Coalinga Auto & Truck Diesel

I am thrilled with the service that I received from Albert at Coalinga Auto & Truck Diesel!
My daughter was coming home from the Culinary Institute of America in Napa right before Christmas and I happened to be following her. We stopped at Harris Ranch for dinner which is our halfway point and when we came out her car would only drive 5 MPH. It was very late and dark and we were able to drive the car into a nearby Chevron station. I started making phone calls to local repair shops and was referred to Albert at Coalinga Auto & Truck Diesel.
I spoke with Albert and he told me that AAA would be able to tow the vehicle to his shop where he would be able to diagnose the problem. I informed him that this is my college student’s vehicle and that funds were low. I sent him the keys to the vehicle in the mail and he made arrangements to have the vehicle picked up. Unfortunately he was unable to get AAA to tow the vehicle because the card was not physically there, Albert was nice enough to take it upon himself to have his tow truck retrieve the vehicle.
Once he had the car I was informed that the car overheated and that he had to replace the thermostat and a sensor. I asked him how much it would be and he had given me an amazing deal! I authorized the repairs to be completed and arranged to come and pick up the vehicle. It took 4 hours to drive one way to pick up the vehicle. We got to the shop and Albert was hilarious and super friendly! He showed us the parts that he replaced which were in a horrible condition, and he had my daughter drive the car around the block so that she could feel how it handled. She said that the car felt very smooth in comparison to before the repairs. We drove the four hours back home after another delicious dinner at Harris Ranch Restaurant without any car problems!
I would recommend Albert at Coalinga Auto & Truck Diesel to anyone! If I lived closer I would have him service and repair all of my vehicles.
Thank you Albert, you ROCK!

My family and I broke down the other night driving south on I-​5 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. As you may know, the Central Valley isn’t heavily populated, severely limiting your options in this type of situation. We found a Hotel 6 we were able to hobble to for the night, then started our search for a mechanic the next morning. Near Coalinga, there are only 3 or so mechanics. The first one did not service diesels (we have a diesel Excursion), the second one was booked solid for two weeks, and finally, we got hold of Albert at Coalinga Auto & Truck Diesel Repair Center. He was available to start working on our vehicle immediately.
Fortunately, we were able to drive to his shop, all the while billowing white smoke everywhere from out of the exhaust. Albert took his time to show me what he believed was wrong with the Excursion, even going so far as to show me the various failure codes the onboard computers were outputting, and what they meant. He swapped out the batteries (it has two), due to a low voltage reading, which eliminated several electrical system-​related failure codes. Finally, he determined that one of the fuel injectors had gone bad, and that the turbo assembly was likely causing problems as well. He showed me a disassembled engine so I could see what exactly he was going to do, and finally determined that it would take a few days to get the parts necessary and fix the problems.
Great. The nearest car rental place was 45 miles away. What was I going to do, especially since we have 5 freakin’ kids in tow? Well, Albert called Hertz and was able to get us a minivan with a shop discount, even though they «officially» had no vehicles available. He even went a step further and saved us from a $ 200+ taxi ride by having his wife drive me to Hertz in exchange for gas money. She is very sweet, by the way.
Car rented. Children happy that they get to go home. Wife happy that she gets to go home. I’m exhausted and worried about getting financially raked over the coals since my car is stranded in the middle of nowhere, yet happy that I get to go home.
Fast forward a few days. Albert has received the necessary parts and work is underway. I asked him for a quote on new front shocks since I badly need them and I’m without the car anyway. He quotes me at a fraction of a cost that our local repair shop had quoted me recently.
Finally, on Friday, all work is completed and right on budget according to his original quote, despite the fact that I also got new shocks installed. Poor Albert had to drive the car for an hour outside of town to burn off the excess fuel stuck in the exhaust system, which creates quite a nasty smoke storm.
I picked up my Excursion on Saturday, after a 2 ½ hour drive up. The awesome thing was that I was able to leave the rental car at the shop rather than driving it all the way back to Hertz, saving lots of time and even more money. The Excursion is purring like a pissed off panther (as it should), and it is running even better than it has in quite some time. Albert and his crew did an excellent job, and I couldn’t be any happier. He even saved me some money by using some parts he had on hand. He also didn’t do any work that was unnecessary, despite horror stories I’ve heard from others in a similar situation.
All in all, I am extremely happy with their service, and I highly recommend them to anyone either stranded, or local, who needs any automotive repairs.