Harlingen Garage

super professional, courteous, and responsive ... plus I trust them!

My 2000 Toyota Avalon has an engine with a known problem resulting from a design flaw in the rear valve cover. This flaw causes engine oil to overheat and prevents proper oil drainage back to the crankcase. After 145,000 miles, the car smoked on startup and had gotten to the point where it was using nearly a quart of oil a week.
I've rebuilt engines in the past, done major auto repair work, and do most of the work on this car, but I didn't want to tackle this job which, I feared, would involve dismantling the top half of the engine. Because I do most of my own work, I didn't know who to trust to do this significant repair.
I was referred to Matt Fredun's Harlingen Garage by a well-known local body shop highly rated on Angie's List. I spoke with Matt's wife, and set up an appointment to diagnose the problem. Matt said the valve covers were full of sludge (which I knew) and gave me three options: 1) replace both valve covers, 2) replace the rear valve cover (the one with the design flaw) and clean the front cover, or 3) clean and reinstall both valve covers.
I asked Matt what he would do, and he said he'd replace the rear cover and clean the front one. That's what I would do, too, so I said go ahead. We scheduled the work, brought the car back in, and Matt said he'd done some further research and thought he could replace the rear cover and leave the front one intact. Good deal! That would cost less money. I also asked him to change the oil since I'd tried a couple of different oil additives to try to solve the problem, and he used my oil and filter and didn't charge me for the change. He replaced the PCV valve with one redesigned for the new valve cover.
Work was done on time, as described, and cost was as estimated. Matt showed me my old valve cover, and it was completely filled with oil sludge. My car was returned clean and running great. I've got 3500 miles on the repair now and no smoking, no leaks, and no excessive oil use.
I'll take my car back to Matt's shop in a heartbeat. This is a small husband-and-wife business, and Matt takes his time and does high-quality work. And I can assure you that I'm very hard to please. One small detail impressed me, too: Matt had to disconnect the battery, and I know that I had corrosion buildup on the battery terminals. When I got the car back, he'd cleaned the terminals for me. This is the kind of guy you want working on your car. I'm due for a timing belt replacement and I'd like my suspension checked out, and you can bet I'll be back to Harlingen Garage!