Carlos Auto Electric

The speedometer and odometer combo had been intermittent for the past year or so on my 1999 Subaru Outback. I called a couple of the tachometer repair shops in the Palo Alto area including a mobile repair, but they wouldn’t fix Japanese cars. In fact, they were rather cavalier and told me to toss the unit, find another at a junk yard, and they will install it. They sure weren’t very helpful. So I then called the Subaru dealer and it was going to be very expensive. They want $ 200+ for a new unit, costs for installing and reinstalling, and about $ 500 more for them to send the unit to a repair place to have mileage reset. So it looked like something approaching $ 1k.
I did some research on the internet and found out that this year Subaru was notorious for having speedometer/​odometer issues. I finally called an independent shop in the Mission and they recommended Carlos Auto Electric.
I left the car with them and they said it would take a few days. It actually took about ten days, so you better not be in a big hurry. Apparently, they don’t do the repair themselves, but send it to another firm in the Sacramento area that repairs Japanese units. Juan, the tech that I spoke with, said many dealers send broken speedometer/​odometers there for repair. Juan was also familiar with my problem of the Subaru units. About $ 460 later, I got the unit repair and was pleased with it. Juan said that the outside firm, took the unit apart and re-​soldered the inside. I don’t know why those Palo Alto places couldn’t do that.
I did check with EBay and there are places that are less expensive if you take the unit out and send it to them. I didn’t want to mess with taking the unit out and replacing it so I let Carlos do it. In general, if I have electrical problems such as power windows, power seats, I would not hesitate to take my car here for repairs. Juan is an excellent person to speak with and is very knowledgeable.

You can tell a really bad shop when you get the car back in worse condition than when you dropped it off.
I had Carlos install a new ignition switch which I provided. Three problems became apparent within a day of picking up the car: 1) the heater no longer went off when you removed the key (which lead to a very inconvenient dead battery and a AAA call); 2) the bulb illuminating the instruments no longer worked; and, perhaps most serious of all, 3) the steering column was loose.
I took the car to my regular garage (Excelsior Autocare) and in their words, the car had been «butchered». The new switch had been installed improperly and was cracked; and a bolt was missing from the steering assembly. I had no faith in Carlos, so I had Excelsior fix the car.
Go somewhere else.

Their service is excellent! I took my car to them yesterday because both tail lights and brake light sockets were burnt out. I went to the dealer and they were going to charge me $ 300, the gentlement who helped me told me he was going to use a machine to clean the part, installed it back in and the light was wroking. Didn’t even pay $ 40.00 they saved me from a big ticket!

My normal mechanic was out of his depth with a fairly simple but finicky electrical problem. So I brought my car to Carlos Auto Electric. They were gracious enough to stay a few minutes late to see my car for an estimate. They could fix it, they said, and the price was just fine, so I brought it back the next day for the fix. Well, the problem was much more involved — a whole wiring harness needed be replaced. Annoying, yes, but wiring is terribly hard to estimate, so I can’t blame them. The fix was quick, and I was out of there in maybe 2.5 hours.
Well, 4 weeks later the problem was back. I brought the car back, they honored their 90-​day warranty cooperatively and said it should be solved. Nope, back again after 8 weeks. And when, two weeks after THAT, the problem STILL came back AGAIN, they just threw up their hands and said the warranty was up. They’d take another look if I was paying again. Thanks, but no thanks.
Well, I just got the car back from a third mechanic, an expert in my car’s make, and in his humble opinion the wiring harness they said they replaced the first time around is as old as the car, and — big shock — not the problem anyway. Is he right? Only time will tell if the problem still comes back, but I certainly have an inclination to believe the new guy, given my experiences with Carlos.
They get more than 1 star for staying late initially and for honoring their warranty, no questions asked, before their guaranteed 90 days. But I assure you the experience has been overwhelmingly negative.

Last week my 98 Lincoln got stuck in park and I was unable to drive it. I had it towed across town to an auto repair specialist. They tried to repair the problem, but called the next day to tell me they spent over three hours and could not find the problem. They recommended I take it to the Ford Dealership for repair. I found Carlos Auto Electric on Unilocal and had my car towed to them. They said they could fix it or they would not charge me if they could not. They called me the next morning and fixed the short. They were fast and very courteous and only charged me for only two hours labor. I highly recommend them!!! Can you imagined if I went to the Ford Dealership. I’m sure they would have charged me over $ 1,000 and told me what else needed to be repaired!!! Go see Carlos Auto Electric.

I luv these guys. I went in to see if they can fix my car’s sunroof even though it’s not their specialty he meticulously spent the time and tracked the problem down to the sunroof switch and a busted circuit relay. The parts to replace the relay and the switch did not exist at the manufacturer so he rewired the car to work with a non-​oem circuit and switch. The sunroof is now back in operation and rock solid, great quality.
The beauty of all this it cost less than what another sunroof specialist was gonna charge me just to check it out.
I’d recommend these guys to anyone for your cars electric needs.

Ok, so Carlos Auto Electric totally hooked me up. I don’t believe in electricity in the first place, and I have a healthy skepticism of mechanics, so I was pretty sure that my problem would be diagnosed as the «central control computer» or the «main diagnostic motherboard» or some crap like that, and cost $ 1000 bucks. And its electricity, so there’s no way to know what’s really up. I mean, electrons? As if. But Carlos’s men diagnosed and fixed a short in the ignition switch or instrument cluster (or something), and had me out the door for $ 160. Plus $ 10 to recharge my dead battery. In terms of auto repairs, that’s basically free.
My car (a 2003 Nissan 350Z) had a number of «interesting» electical symptoms, including the dome light not working, and the inside indicators for the turn signals not working, and the electic rear-​view mirror/​garage opener not working. Not critical, so of course I didn’t deal with it. Until Monday morning, when I went to the car, and the electric door lock seemed to be continually unlocking the door — click-​click-​click-​click… and the battery was dead.
I got a jump start, and bounced down to Carlos Auto Electric (referred to me by the unrelated and alse excellent Carlos Auto Repair shop on McAllister). I explained the symptoms, and off I went. A few hours later, got the call, totally fixado. come get it.
Awesome!
Also, Carlos is conveniently located near Mission/​30^th/​Cortland, so a ton of public trans options. I took the 24 Divis down there, nearly door-​to-​door service. Sweet!

I couldn’t be happier with their service. My battery was freaking out, and they figured out the problem (alarm system short) in 45mins for $ 45, and since the solution was simple (disconnect the alarm for now, until I can go to an alarm place) they fixed it for free. Wow! I couldn’t be more impressed. They were fast, thorough, cheap and fair.