Mac’s Radiator & Air Conditioning

First time customer who had a/​c R-​12 system repair. They replaced pump, receiver dryer, and charged system. All was done in a timely manner. So far a/​c system is working good, and the price was about right! Thanks, Bob

We urge caution if you use these people. They repaired our radiator but something was wrong with their fix the next day. We took it back and they fixed the problem again, but charged us a lot more. The woman at the service desk was very rude and defensive.

Got a quote. Saved my money. Call to make appointment. Got a way higher quote. For unnecessary work. I’m very disappointed as I was told this was an «honest shop» I’m a single mom that works 2 jobs. Do Not take advantage. Mechanics are evil this way. Shame on you Macs. Shame on you!!!

mac’s Foster Rd re-​cored my ’47 Ford heater element in a day! The unit now works perfectly., no
Leaks. Superb work and helpful, professional staff.
David Pollock, Portland OR

These guys really do back their warrantee. I had some AC work done on my 98 Dodge pickup last summer at their Vancouver station (now closed). The AC started acting up almost exactly one year later so I brought it to their SE Foster station, they found the problem and made the repairs on warrantee. Excellent service!

I cannot praise John enough at the Beaverton store.
They were not able to do all the work my car needed but did give me a
good recommendation on where to have the repair; he even told me the
estimated cost so I would not get ripped off.
I will return and highly recommend anyone have their car serviced here.
Jann

This is the place in Portland to take a radiator! I took them a nearly 50 year old radiator (that had been through multiple repairs in the past) to check out. They didn’t think it was fixable without a re-​core. This was the second shop to tell me that yet MAC’s 1) gave me a much more reasonable price to re-​core it, 2) evaluated it within a couple days, and 3) only charged $ 27. Given that it’s an old large radiator that weighs about 70 pounds, I consider that to be very reasonable.

Great customer service. As a 3 year customer I have never had a problem. Every thing works wonderfully in my truck. I recommend the Albany Mac’s Radiator too all my friends and family telling them how wonderful they are.

I have had my car towed to Mac’s on several occasions and Joe Rhinehart in the Albany Or location has been wonderful. I have recommended him to several friends and family. Very trust worthy honest and quick service. Thank you Joe!

It’s a Scam-​Shop.
I brought Mac’s a used vehicle I’d just bought that was running hot. I paid $ 50 for them to tell me it was a $ 1400 radiator job.
«There’s no simple solution,» they told me.
I waited until a mechanic friend had time to help me analyze it. It was the thermostat, A $ 10 and ten minute fix.
These guys took my $ 50 and did nothing except try to rip me off.

worst experience i have ever had !!! do not buy the promotion $ 95 voucher!!! they would not redeem. they performed a maintenance check for over heating issues on my car. they recommended having it done before completing other work. long story short they recommended a long list of repairs that were not even mentioned as an issue by another mechanic. there estimate was for over $ 800…they felt bad and suggested i didn’t need to worry about the repair that was suggested by the other mechanic lowering the bill to $ 600. i was not prepared to pay $ 800 and replace a radiator that appeared to function fine. i told them not to do any repairs and i would pay for the maintenance check. when i showed them my $ 95 voucher worth $ 125 to pay for the service they would not accept it for payment. they said i didn’t have any work performed so they would not accept it. they did say when i come back to have the $ 800 worth of work done they would be more than happy to take it. what a joke !

For the love of all that is sanity. Make an appointment. My issue was an emergency. I had no choice. The Service Waiting Area is just counter space. So as I stood there waiting, with no TV, radio, or even a magazine of any sort. I waited.
So after waiting for what seemed like forever (about 15 min.). My car was about to be looked at. I was told it would be about 15 min. and there is a waiting room. I was told to follow the «Yellow Line» to the front. It was awesome. You pass through a dull ordinary door and you enter a whole new world. Like being in a mystical world of metal shop. Then you come upon another boring door and just like that… the adventure is over.
The waiting area is fine. Big windows to look outside. Comfy Couch and Chairs. A Pop Machine. Coin Candy Machines and a Play Area for kids. There is a TV but some one doesn’t know how to operate an Analog TV Conversion Remote Set Up and went back to this review.
I WAIT… 15, 25, 35, 45 minutes later Dave L. (the Service Writer on shift that day.) found me waiting and said «the bad and the worse and the why were awesome!
THE BAD: Multiple Problems Found.
THE WORSE: Cost — at least $ 1,100.00 — $ 1,500.00
Point Taken. Get A New Car… Correction, Get another car!
THE WHY WERE AWESOME: Knowing they would just be robbing me by charging me more in repairs than the car is worth. By 3 X. Dave told me, be gentle, keep putting water in it and get another car.
I said, thank you and asked how much for the service? Dave said it was $ 49.00 but he felt bad they couldn’t help me and said, «No Charge». Awesome!
Thank you Mac’s Radiator and Dave L.

