Sparky’s Transmissions

2001 Honda Accord that had been well taken care of … except the transmission. I finally accepted my fate and took it in because I want to keep this car for a while. The owner is super nice, and although it cost me a chunk of money, I feel that I got what I paid for and the service is honest. It took a few days, actually I think about a week, which was fine for me. They opened it up and replaced a bunch of parts which was a big savings over a new/​rebuilt tranny. Runs nice, and seems to downshift better when braking hard or going down hills. I had not noticed that before. When the work was done, Bob drove it over to my house to get me and we test drove it. I took it back after 900 miles for him to check for leaks and test drive it again. No charge for that btw. Thanks Bob.

Thank you Sparky’s and John. Just a great all around experience. John was great. Updated me and let me know how things were going with the whole process. It was supposed to be a 3 day job, but it turned into a 4 day. John’s awesome explanations was, «I want to make sure my guys don’t rush and do the work to just get the job done, I want to make sure the job is done RIGHT!»
Geez, when was the last time I heard somebody say that? Ok, that would be never!
You have a customer for life here John. Thank you for your great service and customer satisfaction. Chris C.

Have 3 trucks and one car, both for bus. and the others for personal, and pleasure. Bob has worked on all of them over the years, including my wifes baby, her all orig.1970 Mustang Fastback, and is very picky on who gets to work on her baby, and Bob at Sparkys is definetly on the top of the list, of approval. All my small, med. and my larger work truck, he has done excellent, work and diagnosis, for minor, to major service over the last 30 to 40 years. I have referred many family, and friends, and bus. contacts to him, for a large variety of reasons, or needs. So far Ive never heard an dissatisfied report. Im proud have him around, and consider him, a super, honest, and proffessional, person, and a lifelong friend. Thanks Always Bob. From SKI from SKI’S MOBILE WELDING

I own a 1970 VW Fastback with an automatic transmission. The car is factory original with the exception of 1 repaint and still runs amazingly well given its age but started revving while going up hills. I relayed this symptom to my VW mechanic who simply told me to take it to a transmission shop as he didn’t work on automatic transmissions. Having had some bad experiences with mechanics and this car, I was hesitant looking for any kind of «new» mechanic to entrust my weird, little antique ride to so I started reading the reviews on Unilocal.
I’ve seen Sparkys Transmission many times visiting Adams Ave and all of the different makes of vehicles park on the premise. Given that the place looked as though it had been there/​in business forever I decided I’d give them a call.
I spoke with Bob and let him know I wasn’t in a hurry to get it back and would understand if he didn’t get to it for a week or more. I parked it on the sidewalk Friday night and left the key in the drop slot with my name and number. I got a call from Bob on Saturday letting me know he got it and exactly what it was doing and what I wanted done. I told him I didn’t know much about the car but it was running fine and had just started revving going up hills.
It’s an old Volkswagen, so it goes without saying it leaks. Bob let me know where all it was leaking from and recommended a rebuild kit which entails removing the engine to get to the transmission to rebuild it, out of the budget. I asked if there was another, less expensive way. Bob told me there were leaks at the main seal, governor seal and transmission pan seal and that he could replace all the seals except the main seal without pulling the engine. Bob called me Tuesday to let me know it was ready to pickup. I got there and the car was up on the rack and I was shown the work that was done (and how/​where to fill up the transmission fluid when it leaks out and gets low again causing the transmission to slip while going up hills, LOL). Bob is a straight-​up honest guy and I actually look forward to bringing my vehicles back to him and referring others to him. If I could give him 10 stars I would!

I took my car for a transmission service to Bob again and it reaffirmed the fact that he is one of the most honest, quickest and fairest specialists in the city.
I’m a bit puzzled over the few negative reviews here because here are the FACTS: 1) I’ve taken at least two cars over the years to Bob and he has been incredibly honest. I went to one shop that insisted I needed a new transmission. Bob looked at it and laughed and said no way and I paid the fee for his standard transmission service and it was 100 percent FINE. He did this several times. And the car always ran a lot better after he was done. 2) He is so honest that my friends and another mechanic who services my car know my line: «I’d only take my car for transmission service to Bob at Sparky’s.» The only instance where I didn’t hold to that is when he couldn’t take me due to some things to his shop — and he referred me to someone else so I could get it fixed on time. 3) Two years ago I had to go on a national tour that eventually involved driving 49,000 miles. Right before my tour I noticed something strange in my transmission. I took it to a place near where I now live and the guy insisted it needed a new transmission and gave me a staggering price. I took it to Bob who told me: «Joe. If you were planning on driving it around here I’d say, take your chances for a while. But if you are driving cross country, yes, it is going to go sometime fairly soon.» Due to his excellent record with me and because he’s a straight shooter, I had him fix it – and it worked better than with the original transmission.
I have ZERO complaints with Bob and Sparky’s in terms of whether it could be fixed or needed to be replaced (98 percent of the time he shook his head and said what someone else said about replacing it and told me it was NOT necessary). Two mechanics who I trust HIGHLY praise Bob’s abilities, prices and service. He referred me to a superb mechanic. My car runs notably smoother once he does his standard service. OH: and I’ve used him now for about TEN YEARS on all but ONE transmission job, the one he could not do. My Chevrolet Venture van how has 306,000 miles (no joke) on it. And BOB is part of the reason why. If Bob had been a different kind of person, he could have done a lot more work and charged me more over the past 10 years. To me, his work is gold and so is his word.

