Honest Engine

Went here for some minor work way back. They did an okay job. For some reason they changed both my license plate frames to a honest engine frame without asking me or telling me. When I realized this, I called them and asked for my frames. They didn’t have them.

I took a used car that I was planning on purchasing to Honest Engine for a pre-​purchase inspection. Al helped me out and fit me in the morning that I called, just told me to give him about an hour of warning that I’d be coming. The inspection went fine, and I was given an invoice with everything that had been checked. I found out about this place through Unilocal,so if that’s what you’re doing right now, I’d say go see Al for sure.

Was referred to honest engine by the tiny dealership that I bought my used car, I was very skeptical, I’m used to new cars and dealerships taking care of my car, and not having to worry about older cars. Al made me feel welcome and did an amazing job taking care of my car, fair price, definitely a loyal customer now:-) highly recommend Al and his shop honest engine !

I went in to have a pre-​buy inspection done on my Subaru Impreza car and have Honest Engine look into a noise that I heard while driving in 5^th gear. The inspection was done quickly (the same day I think within 4 hours) and I was able to pick up my car. So very timely!
When I came in to pick up the car, Al said that his mechanic found a leak on the left transmission seal, a dent in the oil pan and the brakes needed to be replaced. All was fine and I was happy to know about the leak, and I would have given 5 stars, but when I got home, I checked my transmission fluid level myself because of the leak, and the dip stick was completely dry. I also noticed that on the inspection papers I received, the Odometer in, Odometer out mileage was the same (89,566). Which I figured meant that the mechanic didn’t drive my car to test it (I was told it was driven to test for the noise I complained of). Read on…
I called Honest Engine and spoke to the owner Al. He explained that he doesn’t record the in and out mileage separately (he has to put something into the space so the program will allow him to complete the form) and the mechanic definitely drove my car around. I am satisfied with that explanation. So now the only thing that I need to make mention of is the fluid level in the transmission. HAD I not checked the fluid level when I got home, I would have driven around without fluid; which would have completely ruined the transmission. I feel that the mechanic should have checked the fluid level and warned me because I was told that the inspection included a check of ALL fluid levels and engine vitals. Luckily for me my transmission is warrantied.
SO from my experience I believe Al is very nice and is trying to run an honest business. His mechanic fudged on this one though. Al said he would try to make it up to me somehow (just not sure what that means)… So 3 out of 5 stars…

really nice guys. very informative. very timely at finishing the work.

Great shop with outstanding customer service. I made an appointment to bring my car in Monday morning. They called me with the diagnosis within 2 hours of dropping it off. They gave me the options and there professional opinion. 4 hours later I picked the car up with the problem fixed and I got out of there paying half of what I expected. Thanks again to Brian there for being honest. This is where I will being bringing my vehicles to be repaired from this point forward. Thanks again!

Pros:
–Set up an appointment for Monday morning on Friday afternoon. I was really happy that I could get an oil change/​tire rotation on such short notice.
–Very easy to set up an appointment online.
–Location is within blocks of my house, and I was able to go to Temple coffee to get some work done as I was waiting for my car to be finished.
–Both dropping my car off and picking my car up, I was quickly attended to and was in & out in minutes.
Cons:
–It took around 4 hours for an oil change/​tire rotation, and other shops I’ve been to take only an hour. But it depends on how busy the shop is I guess, and how many cars their working on in a morning. This is the only reason I’m giving them 4 and not 5 stars.
I do plan on going back to this shop though.

My boyfriend and I came in to have a pre-​purchase inspection on a craigslist-​found car prior to us buying it. The person we were buying from insisted they had a full diagnostic run at Firestone but it’s craigslist so we thought better safe than sorry. Sure enough, the mechanics here found numerous issues with the car! We were advised not to buy and they revealed that though the car had no cosmetic issues, it was a salvage title with TONS of frame damage underneath the shiny exterior. So thankful they were able to prevent us from being scammed $ 8,000! The mechanics here show just as much integrity as their name suggests, I will definitely be returning.

