Action Cylinder Heads has been my new go to mechanic for any major repairs for about the last one year now. Richard, the owner, offers great prices, quality work and a lot of useful automobile knowledge to share. I have no worry when I'm about to depart for a long roadtrip because I know Action ensures my vehicle is running safely and how it should be. If you ask around town, you will not be surprised when people tell you how great this place is. The place has a very good reputation and you will feel good about coming here and spending the money you worked hard for. I bought a cool traveling/camping van with a poorly maintained motor in it so it needed to be rebuilt or replaced. Action informed me that motor had too many coolant/oil leaks and it was not worth rebuilding. Fortunately for me, Action had a rebuilt, same year, GM 5.7L 350 motor already rebuilt and ready to go. By the second day of the project, it was ready to be put in the van. Richard and his staff took great care installing the engine. On this van, the whole front end had to be taken off to replace the engine. Everything was put back correctly and undamaged. Several months later it was determined the transmission needed replacement due to a never ending leak. Richard was able to quickly get in contact with his partner at East County Transmissions that rebuilds transmissions. Within less than a week, I received an excellent transmission rebuild with a 36,000/3 year warranty. Due to the age of the vehicle, over time some non-serviceable parts got old and it was necessary to replace. Within a reasonable time, Richard was able to knock out my Heater Control Valve, Windshield Wiper Motor, Belt and some other parts/sensors. In certain cases, I didn't even pay for installation! Richard has good references for things he does not do. He referred me to an excellent stereo shop (Stereo Depot in El Cajon) and another quality body/paint specialist! They have taken better care of my girlfriend's G6 than Goodyear. Action's mechanic noticed an important hose was torn causing dirt to go into the engine. Action was able to get the part from the dealership there within the same day! Action strives on installing only quality parts preferably made in the USA. The G6 drives like new after our recent tune up. I absolutely love this place. I'll come here as long as I'm around. read more

Doesn't stand by his work.. Can't recall working on your vehicle or find a record of it in computer.. Even when you spend 5000.oo Find another place... read more

Terrible service, Rebuilt my Son's Dodge Charger engine, and the engine failed in a year and a half and they are not willing to get in there and check the problem without 2500. No accountability on there part at all. read more

I recommend this place to someone. I said the bad reviews are probably just a disgruntled person they have been around forever. I had great work from them 15 years ago. but the truth is all the one star reviews are on point. excuse and excuse for basically being incompetent ... save yourself alot of time and heartache just find someone else. read more

Great shop. 2007 Ford f150, 162,000 miles, new timing chains and all other parts. So glad I was recommended to your shop. Runs like new. Looking forward to another 100k. Thank you. read more

This is the deck job they gave me. And it took 2 months. They didn't even touch my friends 2j in that amount of time, he ended up picking it up from them. Would not recommend at all lmao. At least they're cheap Edit: was checking my ring clearences before putting rods and pistons in and they completely fucked those aswell. It took them 2 months to do it also. I really thought my trouble was over after I got my deck fixed and my crank polished by ARCE but no. Action cylinder heads comes back to bite my ass in the middle of my shortblock build. Idk how one shop can fuck up this bad on simple tasks like this. I thought I could save some time by letting them gap my rings but obviously they're too brain dead for that. Apparently this shop was very good like 8 years ago and now they've gone down the shitter. Sad really. Not even gonna bother calling to have them pay for my new rings cause I doubt this dude even cares. And talking to him is like talking to a brick wall If you need quality machine work look no further than ARCE. read more

Action Cylinder Heads - This is their definition of a decked block lmao - Auto Repair Near Me - Santee, California

I had a major engine problem and they fixed it for a great rate. Reliable and communicative.

Don't ever go here for your engine head needs they had my motorcycle head for 6 months and told me Numerous time it would be finished and everytime I called to go pick it up on the date I was told it would be finished it wasn't and I got another excuse of why it's not done I was told it needed a bunch of part and I bought all the parts they needed to finish it and it never got finish I finally asked the owner what's going on and he said I don't have time for this you can come pick up your head and that's exactly what I did now it's going to another shop and will be done in 3 days not reason to lie to people if you can't do a job don't take it in it's that simple read more

I know of this business for many years now and used it occasionally over those years and always satisfied with the work. Recently, they did a head on my 99 Grand Cherokee and it was excellent. Now they have my vintage all aluminum v-8 out of my buggy, it's a 1963 Oldsmobile F85 215 v8 and I didn't hesitate to bring it to Richard. I can't wait to hear it run ! read more

Action Cylinder Heads - Olds 215 V8 out of an F85. Awesome number matched motor! But it comes out of one ugly car ! - Auto Repair Near Me - Santee, California

So glad I found this place! It was recommended by a mobile mechanic who looked at my truck. He said he had his truck done here over 10 years ago. He stated his truck ran better after, than when he bought it new. He wasn't lying. My truck was given back to me better than before. I was worried I was going to need an entire rebuild because there was no compression in one of my cylinders but Richard was able to find the problem and save me thousands. Honest, knowledgeable, experienced and reasonably priced mechanics are hard to come by. You'll get all those with Richard, the owner of action cylinders. He's been doing it for 48 years. I can't thank them enough for bringing my truck back to life. I know who I'll be recommending from now on. read more

Waited 8 weeks to get my crank shaft machined. Half the journals are out of spec and the oversized bearings don't even fit correctly. Way too tight. Already toasted a set before realizing what happened. This guy doesn't give a shit or check his machine work. There's better shops out there, save yourself the hassle. read more

