Avoid Suzuki

Scotty,

I just spoke to a man named Harley in customer service at Suzuki in Brea CA at 714-572-1490. I explained that I am a concerned member of the C-Brats(1000+ strong!) and that I am considering a Suzuki, but your experience puts me off their brand.

Harley would like for you to call him, and have your motor serial numbers handy.

Perhaps it would help if several (or lots) of us Brats called that number and explained our concern and that our 'club' of 1,000 C-Dory owners and wannabes would like to hear that Suzuki is taking care of business.
 
Larry,

Thanks, but I have been dealing with someone there that has been working on getting the motor fixed. I am just not satisfied with how long this takes. Also Andersson Marine wasted a month of my time by not doing anything to even find out what was wrong with the engine.

Scott
 
Just got word that Suzuki finally approved my warranty issue with my NEW engine. It needs the lower unit replaced. I just might have it back in time for my vacation.

Scott
 
been following your thread, hope fully your frustrations are over .. it does make you wonder, with a new motor and no hours on it their shouldn't be warranty hang ups ... make sure your first major trip out is in fair weather .. lol .. . you don't want the curse to be following you ... take care ... wc
 
Scotty:

Take that thing out and run the crapiolas out of it for at least 2 hours and let us know how it goes.

10 years from now all this will be a mere blip on the radar . . .

Good luck!
 
I hope to get out this weekend sometime, wife and baby permitting. I really hope the problem is fixed and I don't have to take the boat back to the shop again. 4 times in 2 months is enough for me. I will give an update on my port Suzuki engine after I run it.

Scott
 
Unless I am missing something, the trouble is an ENGINE problem, not a BOAT problem...big difference, at least in my mind. We had a boat that was excellent in every way...just loved it, but had a ton of engine related problems which tainted our experience with that boat. We are always quick to point out, though, that it was simply engine problems...the boat itself was great.

Are you happy with the boat when the engine runs as it should? If so, then maybe you should tell interested people who talk to you about your boat that it is a great boat but a crappy engine and the warranty sucks. Just my 2 cents from someone who's been down that same sorta road. I realize it doesn't make you feel any better, but it really is an instance of a company not providing good engine service...not a boat company giving bad service...am I right?

Hope it all gets fixed in a hurry so you can be smiling and enjoying...

Rick
 
Dan,

I don't think there has been any negative posts about the Suzuki 90. As I recall, all the posts have been positive.

If I bought a Suzuki 90, I would buy it as a Johnson to have access to a much larger network of dealers.

When I was repairing Johnson/Evinrudes we would get customers with Suzukis (two strokes) who had trouble finding a service dealer and would want us to work on them. We couldn't help them due to our not having parts, technical info, or experience repairing that brand.

I think that if an owner is not mechanical, they need a reliable, competent dealer to help with warranty issues.
 
416rigby

You are right, it isn't a boat problem, it's a motor problem! C-dory built the boat, purchased the motors from Suzuki and installed them. Then, C-Dory must depend on the motor manufacturer to provide warranty service.

Unlike a car, the boat manufacturer must depend on other companies to provide the motors, steering, and so on.
 
Scotty: I'd leave the wife and child on the dock for this one, unless you hold the baby and let the wife run it. When I said run the crapiolas out of it, that's what I meant -- either break it or forever have confidence in it afterwards. You're lucky, you're on the water, I've had to do the same thing with single engine airplanes after repairs hundreds of times (and once it didn't work out so good . . .)

Everyone else:

This is a motor service problem, no doubt, but what frequently happens when such a thing occurs is we start looking for other things to shift blame as buyers remorse sets in and that is one of the most powerful negative feelings there is. Recently, when the balsa/fuel-tank situation came up I rechecked my sealant job by removing the screws and guess what -- soft wood! I could've cussed C-Dory and put a long negative post on the board, but the boat itself does exactly what it was designed to do and what I bought it for -- so I simply drilled the holes, filled them with my favorite product (JB Weld) resealed the edges and forgot about it . . . I hope others can learn to take things in stride. Nothing made is perfect -- nothing (although the Mercury comes close) Speaking of Mercury, I entered Mercury/Yamaha 90 compaints and sure enough: http://www.outboardrepairs.com/4_stroke ... rds_0.html out comes all the negatives -- so you can find pro and con for virtually any engine/boat/anything else out there.

Good luck Scotty with your motor and boating.
 
Jack,

For the most part I did get the problem taken care of. I still think that Suzuki customer service sucks. If I had to do it all over again I would not choose Suzuki because of there lack of customer service. My new engine with about 7 hours should not have taken 2 months and a lot of my wasted time and money to get fixed.

Scott
 
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