Sunset Diesel opens business park shop

Sunset Diesel first opened in 2018 in Petersburg, Indiana, before moving to a garage south of Washington in 2020. In April of last year, the auto shop made the upgrade to a lot in the city’s newest business park, offering a closer location to town with far more workspace.

“I was just getting so busy, I needed to add more guys and I didn’t have the space to do it,” Owner Donald Stutzman said. “It’s more work space, more room to grow. Right now, there’s four of us here … we’re going to continue growing however the business grows.”

Even in the new space, Stutzman plans to expand eventually. Doing so would allow him to hire more help, and take on more clients at once. Doing so comes with a catch, however: it would require more mechanics.

Such help can be hard to find.

“Obviously, if somebody’s good, the guy that’s got them right now, or wherever they’re working, they’re going to stay there,” Stutzman said.

  Buy Photo

Stutzman’s story started long before 2018, however. Describing himself as a “diesel fanatic,” he comes from a family of 10 boys, all of whom drive pickups that use the fuel.

“I’ve always been a gear head. Me and a couple of my friends started working on our own trucks in a little two-bay or two-car garage,” he said. “I did that for a couple years and then moved to Indiana … I’ve just been intrigued with mechanics and how motors work and rebuilding engines and just fixing stuff. It’s my hobby and I’ve turned it into a business.”

Rather than working for someone else, Stutzman said Washington presented an underserved market well-suited to opening his own shop.

The specialty is quite different from work on gasoline engines, despite looking similar from a layman’s perspective. Stutzman said his knack for diesel work was a matter of personal preference.

“We do work on gas cars, but it’s like, a whole other division of diagnostics, a whole other platform,” Stutzman said. “The layout, the engine, everything is similar. But the way you diagnose a gas engine, you have spark plugs, you have throttle valves, you have a completely different combustion system … someone that’s really smart diagnosing a diesel pickup will take a lot longer to diagnose a gas vehicle.”

For similar reasons, the shop does not work on semi trucks, in spite of popular demand.

“It’s something we get a lot of calls for,” he said. “To go to do a semi, you’d have to have a complete new shop of tools. And also the technology to diagnose it. And I don’t have any diesel techs that are familiar with it.”

  Buy Photo

Stutzman said he was glad to have his own business because it ensured that his work remained honest. While he doesn’t inherently distrust other repair shops, he said he was aware of bad actors in the industry.

“Mechanics is something that it can be easy to be dishonest in, and that’s something I wanted to make a little different in the world,” he said. “This is a talent I’ve been given and I want to make good use of it. I’m a Christian, I believe in being honest, but I’ve seen so many people be treated wrong. And I don’t want to be that person, I want to be someone that people can go to and know that they’re being treated honestly.”

Word of that company philosophy spreads fast.

“If it goes, it shows,” he said. “So far, I haven’t had any slow time.”

Beyond ethical salesmanship, Stutzman said it took a lot to make a good mechanic. The first requirement is an interest in the field. The second is patience. Third is a willingness to learn more, no matter how much experience one already has.

“I still learn new stuff every day,” he said. “When I come to work here, I look for all the ways I can make vehicles more reliable. I’m always looking for new ways I can do things that are more efficient, reliable, high-quality. There’s a lot of small details that go into mechanics.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com