Calvert’s Express Auto Service & Tire

I went in there because the truck broke there. It started idling rough at the light and when I turned onto Woodson, this was the first place to pull into. The engine was going to die if I took my foot off the gas. It happened suddenly, and it was at that minute that I realized that I probably have a gas filter with 250k miles on it on that truck.
First, I paid them ~$ 75 to do a code readout on it that I could have had done free down the street at Autozone. They gave me a line about doing a «complete diagnostic» which is a useless term. That was OK, though, because I agreed to it knowing what it was. They apparently got a 0401 readout. That means that there is a problem with the Emissions Gas Recirculating system, or EGR.
Things went downhill from there. They gave me fully three forms to sign that were forms that they would need in case someone were to sue them, which makes me think that might happen a lot there. They also said that they could fix the problem for only $ 604.04 more. I said, «Yeah, thanks, that’s not going to happen. It’s an EGR valve, dude.» He offered to give me a discount, to what would still have been around 2 ½ times the right price for that. He also had every possible defective part on the estimate and had prices for the parts that were about 10% higher than what the factory car dealers charge. There wasn’t any deal for if they found the bad part right away and didn’t need to replace anything else.
I gave them an extra star for finding the actual problem. I have no idea what kind of work they do because I left right after that. See, if your EGR valve is stuck open, you can drive it on the highway OK, but it will die when you try to idle the engine or have to start and stop a lot. That’s what they do, too. They stick open. When the engine cools off, you’re good to go again until it gets warmed up real good.
I stopped on the way home and let it cool off once at a relative’s house, then the next day tore it all apart and cleaned it real well with good quality carb cleaner. I put it all back together and cleared the 0401 code. It cost under $ 20, didn’t take any parts, I cleaned the MAP sensor while I was in there just because it was easy to do, and special cleaner for it is included in the $ 20. It took 3 hours, including watching Youtube videos on how to do it and waiting for the cleaner to penetrate the crud in there.
Next time you think that no middle aged women work on trucks, think again.

My boyfriend and I chose this place because he knew a guy who worked there (he quit after our incident because of how crappy this place is).
Basically, we had a van who was well taken care of and at one point the intake manifold gasket needed to be changed because of a leak. That was all they needed to do, okay no problem. Someone worked on it, and in the end the van ended up being with a completely destroyed engine. Our guy ended up being off that day so someone else worked on it, but a few eye witnesses told him what happened. It was a matter of an accident, somebody dropped a part (like a bolt) in the engine while it was running during the check up. No, the engine did not have problems prior to that. So then the engine naturally broke. When the van was all nicely destroyed by accident, our guy went into work mad and got into it with «the boss». The boss refused to take ANY responsibility and offered to fix it but only if we buy an engine ourselves AND pay for their service (discounted). Our guy quit the place, because it was run by someone who does not want to admit mistakes happen and fix the problem. The van sat there for a while and was towed probably to a junk yard at some point. It was useless and we did not have an extra $ 1000 to buy and engine and replace it because they broke it. They went on to say the van was old and the engine probably was about to break anyways. We didn’t press it further but could have. People did see what happened, and the story was covered up.
I would not recommend this place to anyone, not because they don’t do a good job but because when something happens, and I get accidents happen, they don’t own up to it and will cover it up and will try to get by with some kind of discounted offer to fix the problem but as long as you pay. Bad business. No, thanks.

I had coupons and they so far were great! I liked them! I had a 4pm appointment and got their early and I could get in early! Great service and fast! I WILL recommend them!