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Monday 8am - 5:30pm Tuesday 8am - 5:30pm Wednesday 8am - 5:30pm Thursday 8am - 5:30pm Friday 8am - 5:30pm

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Grip Automotive and Repair

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Sedro-Woolley, WA
Grip Automotive and Repair

We will save you a LOT of $$ on your repairs! Grip Automotive was founded on the principle of 100% honesty, transparency and integrity in automotive repairs.

We will ALWAYS tell you the truth 100% of the time - whether you want to hear it or not.

02/18/2026

Update on the moving project!

Like most things it's taking longer than expected but we are making progress.

I will have access to the back bay lift next week, so I am going to start taking in a limited amount of work next week. I am shooting for 3 days per week until I am back up and running 100%.

Of course we all know that 3 days turns into 5 but I really do need to try to keep it at 3 so I have enough time to make good progress on this moving project.

So if you need something let me know starting next week and we'll go from there.

As always we appreciate your patience and your business! None of this would be possible without great customers like you guys! 😁

01/12/2026

The time has come!

I am excited yet filled with dread at the task before me.

Excited because the time has come to move into my shop expansion. Filled with dread because that means many hours of working moving, sorting and organizing all of the crap in my shop.

So the shop will be closed for 3-4 weeks as I make this happen. It won't be easy but I hope the results will be worth it!

Thank you for your support!

11/15/2025

Another victory!

As some of you know I have been working my way towards broadening my horizons to work on EVs. So few shops work on them and people who own out of warranty EVs need an honest shop to take them to.

I had a customer tow a Nissan LEAF up to me from Seattle for repair. The dealer quoted $4500 to replace the PDM - Power Distribution Module. I was recommended to her by Alex from Watt Works down in Portland. He is a great guy and extremely knowledgeable about EVs. He has been helping me on my journey learning about these cars. I cannot thank him enough.

The PDM is a LARGE box under the hood that does exactly what the description says. It distributes 400VDC power to and from the battery and other devices using HV battery power. In this case one of the charge port signal lines was stuck high so the battery could not charge and the car was in "turtle" mode.

I rechecked the dealer's diagnosis and credit to them they were correct. Which is not always the case which anyone who follows this page already knows.

I was able to replace the PDM with a good used unit and have the customer out the door for $2200 tax included and that also included a new AGM 12V battery which the car needed. Less than half of what the dealer wanted.

Just for fun I took the PDM apart when I had some time. It's a very interesting device. In one of the pictures you can see the wavy lines the coolant takes through the device to help cool it.

So far I have enjoyed learning about these cars. Up to this point they have not been terribly difficult to work on or learn, but now that I've said that I'm sure one will come along that kicks my butt! :)

As always, trust Grip Automotive & Repair for honesty, transparency and a fair price!

10/09/2025

This customer needs to buy a lotto ticket.

2019 Honda/Acura 2.0 turbo with only 120K on it.

I think the timing on this engine was living on thoughts and prayers.

09/24/2025

This is why you have to do the actual work of diagnosing an issue.

Had a customer bring in a Jeep Wrangler for a left front turn signal not working. Customer had it somewhere else (cough cough dealer) charged my customer $300 to diagnose it. Diagnosis: bad TIPM $2200.00.

No wonder people don't trust dealers. There is no possible way they did the actual diagnosis on this as this rodent caused wire damage was literally right at the TIPM.

Even the most basic wire continuity test would have revealed the issue since this connector must be disconnected to do the test!

The other question is what would have happened if the customer had approved the repair? Would the shop have simply fixed this wire problem and then installed the new TIPM anyway? Or would they have been honest and admitted to the mistake and then sent the special order part back?

Fixed and out the door for a fraction of the $2200 the other shop wanted to replace this part.

05/07/2025

Wow!!

That's some serious corrosion! I have never seen a PCM corrode this badly. The fasteners that held it together rusted and the casing actually split open. Not only that but an entire small section of the aluminum casing literally corroded away. Missing. Gone.

I have no idea how long it ran like that but it certainly wasn't when it got towed in to me.

Yet another example of why putting control modules under the hood is a really bad idea.

03/19/2025

Another Ford PTU saved from failure. Removed and modified this PTU to be serviceable and saved my customer at least $2000.00

It only had 3-4 oz of fluid in it and boy did it stink.

03/08/2025

Well I hate to say it, but if your transmission pan and fluid looks like this your transmission is junk.

This is from a 2014 Chevrolet 1500. Unfortunately transmission failures with these are a common problem. The best way to take care of these is with a GM genuine remanufactured unit with a 36 month/100,000 mile warranty. That way you get all of the updates that have come out for this transmission and a great warranty. It's not cheap, but it's the best option.

These also have an internal transmission control module that requires reprogramming after installation. If you put one of these in a truck and start the engine before programming the transmission it results in instant destruction of the transmission front pump.

Grip Automotive has the factory equipment to program these and other GM, Ford and Chrysler modules. This is not a cheap investment, but we have to have this equipment to properly repair our customer's vehicles.

03/04/2025

Hmm.

This is impressive. I've never seen anyone BEND their caliper piston before.

02/27/2025

Hmm... Something tells me this is not normal.

I suppose if a car could play a Kazoo maybe it would sound like this?

11/21/2024

Update regarding Wind-ma-geddon 2024:

Grip Automotive is still without power. PSE is estimating power restoration by 6PM tomorrow 11/22.

If you saw what Hoogdal road looked like yesterday morning I really think that's optimistic.

We have generator for the house so at least we won't freeze and our food won't go bad, but the shop is on a different circuit so I can't feed power from the generator to the shop.

At this point there is not much I can do until we have power. I can't open the roll up door, there is no heat, no compressed air, etc.

Fortunately it's not super busy right now and I only have a few cars in queue, but I do apologize for the added delay. I will get back to work as soon as I can.

In the mean time She Who Must Be Obeyed has decreed that I am to man the leaf blower and clean up the driveways. Please pray I get power back as soon as possible. Yard work is not my thing compadre.

Address

22313 Grip Road
Sedro-Woolley, WA
98284

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	8am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	8am - 5:30pm
Thursday	8am - 5:30pm
Friday	8am - 5:30pm

Website

facebook.com

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