Engine Repair near Portola, San Francisco

What we repair

Misfires, rough idle, oil leaks, coolant leaks, overheating, timing chain or timing belt service, head gasket diagnosis and replacement, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gaskets, intake manifold leaks, sensor replacements, vacuum leaks, fuel injection problems, and more. If your engine is throwing codes or making a noise that was not there last week, bring it in.

• Misfire and rough-running diagnosis
• Timing chain and timing belt replacement
• Head gasket diagnosis (compression and leak-down testing)
• Valve cover, oil pan, and intake gasket replacement
• Cooling system repair (water pump, thermostat, radiator)
• Sensor replacement (oxygen, MAF, MAP, crank, cam)
• Vacuum leak smoke testing
• Direct injection carbon cleaning

Diagnose first

Engine repair without diagnosis is parts roulette. We start with a real diagnosis: scan, road test, compression test, leak-down test, smoke test, whatever the symptom calls for. You get a written estimate before we open anything up. We tell you which repairs are critical, which can wait, and what we expect after the fix.

Common engines we see in San Francisco

Some engines come through the shop often enough that we know their failure patterns cold. On the Honda side, the K-series (K20, K24) is bulletproof but the timing chain tensioners rattle on cold start when they age, and the L15B 1.5T in the Civic / CR-V / Accord has the well-documented oil dilution issue that needs short-trip drivers on a watchful oil interval. Toyota's 2AR-FE and 2GR-FE are durable but the water pumps and VVT gear seals leak past 100k. Subaru's FA20 in the BRZ / WRX and the older 2.5 boxers are head-gasket-prone and we have done plenty of both. VW and Audi's EA888 2.0T runs strong but eats timing-chain tensioners between roughly 80k and 120k; ignore the rattle and it skips a tooth. On the Ford fleet side, the 5.4 Triton 3-valve has spark-plug-ejection history and the cam-phaser rattle is its tell. GM's 5.3 V8 with Active Fuel Management is famous for collapsing lifters around 100k. BMW's N20 and N55 have timing-chain stretch and oil-filter housing leaks. Mercedes M271 and M276 leak at the timing-cover gasket and the oil cooler. None of these are mystery engines once you have seen them ten times.

Parts we install

Gaskets are Fel-Pro or OEM (they are usually the same supplier), timing components are Gates, Cloyes, or OEM, water pumps are Aisin on the Asian makes and OEM or quality aftermarket on the rest, injectors are Bosch or Denso, sensors are Bosch / Denso / Hitachi / OEM by application. We do not put a no-name timing chain on a $5,000 timing job. The math does not work for anybody.

When repair makes sense vs replacement

Sometimes a head gasket job on a 200,000-mile minivan does not pencil out. We will tell you the truth. If the smarter move is to replace the engine or sell the car, you will hear that from us before we start tearing things apart.

Warranty

Most engine repairs come with a 12 month / 12,000 mile warranty on parts and labor. Major work like timing chains, head gaskets, and used-engine installs is covered to the same standard, with the same paperwork. If something we touched fails inside the window, you bring it back and we make it right. No fine print, no diagnostic charge to look at our own work.