleaned the gunk out of the strainer, and installed new sending units for the fuel level indicator. Turns out it was out of gas AND the fuel level indicator was off. VERY reasonable price and I was kept informed every step of the way. Took my wife’s Saab there the next day for brake service. I’ve found my new mechanic!