Valley Tire and Service

My sister brought her 94 Civic here (that she had just bought) because it was stalling in the extreme low-​temperature conditions the night before. The next day was warm enough that it wasn’t stalling, but typically, even if you can’t replicate a stalling issue, any competant shop (like my trusted mechanic, Heslip’s Auto Repair in Owosso, MI) would at least check the fuel pressure and ignition timing to make sure it’s within spec, as these are simple checks on items that could easily cause the issue she was having if not set properly (Not something I would know, since she’d just bought it). However, they didn’t actually check anything. They just test drove it a few times. They said the engine ran perfectly, but that they thought the transmission wasn’t shifting properly, and something in the trans «must» be causing it to stall (even though the transmission performed no differently than every other Civic I’ve ever driven, and the car was stalling out regardless of if it was in gear or in park; no dependency on the trans whatsoever). Actually, when I mentioned that I’d driven it, and knew the trans was fine, they became very adimant that «there was no likelyhood that the issue was related to the cold, but that it definitely was the trans». They said, «because it was a trans issue, they couldn’t do anything about it»; honestly, they didn’t seem to care too much when I talked to them on the phone.
When she got it back, I went over to her apartment, out in the cold during a snow storm (which I was trying to avoid by having her take it somewhere), and checked the ignition timing myself. I was able to quickly determine it was 16 deg delayed, which would be more than enough to cause that little motor to stall in the extreme cold. I adjusted the timing to where it should be, and its been several weeks with no issues. Still no idea why they thought it was the trans; as I said, it performs exactly the same as any of the multiple Civics I’ve ever driven. This place may have the means to change your brakes and tires, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re incompetant in performing any other minimally skilled work, so why even trust them with what they say they can do. It’s too bad, because she needs a reliable mechanic close to her, since she can’t often make the 30 mile trip to mine when she has an issue.

Awesome service and super fast. Way cheaper than discount, bell or any where else i called

Twenty minutes into a 6 hour drive to Tahquamenon Falls a tire on our van blew out — at 4:30 in the morning just north of Ypsilanti. Mounted the spare (accessing the spare on a Caravan is quite another story!) and drove to Flint. Called around and found Valley Tire was open. Wow — what great service. They had us in and out in no time. We were so appreciative of their speed, professionalism, price and quality. It truly made a huge difference in how the first day of our family vacation turned out. Thank you.
–John E and family, Ypsilanti, MI