Recommended mechanic in Pattaya? Dealership disappointment

[FarangFB]

I don't trust the dealership, took my car there for a checkup and change every fluid/filter etc. Even before leaving I noticed that some of the stuff I was billed for wasn't done, I kindly reminded them and the guy was like "oh sorry forget" and took the car back in. On the first rain I also noticed that the windshield wipers that I paid for did not get replaced. 

 

If they managed to screw it up with such basic items I can't rely on them on more serious stuff, so I would like to have a reliable independent mechanic that won't rip me off, I wouldn't mind paying some pricey labor cost as long as the service gets properly done.

 

Any recommendations in Pattaya? If the guy speaks a little bit of English it would be very appreciated.

[JohnC]

I have used Autoboy on Sukhumvit for years now after getting ripped off by dealer. They are about 3kil after the Hua Yai junction on the north bound carriage so you have to go past and do a u turn, they are just before a shell garage

 

https://pp-autoboy-na-jomtien-pattaya.business.site/

[BestB]

[FarangFB]

53 minutes ago, BestB said:

Thanks I saw that one in a search but it's from 2011.

[BestB]

1 minute ago, FarangFB said:

Thanks I saw that one in a search but it's from 2011.

He is still in business , used him about 8 months ago ????

[FarangFB]

3 minutes ago, BestB said:

He is still in business , used him about 8 months ago ????

Ah very nice then, is he as good as the report says?

[BestB]

7 hours ago, FarangFB said:

Ah very nice then, is he as good as the report says?

Much better when undressed ????????

[petermik]

On 9/13/2019 at 4:59 PM, JohnC said:

I have used Autoboy on Sukhumvit for years now after getting ripped off by dealer. They are about 3kil after the Hua Yai junction on the north bound carriage so you have to go past and do a u turn, they are just before a shell garage

 

https://pp-autoboy-na-jomtien-pattaya.business.site/

Nissan Sylphy (my car) Nissan charge me 1250 baht for oil change....Autoboy quoted me 1750 yesterday......and 1100 for cabin filter (genuine they said) Nissan dealership price is 670 baht.....no thanks I,ll give them a miss

[JohnC]

Mitsubishi charged me B8000 for service , Autoboy averages B2000, been using them for ten years and happy with their service , you speak as you find and in this case can be very subjective. 

[FarangFB]

I called Mr. Sakda, he was in the area and came here pretty quickly. He diagnosed my car in a few minutes but said I need to wait 2 weeks because his shop is very busy now, he said my car is ok to drive around so I'll just wait for now.

 

Seemed like a very honest guy, I insisted to pay for his visit but he refused any payment. 

[kellio]

On 9/14/2019 at 12:02 AM, FarangFB said:

Ah very nice then, is he as good as the report says?

My wife just called him and he said he'll come tomorrow morning.
She had been calling another guy for 4 days who kept saying he'd send someone but no one ever came and nor did he ever call back.

[gamesgplayemail]

On 9/13/2019 at 11:57 PM, FarangFB said:

Thanks I saw that one in a search but it's from 2011.

 

Search a bit more...

Once someone almost died because brakes where not correctly fixed.

 

 

[ThePioneer]

There are more threads on this forum that recommend AGAINST Mr Sakada, but hey what do they know, they are not failed guesthouse owners who know everything about everything

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by ThePioneer

[petermik]

On 9/15/2019 at 12:30 PM, JohnC said:

Mitsubishi charged me B8000 for service , Autoboy averages B2000, been using them for ten years and happy with their service , you speak as you find and in this case can be very subjective. 

You`re happy and that`s all that matters....I sent them a message requesting prices for my 40,000 kms service and what needed replacing and they came back with those quotes....I,ll be taking it to the MMS (Bosch) service centre instead..prices much more realistic

[kellio]

On 9/13/2019 at 11:58 PM, BestB said:

He is still in business , used him about 8 months ago ????

I called him yesterday and he arrived this morning an hour early which was fine by me.
I've been tinkering with cars all my adult life and knew the problem I was having was fuel related but don't have the tools or the space to to fix it myself and would also run the risk of being flagged as working without a permit.
Anyway, he immediately came to the same conclusion that it fuel related and suspected a fuel pump issue. 
Upon checking, it was indeed the fuel pump and is replacing it as soon an up market one arrives from Bangkok tomorrow.
He quoted around 7000 baht for the pump plus labor which I consider to be quite reasonable but will request siting the invoice for the pump..
I'll post the final results when he's finished.
At the end of the day though, as we are all aware, we are at the mercy of the locals who tend to charge farangs more so we shall see.....