*Instant Interlock device uses this shop to install their product. Al seemed nice over the phone until I showed up at my appointment time. There were 2 other people there, which is fine, but right off the bat the customer service was deplorable.
First off, it is common courtesy to, in the very least, acknowledge that I had been standing there waiting for over 5 mins. Not even a «hello, I’ll be with you shortly». That was the first thing that irritated me. Then he told me it would be a 3 hour wait, not the one hour that Instant Interlock told me. That was fine, no big deal.
So I walked to work while the device was being installed because I can’t wait around for 3 hours. Gotta work!
Five hours later I return to pick up my vehicle because I have to get to my DUI class in an hour. My vehicle is sitting with the door open, on the sidewalk in the rain, the device not even installed! Al told me it would be another hour. I told him that is not acceptable and I need it done now so I can get to my class. It was suppose to have been finished hours ago! So something that was suppose to take an hour, took six hours.
Needless to say, I was very upset and Al did nothing to help and instead just gave me attitude and was rude to me. Now that I have the device installed I have to deal with him every month. Not happy about that in the least.
BAD and SLOW customer service. Al, if you don’t have the time or the space to work on vehicles, please don’t waste OUR time and schedule us when you are overly booked and give us an erroneous time your service will be completed.
*Al just installs the device. Instant Interlock is the company that hires him to install it.
Update: That was a bad day when I wrote this. I’ve still had issues with this place, like Al having an emergency and had to leave town for a week, the same week that my device needed calibrating. Instant Interlock got me a rental and reimbursed me for a month of service. Al is cool too. Just a bad day/​circumstance.

Brought my one year old Honda Fit in with a warped rotor. He replaced the rotors for the cost of surfacing, and also completed scheduled service for less than the dealer cost (not much less, but every little bit helps). They were friendly and fast and the brakes now work great.

He did a diagnostic on my car didn’t find anything so he didn’t charge me. Other places but it took my money just for doing the diagnostic.

I’ve been taking my cars to this shop for years. As a woman and someone who doesn’t understand a lot about cars, I have learned to be careful about who I trust with my car repairs. Al, the owner, has always treated me respectfully, helped me understand the work that needs to be done and always goes above and beyond to make sure that the repairs are done right.

I have taken my 2003 Mustang to this shop quite a few times now. Work has consisted from changing the oil/​lube all the way to changing the head gasket, exhaust manifold, replacing all the spark plugs and coils etc. The work has always been done properly and promptly. I will continue to take my car there. I am fortunate I only live a couple of blocks away!

My daughter has had a 66 beetle for about four years. We mostly do maintenance ourselves but sometimes get baffled. At these times Al has come to the rescue with a perfect repair at very reasonable rates. Keeping a fifty year old car working well is a challenge, and my daughter always raves about how well her car runs after a visit with Honest Engine.

I have been taking cars to Al at Honest Engine Midtown since I moved to Sacramento in 1996. I’m on my third car and he’s maintained every one of them. He’s fair and honest. As a female, I feel like he explains the work needed and then he helps prioritize what must be done now vs. what can wait until I have the money. When I had a Saturn, I had a quote from the dealer for $ 1300 to repair/​replace the idle air control valve, plus a whole lot of other things. I took it to Al for a second opinion and he saved me about $ 700 because it was only the idle-​air control valve that needed replacement, not all the other things. Al has also caught «must do» repairs like my brakes as part of my regular service.

So I’ve been going to honest engine for a few years now because it’s convenient. Probably this review is long past due. AL does an amazing job of fitting me in whenever possible. He’s quick. His prices are reasonable. And he saved Thanksgiving for me twice now, by fixing my about to break down car. Not to mention all the times he’s fit me in last min when my breaks are squeaking.

My husband has an instant interlock device in his car which was installed by another mechanic which was horrible. We were transfered to als place and i am very happy, he gets the calibration done very quickly, is always nice and never makes us have a hard time. He seems a little shy but dony mistake it as being rude hes a nice guy. Service compared to the other two places ive gone too is above and beyond.

