Recomend a mechanic in Portland Area

[shambug]

I know you guys like to fix everything your self, but I have been working on my tercel for 4 weeks now. Ive used just about all the rides my friends and family have to offer. I run my own business and rusty trusty terceli is my only car. Ive got her running and can drive but need a few things fixed before I can use it as a d/d again. Big one is the clutch. then the carburetor needs replacing/rebuilding. Then the car can be properly timed. Its not that i don't mind getting my hands dirty, its just right now before the holidays is the most important time and I have to focus on the business. I have mixed luck with mechanics, Some have worked magic for me and some have told me my car is trash and flat out refused to work on it (Really). I need to find one that knows how to work on this car, or at least older Toyotas. Anyone know someone matching this description or you your self would like to help me? Please let me know.

[johnvincent]

Any luck? The mechanic I've been using for a while (who's been helping me with my first Tercel I purchased in April 2014) is finally telling me they won't want to do any major work on it. Nothing outside of easily replaceable stuff like brakes, oil changes, etc.

I'm gonna need help with some major projects soon and I'm in the same boat as you. I work full time. Don't have the time / knowledge to do major stuff on my own. I'd much rather spend money fixing this car up than buying something newer. I love these dumb cars too damn much!

Maybe if we put our heads together we can find a brave mechanic in Portland who wants to help us!

[irowiki]

Why won't they do major work?

[Petros]

you might find an independent the likes vintage toyotas somewhere, but it will be hard to find an honest and reliable mechanic in a large urban area like Portland. Much easier in a small town where the mechanic has a reputation and all of the locals know him.

We do live in a small town. Recently my wife took our '92 Mazda MPV 4x4 van into a local mechanic because she was going to see what it would cost to fix some annoying problems that I have not had time to get to because of my work schedule. It shows 310k miles on the odometer but it has a more recent crate engine and transmission that I had installed a few years ago. It runs good and does not burn much oil, decent tires and all new brakes and a new battery. They gave her a "partial" list of what they thought it needed, fluid changes, belts (without specifying which ones, it has a brand new timing belt and tentioner, fan belts look fine), fuel filter, air filter, blah, blah with a few other minor issues and the owner told her not to spend any money on this old of a car, to just sell it and buy a new one. I do not know how they can tell it needs a fuel filter, it is a black metal can that just has a 20,000 miles change interval. They thought it needed a new starter too, it has an intermittent no-crank problem only when it is warmed up, the item that annoys my wife the most, but it has always startered after a number of "clicks" of the key.

This shop is actually usually trustworthy and they do good work and prices are excellent. But to tell a customer to replace a perfectly good car because it needs a starter, filters and belts is really stupid. They told her anything could fail at any moment. What they were saying is they do not want to work on it, I supposed they do not want to get blamed when the next thing fails. They do not want to work on it, and were advising her not to attempt any maintenance nor repairs on it, they thought it was not worth it. I think with routine maintenance it still has over 100k miles more life in it. Most of that list was routine maintenance, stuff you would have on a car with only 50,000 miles on it, so how is that a reason to dump an good running car?

So I spent the weekend replacing the starter (it is a real PIA to replace because you can not reach it under the exhaust manifold on top of the big V-6, and the front diff of the 4x4 system right under it). Turns out the wire lead was loose, but it was very difficult to reach to discover that. Had I known that before I may have made some special bent wrenches, extensions, and used mirrors or something to reach it without actually taking it out. Once the starter was out when I discovered the loose power cable, I put the new one in since it was such a major effort anyway. I also took the opportunity to power-pulse flush the heater core, radiator and engine block (one of the other things they said it needed, no big deal). the pulse gun also sent pulses up our water pipes and flushed all the scale out of our plumbing, and gave us cloudy tap water for several days too (I will have to get a check valve for the water supply before I use it again). I also replaced the fuel filter as well, since it has to come out to give you better access to the starter. all of the parts I have used so far cost less than $100 from rock auto. But it was perhaps 6 or 8 hours total work time.

Many mechanics are very reluctant to work on older cars, so you either have to find a mechanic who works on vintage cars only, or perhaps a reliable back yard operation of a semi retired old timer who likes these kinds of cars. Unfortunately many of them are flaky and unreliable, so you have to choose wisely if you go this route. More likely, as I found, I just do my own maintenance no matter what it takes: it is faster, much cheaper, and I do not have to take the car back several times to get it fixed properly (I have found that too many times with return trips to get it fixed properly, I did not save any time at all, so it is not worth it). Most every time I have given in to my wife wanting her car serviced before I could get to it, and let her take it to a local repair shop, it had to go back to something corrected that they caused.

See if you can find a garage you can rent for a week or two at a time to do major repairs, get some decent tools (I get mine at garage sales and shop carefully a pawn shops), and just learn to do the work yourself. Do not think the guy who owns the repair shop is smarter or better than you, chances are the reason he is working on cars is he could not get a job doing anything else, or no one would hire him.

good luck

[dlb]

i would check craigslist or post a wanted ad on there, specifying that you are looking for someone experienced to do major work on an old car. it will be a bit of a gamble, just like taking it to any garage, because you never know what kind of service you're going to get but you will have to judge from their emails and phone conversations if they sound like an honest, careful, detail-oriented mechanic. or ask if anyone can recommend a good shop that is willing to work on old cars.

[johnvincent]

Thanks guys. I know the best solution is just to learn how to do stuff myself and ride my bike or take the bus while the car is in my garage. More than just saving time/money, I'll have gained some valuable skills and feel pretty awesome knowing that I did all the work myself. I'll get there someday. I've already learned a lot in the year that I've owned it!

[Sparkey]

Johnvincent These guys will work on your car! There prices are good and If you get in early they give you a free loner car. There just outside of downtown in Oregon City they can work on anything.
http://www.johnsautopdx.com/