Auto Air Conditioning of Clearlake & Transmission Repair

Best transmission shop in the NASA /​Clear Lake area! Just got my gear box repaired by Rick at Clear Lake Transmission. Shifts like new, all the messy oil leaks have gone away! Fair prices, honest opinions and good quality work at Clear Lake transmission on NASA Rd. 1 in El Lago /​Seabrook.

This place is great!
We recently had transmission troubles and went to several places around town, had different things done, spent a lot of $ and nothing would fix the problem, which was a terrible shaking that kept getting worse when we drove between 30 – 50 mph.
We got several recommendations to try this place so we did.
Rick took time to let me drive with him and show him the problem. Then he explained, in terms that I could understand, what was going on. He wanted to do a regular transmission service to check for problems and then go from there. He called me back within the same day to give me price estimates with the worst case scenario costing over $ 1000. In my experience, when I hear that there is a problem with the transmission, I automatically expect it to be expensive so I didn’t have much hope.
I also didn’t know that you need to service your transmission, like you do with oil changes, so it was nice that he took the time to explain why that was a good idea too especially when Toyota told us that we have a sealed transmission and it doesn’t need servicing.
When I went back for my appointment, there were no chairs in the front so I had planned to walk down the street to use wifi somewhere while I waited, but Rick and Mike both offered to let me sit in their office to avoid the cold and wet weather. They also offered to drive me home if I did not want to wait there. They were gentlemen.
I did not have to wait very long for the transmission service/​inspection, maybe 40 minutes. Rick changed the fluids and made sure that they were Toyota fluids (The previous servicer put the wrong fluid type in. We contacted them and they gave several refunds to people who had been in the same day as us because they got a «bad batch» of supplies). He also changed the filter and put a new one in (The previous servicer told us it only needed to be washed and put back in not replaced). Then he looked for metal in the pan because this would be a sign that we needed to replace the torque converter, which would be the expensive repair.
There is no way that I would be able to tell if I needed to have this done or not and I was already making plans to save up the money, but Rick came in and told me that there was no metal in the pan and that I didn’t need to do any big repairs. The problem was that my car had not had a transmission service in over 100K miles and the first service that we tried elsewhere was done poorly. So in addition to doing the correct service with the correct supplies, he added some anti-​seize liquid and took the car for a spin. He came back and said everything is perfect now and charged me about 140 $ total (which was what he had quoted me for the low end).
I was completely impressed that he didn’t try to make me spend more money than I needed to and that he was honest about everything. He is a very kind man and really knows his stuff. Mike is also very nice, and if I ever have AC troubles I will visit him for that.
It’s been over a month since my visit and my car is still running very smoothly, no shaking at all.
I plan to be a regular at this shop and would highly recommend them.

Mike is great. He had my ac running cold again. Very nice guy. Will go there again.

Update, i had to knock my review down 2 stars. Mike is still great! He owns the shop now, but still only works on A/​C. He has some other guys who i think are renting space from him, doing other car work. I was very unhappy when I had my car towed there for the starter to get fixed. They replaced it, but then when I went to pick it up it wouldn’t start. they looked at me like I was dumb. Sure enough, something else was wrong. it took them 2 hours to diagnose a bad relay, and yes, they charged me for the labor. not happy. i’ll only be coming here for a/​c work, not for other car things.
Mike is a one-​man show at Clear Lake Auto Air. He rents space in the transmission shop, his office is in the back. Just ask any of the mechanics for Mike the A/​C guy and they’ll point you in the right direction.
Mike is a good, ol’ fashioned, honest mechanic. ALL he does is car heating and cooling. He will recharge your freon for less than 40 bucks, and won’t put you through all of the hassle of the leak check and bla bla bla.
Within 6 months of moving to Houston, the A/​C had gone out on both of my cars. My poor northern babies couldn’t handle the southern heat. Mike replaced both of my systems and gave me honest quotes and great insight into how to keep my A/​C from crashing again.
Every once in a while I stop by when something is on the fritz with my a/c…most recently, a leaf in my blower, and he will help me out… for FREE! this guy is awesome. highly recommended.