The short of it:
My Rav4 needed a transmission rebuild, I called around, and decided to go with Sparky’s Transmission. Bob was willing to give me a rough estimate over the phone and a detailed estimate after the car was dropped off. I was treated professionally, the prices were acceptable, the service was slow, but not intolerably so.
The long of it:
My Rav4’s transmission conked out. I called around for some estimates. Bob at Sparky’s Transmission gave me the lowest over-​the-​phone estimate, so we went with him for a proper physical estimate. The final estimate was markedly higher than the phone estimate, but (and this is important), over the phone he hadn’t accounted for the replacement any «hard parts» (and he mentioned that during the call), as these parts alter the scope of the price radically depending on which ones need replacing.
His final estimate was still more reasonable than many of the phone estimates that I received, and the work he performed seemed to be excellent. Unfortunately, my car was totaled about 2 months after the repairs were completed, so I cannot attest to the actual longevity of the repairs, but they seemed to be of good quality as of the time we received them.
If I had one complaint, it would be that I found myself being the one to follow up on the status of my car, rather than him calling me. Having said that, it seemed as though my car was broken during a perfect storm of inconveniences (people out sick, difficulty getting just the replacement part needed, etc.) which can trip up even the most well organized shop.
When shopping for a good mechanic, the question to ask is often not, «Who is cheapest?» or even «Who is the best?» but «Who is the most trustworthy?» I feel that everything I paid for was a reasonable price for the value, that I was not gouged on any of the work, and that Bob and Sparky’s stand behind their work as mechanics.

I’m the owner of Mission Valley Towing. I have recommended Sparky’s transmission to many customers of Mission Valley Towing. Never a complaint ! Have used this place for a clutch repair on a tow truck. My experience has shown Bob can save you a lot of money compared to the dealer. I believe there will be situations that requires the dealer for some types of repairs. Bob was a transmission mechanic at Sparky’s, at this location, in 1974. He bought the business in 1980. He’s been at this same location on Adams Avenue the entire time. When you have older vehicles that need an expert approach, this shop offers some very useful insight. Newer cars are not any more challenging. For what Bob offers, you will save. I’ve found Bob to be nothing but honest. Would be glad to tow your vehicle to where ever you like. Mission Valley Towing is on Unilocal.

Can’t say enough about Sparky’s, Bob, the owner really took care of me. I had bought all the parts to put in the car some time before, never got around to doing the install. I was quoted a good price on installing the clutch along with the master and slave cylinders (this is on a LS1 Camaro). It ended up taking much more time then anticipated, yet Bob stuck with the initial price (adding some $ 40, which he made optional, but I was happy to pay a bit more), they did had to do a few extra things to get things to work properly, such as cleaning up the input shaft that was damaged from a failed throw out bearing, had to drop a few parts to get to the master cylinder etc. The car was done within less then two days, and is like a new car now. Great work, I know that getting things setup up can be some work with these cars, they did great work. Can’t be happier, I will definitely go back with any transmission needs. I can’t stress how good this place is, very knowledgeable and fair. A++++, thanks again Bob!

This place is a huge Scam!
Owner is a nice guy until he got my truck to his place. Transmission went out of my 2004 F-​150 truck and I had it taken to Ford Dealer. Once i got a price I called around to find if I could get it done cheaper and Owner of Sparky’s said that he could have me over a $ 1,000 dollars and tow it to his shop free. I said sure get it to his shop and now the price is same as Ford without the 36,000 Warranty that Ford offered. I said then that I would have Ford dealer do it and then he wanted me to pay $ 550.00 for towing and have transmission put back on my truck! Really?
So ended up letting him rebuild trans and have had to take it back to him 4 times with issues and every time he does not want to do it! I still can only start my truck from neutral and he seems to not find time to fix that. So just took it to Ford and it cost $ 245.00 to fix his mistake!
DO NOT USE THIS GUY! HE LIES AND WILL NOT FOLLOW UP ON ANYTHING!

A gem of a place. Bob was excellent to work with. Very fair and honest. I would recommend to anyone in need of transmission work!