 

[FarangFB]

18 hours ago, kellio said:

At the end of the day though, as we are all aware, we are at the mercy of the locals who tend to charge farangs more so we shall see.....

 

At this point I'm willing to happily pay the extra as long as the service gets properly done. My car has just been out of the full inspection at the dealership and they failed to see at least 2 issues that Mr. Sakda quickly diagnosed and will be fixing later.

[kellio]

On 9/17/2019 at 6:54 PM, kellio said:

I called him yesterday and he arrived this morning an hour early which was fine by me.
I've been tinkering with cars all my adult life and knew the problem I was having was fuel related but don't have the tools or the space to to fix it myself and would also run the risk of being flagged as working without a permit.
Anyway, he immediately came to the same conclusion that it fuel related and suspected a fuel pump issue. 
Upon checking, it was indeed the fuel pump and is replacing it as soon an up market one arrives from Bangkok tomorrow.
He quoted around 7000 baht for the pump plus labor which I consider to be quite reasonable but will request siting the invoice for the pump..
I'll post the final results when he's finished.
At the end of the day though, as we are all aware, we are at the mercy of the locals who tend to charge farangs more so we shall see.....

 

 

On 9/17/2019 at 6:54 PM, kellio said:

I called him yesterday and he arrived this morning an hour early which was fine by me.
I've been tinkering with cars all my adult life and knew the problem I was having was fuel related but don't have the tools or the space to to fix it myself and would also run the risk of being flagged as working without a permit.
Anyway, he immediately came to the same conclusion that it fuel related and suspected a fuel pump issue. 
Upon checking, it was indeed the fuel pump and is replacing it as soon an up market one arrives from Bangkok tomorrow.
He quoted around 7000 baht for the pump plus labor which I consider to be quite reasonable but will request siting the invoice for the pump..
I'll post the final results when he's finished.
At the end of the day though, as we are all aware, we are at the mercy of the locals who tend to charge farangs more so we shall see.....

 

Mr Sakada brought the car back 2 days after picking it up and in perfect working condition.
He also brought the receipt for the after market fuel pump along with the old one he had removed.
While the price for an after market fuel pump was high, it was also expected after checking prices of a new genuine Ford or Mazda fuel pump.
Replacement Mazda parts have always been expensive and since merging with Ford, prices for replacement Ford parts have followed suit.
Mr Sakada charged me 2500 baht for labour which in my opinion is extremely reasonable considering he picked the car up from my condo and delivered it back when the job was completed.
I'm happy with the result and have no hesitation in recommending Mr. Sakada's services.

[HauptmannUK]

On 9/26/2019 at 11:50 AM, kellio said:

 

Mr Sakada brought the car back 2 days after picking it up and in perfect working condition.
He also brought the receipt for the after market fuel pump along with the old one he had removed.
While the price for an after market fuel pump was high, it was also expected after checking prices of a new genuine Ford or Mazda fuel pump.
Replacement Mazda parts have always been expensive and since merging with Ford, prices for replacement Ford parts have followed suit.
Mr Sakada charged me 2500 baht for labour which in my opinion is extremely reasonable considering he picked the car up from my condo and delivered it back when the job was completed.
I'm happy with the result and have no hesitation in recommending Mr. Sakada's services.

I used Mr Sakda a couple of times over the past two years. He's a nice guy but you do need to check his work....

He fitted a new steering rack for me and a couple of days later I started to get some shaking through the steering.  I found that the front wheel bolts were loose. I think he'd been rushing the job and forgot to tighten them more than finger tight. I also found the clips on the rack gaiters were not fitted properly - sorted that myself.

The second time he did a service and forgot to replace the dipstick. I went to check the oil and it wad missing. Went back to his workshop and it was there on his tool trolley. I think he has a lot of work on and possibly rushes things...

Previously I'd used another mechanic on Theppasit Rd opposite the Colleseum. Hopeless. Didn't do the job properly and overcharged me.  Decent mechanics are as rare as hens' teeth in Thailand.

Edited October 8, 2019 by HauptmannUK

[kellio]

17 hours ago, HauptmannUK said:

I used Mr Sakda a couple of times over the past two years. He's a nice guy but you do need to check his work....

He fitted a new steering rack for me and a couple of days later I started to get some shaking through the steering.  I found that the front wheel bolts were loose. I think he'd been rushing the job and forgot to tighten them more than finger tight. I also found the clips on the rack gaiters were not fitted properly - sorted that myself.