We took our car to them it has never ran right since!!!! We have got he run around from the owner Richard ,it still over heats " the orignal problem" then the temp gauge didn't work had to take it to another shop for them to figure out that the thermostat was stuck after 2 temp sending units. Can't smog cause the computer won't reset. He sends me to the Dyno Shop. Another nickle and dime shop. $600 more still not ready for smog. Gave Action ample opertunitys to fix the car. now Im out almost $3000 and car is worse than when i took it to them. read more

This is replacing my previous 5 star review. I bought a car from the owner and the car has broken down twice on the freeway after being worked on here. Most recently they replaced a coil which immediately broke not 50 miles after driving. I was told I would get my money back for the repair and after the 1 hour drive to santee, they turned me away and denied my refund. I won't be returning to action cylinder heads and unless you want to break down I suggest you don't either. read more

Richard is the best. He always takes care of me. Never have to wait and always makes room for one more car even if he is full and really busy. I take my truck to him for everything. He does my oil change up and including anything that go wrong with my truck. I won't go anywhere else. I never leave wondering why I paid for what he has been done to my truck. Thank you Richard and your crew read more

Dropped my 72 El Camino off with Richard for a suspension repair. He did a great time, fairly priced and on time as promised. read more

Richard is my go to guy...I have Classics and I trust few. Action does it right the first time .

After an oil change my 09 Ford F150 5.4L, gasoline engine sounded like a diesel. I brought it into the dealer who told me I needed an new engine and it would be very expensive, somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or 16K. I called a few friends for recommendations. One of which pointed me to a garage in Mission Beach who ultimately sent me to Action Cylinder. After talking with the owner, Richard, he gave me 3 options that would fix the issue. Those 3 options equated to either a $2500, $4000 or a $6500 repair bill. So.... I called around for other options. Those phone calls ended up right back to Richard. Ultimately it cost me 7k for a complete engine rebuild that included a 3yr/36k warranty. So now that I'm keeping my truck I had a new stereo system Installed. The new system beat up my already old (12 yrs) alternator and basically burned it out within 3 days. The new engine was running great and Richard told me to come in so he could change my oil at the 500 mile mark so I did. He also installed the new alternator with no additional labor cost. Parts don't grow on trees so if course I paid for that. The stereo installer should have tested it prior to installing new system. Anyway... Thank you Richard!! For everything. read more

No stars should do it. Richard is a idiot and only has one concern, to rip off you and make money. I dropped off my 4runner and took them over 2 months to finally get it back. It wasnt done right, he gives you the run around and says one thing then another. He said he can not use any parts you supplied due to his warrantee. Come to find out he did use new parts that I installed before taking my truck there. Over charges for parts, has no concept of time and acts like he is doing you a favorer. STAY WAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!! I do not tolerate being taken advantage of, (who does unless in the bedroom) this will not set right by me and he will make it right. THE FAT FU#K! read more

Richard is a good guy and a hot rod enthusiast. He has an amazing wealth of information about cylinder heads and engine machine work in general that goes back for at least the 35 years that he's been running his business. He did a superb job servicing the heads of my beloved 1968 L79 327. He looked at a picture of the tops of my pistons and told me my compression ratio is 9.87:1 Good job. Fair prices. Thank you, Sir. I'm a happy customer. read more

Best of the best. Wont let anyone touch my engines for machine work except richard and his crew. They are magicians and they treat people fair and honest with amazing pricing that cant be beat. Have been using them since I moved to San Diego and have no need to ever go elsewhere. Even if they are slammed busy they are never too. Use to take in another job and have it done in a timely fashion. read more

Richard and his staff are amazing. Took care of the rebuild of my F150 engine in a timely and awesome time frame. Great work and I've had no issues. read more

Richard recently helped me out with a head gasket, valve job, water pump, and turbo oil line on a 2010 Mini Cooper S. (Not the easiest car to work on!) Richard seemed quite honest, extremely knowledgeable, and did a great job communicating and explaining things along the way. Top notch service, reasonable pricing, and the mini has a new lease on life. Thank you! read more

I am extremely pleased with the work product and the customer service of Action Cylinder Heads. Everyone in the shop was very courteous and professional. The owner, Richard, took care of placing a new engine in my old beat-up 4Runner in good time. He charged a very reasonable price. He arranged to have it towed and took care of that headache for me. I believe he went out of his way to accommodate me and my situation, every step along the way. He was very responsive and explained to me every detail of our transaction - no surprises! I will use Richard and his excellent crew going forward for my vehicles. read more

If you're looking for an honest and dependable mechanic that truly cares about his customers, look no further. A little over a year after Action Cylinder rebuilt the engine on my 1995 4Runner, something else went wrong that caused the engine to run lean and again cause internal damage. Since the engine was now out of warranty by at least a few months, I was looking at a very expensive repair during a financially difficult time for my family. But Richard didn't hesitate. He ignored the warranty date and repaired it anyway, saying, and I quote, "My sh*t should last longer than that." This vehicle has been trouble since the day I bought it a couple years ago, and I blame its issues on the dishonesty of the person I purchased it from and the overall poor (and old) state of many parts on the vehicle itself, and not anything Action Cylinder has done. I am indebted to this man for his kind spirit and generosity. Luckily for me, there are some honest and caring people around and I'm happy I was able to find them at Action Cylinder Heads. read more

The staff at Action Cylinder Heads are top notch! Professional quality at competitive prices. I will definitely recommend them to anyone who needs an excellent machine shop. Thanks guys! read more

This place is a joke I brought a cylinder head that needed a simple intake bolt hole fixed he drilled and put a timezirt 20+ degrees off center told me to drill out my intake and that its my problem that he said " I fucked up your out a head" this place has been in business for 30+ years and can't drill a hole straight what bullshit is that. Take your business to grc machine shop on winter gardens don't take your work here or you will be sorry like I am and out a head. read more