SF Bay Area shop?

[Neil]

Hey crew: I'm looking for a reliable shop in the SF Bay Areato start servicing my 97 XLT (57K miles). I live in SF but work in Walnut Creek, so any suggestions in SF, Alameda or Contra Costa counties would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[pacman]

Fremont Ford used to be pretty good, but they have been going through some changes lately... If you don't mind driving a bit further, Mission Valley Ford in San Jose (right off 880/Brokaw) is one of the best. All they do is trucks and SUV's and they have one of the best service departments I have come across.

 

[soupbone]

Fremont Ford was bad for me. When they did my recall work to reduce the timming chain chatter thing they misplaced a wire to the PCM under the upper intake manifold. So one day im out wheeling and my engine just goes dead due to melted wire / dead PCM. Couldnt find the problem so I towed it to Hayward Ford 100 miles from the trail . THey asked me who had been working on the truck cause it didnt look they knew that they were doing. I muttered Fremont Ford.... He said oh no ummm ok...... Well we fixed it sorry about that.

Now I get service at Hayward or Hilltop Ford.

 

[Marvin CNG]

I live in Alameda, work in Concord.
Over the 7 years I've had my X I've had various work (mostly recall-type dealer stuff) done at many Dealers.
My ratings for the SF Bay area (in desc order):
- Explorer Express in Richmond for the complex, aftermarket stuff. Difficult to get to, but know X's...
- Walnut Creek Ford. Good shop, was quick and reliable
- Concord Ford (not sure of current name - been thru several changes). OK, but too many changes...
- Melrose Ford (Oakland). Never seem to have the parts in stock. Not high on my list
- Fremont Ford. Bought X there, will never take it there !A high-volume churning Dealership. Aggressive sales force, low prices, don't know squat...

Hope this helps, but my advice is waste too much time here, and find how to do most everything yourself...
Cheaper, better, and kinda fun too..

 

[Jim F]

I live in Martinez and work in Walnut Creek.

I bought my Explorer in Antioch, but all my service/recal work has been at Lithia Ford in Concord. So far they have been fine. The largest repair they made was when I had a grunging sound during left turns that they found was a failed rack and pinion unit. They replaced it under warranty and was flawless.