I highly recommend Spark’s transmission. I had previously gone to Honda to repair my transmission, only to find they don’t fix transmissions they just replace them to a tune of $ 3,000. I did a fair amount of shopping around for a good transmission shop. In the end I settled on Sparky’s Transmission. I found the owner, Bob to be helpful and knowledgeable. His prices were fair, no low ball offers to bait and switch, not overly expensive either. He gave a estimated range depending if he could save parts of transmission, so I wouldn’t be surprised about the final price.
It’s been about 2k miles and so far my transmission work great. I went in for a precautionary followup and Bob drove around with me to make sure that the transmission worked perfectly. Everything was fine. While my car was on the lift, his tech even found a small leak in my valve cover /​spark plug gasket /​which was causing one of my spark plugs to foul prematurely (my car had been idling strange before I brought the car in). Even though the shop doesn’t fix valve cover gaskets, Bob pointed out to various solutions, places and options. I went home and fixed my valve cover myself for 45 dollars. In short, all I can say about Sparky’s is.
Excellent customers service. Excellent workmanship.

Bob, and the rest of his crew, were great. Reviewed my transmission and even called around to the dealerships for a missing screw that I had. Great service! Highly recommend for anyone with Transmission issues.

Another review long overdue… I’ve taken four different cars here for various transmission issues. Every time, Bob (owner) has been courteous, honest and fair with me. Also, they do their own rebuilding of the transmissions and transfer cases. They don’t just buy reman’s, mark them up, and install them. It’s really getting to be a lost art. Also, it’s very important for classic cars or newer models destined to be classics. Number matching cars are always better!
I had them rebuild the NV4500 manual in my Dodge Cummins diesel, and they put the original carbon fiber syncros in, instead of the cheaper brass ones. They can also do custom installs. I had them put a 1-​ton manual (NV4500) and Atlas II into my Jeep rock crawler. I trust them and will always bring them my transmission problems.
Thanks Bob!

Real nice guy very honest and fair. I took a car today to have him looked at I got there only because of the reviews but still as always afraid that I’ll be the first lamb to be slaughter but that was not the case he inspected the car and didn’t even charge for it never even mention money he diagnose the problem and fixed it for $ 10 he probably spent 25 minutes on the car plus cost of oil to top the transmission and 40 years of knowledge but yet had the integrity not to make a mortgage payment of my repair, I still need to replace a gasket and couple of sealings guess who is going to get my business? You’r right-Sparky’s transmission. Thank you

Thanks to Unilocal for helping me choose Sparky’s, They rebuilt my 2005 Dodge diesel dually 4×4 transmission wit a shift kit, fair price, good work, I have already refferred other friends here for the same great service!

Bob installed a rebuilt transmission in my 93 Saturn wagon for $ 700 and it’s still going strong 2 years later. Wonderful service. I love this place.

These guys are great,
Honest, and guess what… all the other reviews say all the same. Awesome.
They fixed m 98 Honda Civic EX Manual and it now runs great. Thank you Bob! He’s got a really good dog too by the way.

You can believe the other positive reviews. I had a leak that came back, but they fixed it no charge, no excuses. Gotta love a shop that stands behind their work.

8am: Toyota wanted $ 110 just to look at the truck. Then wanted $ 606 for the repair. Which they couldn’t do until the next day since they had to order the part.
11am: After calling around, Bob at Sparky’s offered to look at it free of charge and called Toyota directly to see how much they were charging just for the part that needed to be replaced. $ 150 for the part.
noon: I handed $ 110 for Toyota to give me my truck back, sans fixing.
3pm: At Sparky’s, talked to Bob, he quoted me a price of $ 330. Total cost. He clearly explained what he was going to do and what the cause of the problem was. For a Type A analytical type, this was appreciated. There was no up selling, just what I needed to get my truck back to driveable condition.
7pm: Called me to tell me the truck is done. He called around and got the part the same day
Bob is a saint. Toyota sucks balls. THE END.

I mistakenly stopped by Sparky’s, thinking I was heading to a different shop. No matter, my transmission is making funky noises and I was in a transmission shop. Let’s see what happens!
I stepped in and was greeted by Bob, the owner. He was finished up with another customer so I stood around and watched some TV for a few minutes. After explaining the problems I was experiencing Bob took the car and I for a drive.
During the drive he was more thorough than other shops I visited (can’t trust anyone these days). He was the first to suggest a rebuild kit for my synchros and bearings, which is much cheaper than the full rebuilds that other shops suggested. When he added up labor costs and saw me wince he even said he could work with me and knocked $ 100 off the estimate!
Even with the discount I still didn’t have the cash to pay for the repairs so I thanked him for his time. He said he’d look up actual parts costs and see if he could find me a used transmission to scavenge parts from. Talk about service!