Earthling Automotive
Mon to Fri, 8 to 5

News from the shop, since 2007.

What came through the bays, what we found out, and the things worth telling a customer before they turn up. Written here as it happens, by the people doing the work.

Looking for a fault, a code or a repair cost? Repair data is the technical library, and the counted articles carry the number of times we have done that job. See repair data

The week of August 31: three tows, and a Bolt with no recall pack

Forty-one cars through Earthling's bays. Three arrived on a flatbed. Here is the week, in the order it happened.

  1. Three Model 3s, three dead 12V batteries, one common thread

    All three had been parked at the airport for a fortnight. A note on what Sentry mode costs a tired battery.

  2. Jack ran the high-voltage refresher for the whole crew

    A day off the floor, on purpose. What the recertification covers and why the apprentices sit it too.

  3. The Prius that came back after eleven years

    A Luscious Garage customer from 2015, same car, second hybrid battery. A look at what the records say about the first one.

  4. Why we photograph every brake job now

    A rusted Tesla rotor, a customer who wanted to see it, and a habit that stuck.

  5. A Visit to Connie & Dick’s Service Center: One of the Best Repair Shops in the Country

    Earthling Automotive visits Connie & Dick’s Service Center in Claremont - a legendary independent repair shop, home of diagnostic pioneer Scott Brown, and our friend shop in the San Gabriel Valley.

  6. Tesla Door Handle Problems - Model S and beyond

    What 38 repair orders have taught us about Tesla’s most distinctive failure point

  7. Fiat 500e Repair in San Francisco: What We’ve Learned From 217 Repair Orders

    After 217 repair orders on Fiat 500e EVs, here’s what we’ve observed at Earthling Automotive in San Francisco - what tends to fail, what to expect, and how we keep these cars on the road.

  8. Why You Should Repair Your Gen 3 Prius Head Gasket - Even When It Doesn’t Feel Like the Right Move

    You bought a Prius because you didn’t want car trouble. That was the deal. You’d pay a little more upfront, skip the repair shop drama, and drive something reliable while everyone else was at the dealership. For a long

  9. The Gen 3 Prius Head Gasket Following the Same Curve as the Gen 2 Hybrid Battery

    If you owned a 2004-2009 Prius, you probably knew - or eventually learned - that the hybrid battery was a matter of when, not if. It took years for that understanding to become common knowledge, but it’s now

  10. The Gen 3 Prius Head Gasket Problem

    If you own a 2010-2015 Toyota Prius, a 2012 Lexus CT200h, or any of the Prius V or Prius Plug-In variants built around the 2ZR-FXE 1.8-liter engine, this post is written for you. We’ve been servicing Prius vehicles at

  11. Tesla Control Arm Incident Rates: Analyzing 3 Years of Service Data

    We analyzed 132 Tesla control arm repairs across 3 years. Here’s the incident rate by model, mileage patterns, and what the data reveals about when these failures actually happen.

Earlier posts, by year.

216 more posts, kept at the addresses they were published on. The older ones are from the shop’s years as Luscious Garage, left as they were written.

20261 post

20251 post

20242 posts

202312 posts

20201 post

20197 posts

20161 post

20151 post

20144 posts

20135 posts

201212 posts

201110 posts

201023 posts

200939 posts

200848 posts

200749 posts

Book online, or just text us.

Pick a real slot online, or text or call and someone at Earthling's front desk will pick up.

Book serviceText 415-875-9030
  • Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pmMonday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Closed weekends.
  • (415) 875-9030Call, or send a text
  • 615 Bayshore Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94124Directions, two minutes off the 101 and 280
The Earthling sandwich board out front: electric vehicle service, maintenance, diagnosis, repair, tires