The second time he did a service and forgot to replace the dipstick. I went to check the oil and it wad missing. Went back to his workshop and it was there on his tool trolley. I think he has a lot of work on and possibly rushes things...

Previously I'd used another mechanic on Theppasit Rd opposite the Colleseum. Hopeless. Didn't do the job properly and overcharged me.  Decent mechanics are as rare as hens' teeth in Thailand.

I think generally speaking, Mr Sakda is OK compared to the many who are not.
A couple of years ago I took my car to a mechanic shop on Sukumvit Rd on the left heading toward Chaiyapruik from Pattaya on a corner just short of the big Shell service station on the left.
I asked him for a quote on what I personally had diagnosed as a blown head gasket.
The car is a Ford Escape with a 3 liter V6 engine.
The following day I called him for the quote.
He said it wasn't ready but to call the next day.
The next day when he gave me the same story, I went to see him and found he'd removed and disassembled the engine which was scattered in pieces on the floor.
(Remember I'd asked for a quote only and made sure he completely understood by taking my girlfriend with me as interpreter.
A blown head gasket can be determined in several ways including by compression test or dye and there's certainly no need to remove and disassemble an engine to make the diagnosis.)
Anyway, he informed me that one of the cylinder heads was warped and needed either machining or replacing.
Being aware of how long it takes to have anything like that done here, I told him to replace the heads with reconditioned ones.
It took him 3 weeks to complete the job but when I picked it up to drive it home, the engine was only running on 3 cylinders so I took it back.
He then informed me that the blown gasket had caused the engine to overheat (Which I was already aware of) and that the overheating had caused 3 of the coils to burn out. (Extremely unlikely)
I had to go back to Australia at the time so left it parked up at my condo while I was away.
However, when I got back, it wouldn't start at all because the battery was flat. ( I'd replaced the battery 3 months before)

Because I didn't know anyone else, I then had no choice but to have him send a couple of guys out to start it with jumper leads and take it back to have the coils replaced.
The next day when I went there yet again, he told me the alternator was burned out as well and rats had chewed the main wiring harness to a point beyond repair.
By this time, I'd well and truly had enough and being a fitter by trade, was well aware of how engines work and had been doing all my own mechanical repairs since I was a kid including engine rebuilds.
So, I hired a tilt truck and picked the car up and took it to a friend who is a qualified mechanic who got his qualifications in the USA. 
I hadn't taken it to him in the first place because for one thing, he was out of the country at the time and for another, he can't work here because he has no work permit.
Nonetheless, his girlfriend's brother was a bit of a backyard mechanic so combined, we removed the engine again.
What became very obvious immediately after removing the cylinder heads again, was that not only had the other guy not replaced the heads, he had also not replaced the head gaskets and had gummed the old up one with silicone when refitting.
Further investigation revealed that there was nothing wrong with the original cylinder heads or most likely the gaskets.
These cars are fitted with alloy engine blocks and this one had a hairline crack across the outer rim of the water jacket which had indeed been caused by overheating which is common with alloy engine blocks when overheated.
The culprit has been a split heater hose which caused the coolant to leak over a period of time and couldn't be seen unless the intake manifold was removed. (Thank you Ford)
At the end of the day, we just replaced the engine with a second one we got from the auto dismantlers on Sukumvit Rd.
So, it was an expensive lesson to learn and compared to the other cowboy, Mr Sakda is an angel. 
BTW, the shonky mechanic has gone and after some queries, I learned that he had to close down and move away because of death threats he had been getting from other Thais.
So he wasn't only targeting farangs.
 

 

[FarangFB]

I've heard good mechanics are always busy. Mr. Sakda must be the best of them all then, because he told me one month ago that he was busy for the next 2 weeks. After these 2 weeks have passed I called him and he said he needed another week and would call me back, haven't heard from him yet.

 

My car issue isn't critical so I'm not asking for urgency but would be nice if it could get fixed this month. I might try that autoboy place in Jomtien.

[FarangFB]

After too long waiting for Mr. Sakda I decided to take my car to Autoboy Jomtien.

 

I must say the place did an excellent job:

- when I brought the car in, they took me back home using my car so I didn't have to take a baht bus

- at least two staff there speak quite good english

- they checked everything I asked for, and changed the problematic parts (suspension) 

- they could have ripped me off for engine parts (I was hearing noises, maybe it was just me), but they found nothing wrong and said that noise is normal

- fair prices, car was ready before the date I asked

 

Definitely MUCH better than the dealership which completely ignored the suspension issues.