J4 Automotive — Local services in East Helena

Wanting to support local East Helena businesses, we chose to have our son’s overheating Jeep to J4. After being towed in on a Tuesday April 25, I it wasn’t until the next week that we even got the first diagnosis back! It was then another 10 days before work was even begun on the car. We were told that due sickness in the shop and other repair jobs, that it would still be days until we got the car back. That extra delay required us to get a rental car. That wouldn’t be so bad if we got a running car in return. However, after over $850 and 3 weeks, we ended up having to get the car towed out of J4’s lot yesterday (a full 14 days after we dropped it off) and towed back to our house. Being quoted a price of $3463 for repairs and only a “well, that’s the price” with no mention of compensation for having the car for multiple weeks and a repair that got us no closer to having a working vehicle is disappointing. Sure—things happen (sickness, other jobs) but to not take that into account in the final estimate or bill is disappointing. Seems like there were a lot of things that could have been offered (payment options, discount) but J4 seemed happy to take my $867 and watch a broken car be towed off their lot. We will get the repairs done, but unless J4 can make things right, it won’t be there. Disappointing to say the least.

EDIT: I am pleased to edit my initial review. First off, it is so refreshing to know that J4 took my review serious. Once they saw it, Chris reached out to me to try and make things right. J4 did everything they could to do the right thing. So often now, businessess just shrug off reviews and the customer never sees any follow up. We ended up working through the issues that we had. J4 apologized for letting us down and really went out of their way to make things right. I can 100% say that we will return to J4 for business because they care about their customers. Thanks Chris and...

I had been having problems with my Chevy Avellanche for a month or so where the truck would shut down and go into "safe mode" and a code would keep coming up for my throttle body and throttle position sensor. The problem finally got to the point where I couldn't even pull out of my apartment complex without the truck shutting down on me several times and I would have to keep clearing the code to be able to continue drive. Yesterday I went to J4 at about 2:30pm to talk to them about what was going on with my truck and to set up an appointment and they asked me if I could leave the truck with them RIGHT NOW! I told them I lived just down the street and they dropped me off at my house and about 2-2 1/2 hrs later they called me up to tell me that after doing some electrical testing/trouble shooting they narrowed it down to my throttle body and that it was REALLY dirty. They cleaned the throttle body and my truck has been running like new since!! One of the best things that I REALLY liked was that they employ a mechanic that was a former GM tech at a dealership for several years. I HIGHLY recommend bringing your vehicle to J4, they have a great group of friendly, knowledgeable and highly skilled mechanics! If I ever need to have work done on my truck again I won't go anywhere else, but here and I'm very picky when it comes to having work done on my vehicles!

I would REALLY like to thank them for saving me from the wrath of my wife coming down on me anymore, because in the last couple months I have had to call her several times while she was at work to pick our daughter up from school because my truck wouldn't stay running long enough to be able to pick her up at capital high in Helena and we live in East Helena! Thank you J4, I hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas and a safe and...

I had a horrible experience with J4. They came recommended and they are close to where I live. I took my truck there for a transmission flush. It cost $750 which was doable. When I was driving my truck the next day I had my check engine light and 3 other lights come on. Which is not acceptable. I called and scheduled another appointment for them to take a look. What they told me is that some gunk got into the solenoid from the flush and that my transmission was ruined and that I needed a new one. They quoted my $8,000 for a new transmission. They would not even entertain the notion of replacing the faulty solenoid saying that it was a waist of time. I then took it to a transmission specialist in Helena. What they found made me vow never to take my vehicles to J4 ever again. The transmission shop sent me videos and pictures of J4s lazy work. J4 never removed the pan of the transmission to flush the fluid or change out the transmission filter. The bolts holding the transmission pan had to be broken off to get the pan off and the ones they were able to get off had so much mud and grime on them that it was obvious it was never touched. The transmission shop replaced the faulty solenoid and my truck runs like new now. The transmission shop was able to do all of this and fix my truck for the same price as J4. J4 did lazy work and didn't do their due diligence to provide quality work. They just cut coroners and then tried to say that it would be to much work to replace the solenoid which was fine before they touched my truck and that it would not fix the problem. I suggest taking your vehicles a little further to Helena and finding a quality repair shop to work...