DO NOT USE MAC’S! My husband and I took my car in to get the timing belt changed. Not more than an hour later, the manager called to say that they were into our engine and there were many other parts that needed to be replaced to the tune of almost $ 200. My husband said he’d have to check with me before he’d agree to that. Instead, we went straight back to Mac’s to see these parts for himself. The manager who called him was shocked to see us. He asked us to wait at the desk while he went to «prep our car». Prep our car?! To show us the bad parts? Obviously, this was not right. My husband followed him right through the shop door and the manager yelled «you can’t come in here». He continued anyway. Guess what? Not one.single.part had been taken off our car. The hood was open and that was it! My husband asked what was going on and the guy couldn’t even speak a word, he just stuttered uh uh uh, well, uh. We demanded our car keys and said we’d be leaving. There was not one argument or one attempt at an explanation. Dishonest, horrible shop. I was in absolute shock that this happened, I am just disgusted! Car businesses have a bad rap and I really thought Mac’s was a reputable joint. Now I don’t know who to trust with my vehicles. ZERO stars. I’m seriously so upset about this.

My heater blower motor stopped working, I just moved here from PA and had no idea where to take it. Someone had referred my to Mac’s Radiator so I gave it a shot…
I took it in for an estimate, they had my car forever and I’m not positive they really even checked anything out, because they charged me $ 60 to tell me I needed a new blower motor and a blower motor relay, which another mechanic informed me isn’t possible… they told me it would be $ 654.13 …$ 400 for the part and $ 200 for labor. I got the part myself for $ 95 and took it to the affordable car doctor who installed it for $ 150
Maybe it was just me, but I have a feeling they over charge out the ass! The staff was super nice and friendly, though. :)
Take my advice, skip Mac’s Radiator and go to the affordable car doctor. They do awesome work, they’re super friendly, and their prices are affordable!

What a HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. Not only did this place lie to me and ruin my day, but they caused me a huge head ache. Here’s the story, I have a 1995 Saab 9000. I was on my way to work and the check radiator light kept coming on and off… so I pulled over at the next exit and it was bone dry. I filled it up with water and finished my drive to work. My next step was to find out why my radiator was bone dry (maybe a leak/​crack?) I told the Manager my story and they spent 2 hours doing a review on my car… here is what they said.
«During the inspection we found: Radiator is leaking, system is dirty and needs to be reversed flushed. Failed the hydrocarbon test. 230ppm need to remove the cylinder head and send to machine shop. Alternator light is on and found voltage regulator failing, need to replace alt. Repair $ 3,094.79»
over $ 3,000??? «My car is totaled!» — I thought.
Well it turns out they were not only wrong about their inspection, but they were completely lying, trying to get a large amount of money from me.
I took it to a Saab mechanic. He ran tests on the alternator, it was fine. The radiator had no signs of cracks or leaks, although the system may be dirty and needs to be flushed. As far as having a cracked head that needed to be «sent to the machine shop» conveniently located in their shop… that was complete BS!
I am so glad that I took it to a different shop to have it double checked because I thought I was going to have to either get a new car or ride the bus.
Shame on you Mac’s Radiator. I will NEVER go back and I will go out of my way to tell others that they are not professional or honest.

So, I just got my car back after the 5^th trip to this place. Major work the first time around but a small item missed. I was told this was not a big deal on several occasions, it was ‘reset’ and off I went, only to have the problem crop up again 10 blocks down the road. I finally had to bring it back one last time. Of course I was told it was something completely different than previous, because the person who had previously worked on the car no longer worked there, «we had to fire him because he screwed up so much stuff.» I don’t see how this is my problem although it turned out the be that way. Twice the price and several days longer than I was told it would take to fix it. I guess they think everyone has several cars sitting around for them to drive, and no job they have to get to.
Oh, but they will let you drive their pos Taurus that is about to fall apart, while you are waiting for parts to come in from Timbuktu. Thanks, but I’d rather not get stranded by one of their cars.
I think if I had a hot rod car, could talk ‘car’, and was a guy they probably would have treated me better. But if your a woman with a basic old Honda, who just needs some repair work, go elsewhere.
Their website states ‘customer service is their main priority’. After 5 times, I still haven’t seen it. Women beware — you’ll get taken here, avoid them at all costs!
5÷10− Update on my car– had to take it back, yet again to Mac’s to fix what they fixed (supposedly) last year. Of course they wouldn’t really stand behind their repair, claiming this was something different even though they told me last year the «whole system» was fixed. So, after arguing with the owner about their crappy work, he finally agreed to pay for it. So, I saved $ 300 for the owner to «personally fix» my car. Even then, he couldn’t get the part from Honda, so he «personally made the part’ himself. That one should have been a warning to me.
So, they ‘fixed’ it, it ran ok, for about 7 weeks. Now it’s making the same sounds it did before, only worse. The check engine light is on once again, and this time I’m looking for a new place to take my car. In over 20 years of car ownership, I’ve never has such horrible service or repair work.

Now that summer is almost over, I finally have AC again!!! I decided to reconfigure/​redo some parts of my AC system in my car and the guys at Mac’s Radiator were great in helping me select the correct parts. I had them do some custom welding for me and the parts turned out great. This is their HQ location, so they had almost everything in stock here. They ordered an AC drier for me and it came in just a couple days. I went out to their Beaverton location to have my R12 refilled and they did a great job too.