Okay, Al is a nice and straight forward guy, but I do feel jipped. First, the shop sold me used 2003 VW Jetta rims in great shape with so-​so Continental tires, one of which had a bubble in the sidewall. Al said he pay for the one tire and I the second because you can’t just replace one tire. I already paid $ 600 for used wheels, but I thought it fair anyway to consider.
The following week I brought my VW in for a diagnostic regarding rough idling and hesitation with the throttle (check engine light on). I about fainted when Al told me it would be $ 1,300 dollars to replace the throttle body, spark plugs and wires, and 4 rubber grommets for an air filter. Another long time VW mechanic from another shop told me to clean the throttle bottle and that should do the trick, or he could do it for an hourly charge of $ 98. I called Al back and asked if he noticed carbon build up on the throttle when he checked it (for $ 98), and he said he didn’t take anything apart. Was my $ 98 for a quick computer check to read a few codes that said I should pay $ 1,300 for «scorched earth» service? My plugs and wires were less than 2 years old and checked out fine at my last tune up. My $ 98 dollars could have been used to also clean the throttle, but that was never offered.
I cleaned the throttle body myself in an hour with a $ 4.69 can of CRC Throttle Body & Air Intake Cleaner by watching this Youtube video —
. The car fired up, idled well, and the «check engine» light disappeared.
How is it that a $ 1,300 problem could be resolved by another pro mechanic for $ 98 that I could end up being fixed in the usual hour required by a layman for $ 4.69? I am not a gear head by any measure…

The eternal dilemma of where to take your car when you’re a chick is solved.
I’ve been through it all: The mechanics who charge you double because they think you won’t know any better. The guys who tell you your, uh, chromium inverter rod mount* is about to blow. The ones who swear your car is going to break down on the side of the road in the middle of the Mojave Desert if you don’t take their very expensive advice, even when you tell them you have no plans to drive in the Mojave Desert.
(*Yes, I know it’s not a real thing… now.)
Anyway, I have owned two cars over the past 15 years, and Al at Honest Engine has been my go-​to guy forever. The work is always done when he says it will be done. The price is *always* reasonable and fair (and sometimes, insanely good, but I’ll get to that part in a sec). And it’s done right, every time.
I have a ton of confidence in this shop and recommend it very highly.
And now I’ll tell you my favorite Al story. I was living in another city and heard a rattle in the front end of my car. It sounded like a loose bolt or screw. Since Honest Engine was a 3-​hour drive, I went to the local Toyota dealer instead. They told me my engine mount was about to explode/​disintegrate/​spontaneously combust/​have kittens. They said it would be $ 800 to fix it.
I told them to shove it up their inverter rods and drove to Sacramento. Handed the car over to Al, and went to get coffee.
About an hour later he called and said «Your car’s done.»
I said, «Hey! Wait! You were supposed to tell me what was wrong with it and what needed to be done.» (My faith was a bit shaken at this point.)
Al responds, «Well, yes, but all you needed was a screw tightened, so I went ahead and tightened it. You can come pick it up now.»
(Faith restored.) And thanks for that extra $ 800 bucks in my pocket, Al.

I have a love/​hate relationship with my car. In short, I love to hate it. However, being in school makes it really hard to afford a new one when you’re old enough to be sans parental support, but not quite old enough to get a pension check. Or maintain a job in a downward economy.
Thankfully there’s Honest Engine.
Last week, my replaced alternator needed… replacing. Note, if you drive a late 90s Nissan, when you see both the dashboard brake warning light, and the battery light go on, it means your little on board generator is about to go to the great auto parts graveyard. Things are really bad when the ABS light starts blinking… that means you’re on battery power. Suffice to say trying to get my car to school, heck even to honest engine was a lesson in leg power, jumper cables, and swearing in at least 3 different languages.
Al was really cool and very helpful. I told him I thought it was the alternator, and that it needed replacing. I took it in about 20 minutes before closing Wednesday night, and by 11am on Thursday, he had removed, tested, replaced my old alternator AND charged my battery since it had been drained in the attempt to get my vehicle over there. Awesome.
His price was very reasonable, and since I told him that my car is a POS (Piece of Stubborn-​will-​not-​die-​engineering) and that I knew it needed some minor suspension work, and a significant amount of body work, he didn’t waste my time pointing that all out.
All in all, I like this place. They work mostly on imports (Hondas, Nissans, Toyotas, VW’s etc.) and his location is VERY convenient to those of us in the Newton Booth/​Poverty Ridge/​Sutter/​Midtown/​Alhambra Triangle/​Western Oak Park area.
Will probably go here again, more likely out of necessity, but at least I won’t feel too horrible about it.