Any decent mechanics/car shops in SoCal?

[abaez]

I've always taken my car to the Cerritos Nissan where I bought my car for its maintenance. My fan belt broke this past thurs so I had to tow
the car there. Now a fan belt under warranty should be easy to replace right?? Well the guy told me that the fan belt broke because some
other thing broke and the car wasn't able to even run. Funny thing is I drove the car about 4 miles without a fan belt (before I realized that was the problem.)
Now I don't know much about cars but I have a feeling that they're just taking advantage because he simply lied (saying my car wouldn't work without the fan belt.)
Now some bolt broke (how does a bolt break changing the fan belt?) and they have to wait until monday to get it in. I'm ending up paying
$140 to get my car fixed on what was originally a broken fan belt to be replaced free under warranty.

Anyway I was wondering does anyone have a dealer or mechanic they've always gone to that is halfway honest? I don't mind paying a little
more as long as I know that what I'm paying for is being done and not done half assed. I'm not that good with cars I know basic stuff how to change
your oil and stuff, but complicated things I feel like a fool for not knowing what exactly their doing (and even more of a fool for not being able to check
what they did after they did it.) If anyone has any suggestions/experience as to good mechanics/dealers please post them here as I need a new place (and would like
to check what exactly they did to my car these past two days.)
Thanks

 

[Pepsi90919]

fan belt on a transverse-mounted japanese engine...? or is it like a truck or something?

 

[abaez]

its a nissan sentra

 

[LordUnum]

Just south of ya...

I was in your position and just got sick & tired of always parting with a few hundred dollar bills every visit to Firestone or the dealer with every car I've ever taken. As a result of one of two timing belts going out on my mom's '86 Subaru GL-10 while driving on the 605-N, we needed a decent mechanic in the vicinity of the disabled car, and we found one in La Puente. He's a very honest, personable & hard-working Korean fellow with a shop just off Valley Blvd. Pretty inexpensive, too, and a good choice if you don't mind the drive.

Another place much closer to you or I that I also happened upon by accident (literally) was a shop next door to the body shop where I got my ride's recent crash-damage repaired. This place is uber-cheap and comes to me with a lot of recommendations, too. My personal experience with this place as of yet only goes as far as having the starter replaced on my mom's Jag. This place is off the corner of Lakewood & Rosecrans, BTW.

I can PM you the name/address of either or both of the two places if you wish...

 

[abaez]

I think I can find the Lakewood/Rosecrans place, but don't they run parallel to each other? I'll take the addy of the asian guy though La puente isn't too far.

 

[LordUnum]

Hehe, perpendicular but not parallel (as in Downey, Lakewood, Clark, Bellflower, Woodruff, etc.). But I can see why you might think that way since the streets abruptly veer into some tilted grid once they enter Downey from Bellflower...

I'll PM you the info for both places.

 

[frizzlefry]

My roommate's from Lakewood. He's got a bunch of friends and family out there. When he gets back I'll ask if he knows of anyone.

 

[abaez]

Awesome thanks! Anyone else come on I know there are alot of at'ers in socal with cars!

 

[frizzlefry]

Originally posted by: abaez
Awesome thanks! Anyone else come on I know there are alot of at'ers in socal with cars!

hehe... we could do it for you. changing a belt on that car is relatively simple. my roommate says just to do it yourself. As for the bolt, I dunno. If i'm thinking straight, your car has 2 belts. One for accessories and one for the drive belt. And if I'm still thinking straight the fan belt runs off the accessory belt which is on a clutch. Anyways, I'd take it to a pep boys and see what they say.

He says any of the little shops are going to be cheap. They usually went with an asian shop if they needed it but most of the time they do their own work, as we do here. Anyways, if you can give more info on exactly what the dealership said, it should be an easy fix.

As for the bolt... umm if they broke it, they fix it.

 

[abaez]

Yes they are fixing it but still pain in the butt. I still have to pay for the other thing that supposedly broke the belt in the first place (which I know it didn't.)

Anyone have any good experiences with any dealers?