Not to happy with new 15 hp Suzuki review

[tomme boy]

New update. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Went this AM to pick the boat and motor up. Got back about 10AM and went right to the boat ramp to take it for a ride. Got in the boat and it started right up. Idled out for about 100 yds to let it warm up a little. I took off an when the boat was about on plane the motor started to spit and sputter and then outright died. Tried to start it again and the starter sounded like it was dragging and then it stopped working all together. Tried to pull start it and it started then died. I dropped the trolling motor in the water and worked my way back to the ramp. Once back at the ramp it started up again and it idles fine. Put it under power and it spits, sputters and dies. It had a hot electrical motor smell to it with the hood off.

I took it back to the dealer and he has a call into the Suzuki tech rep. Supposed to call back this afternoon. I am picking this up if it is fixed or not later today. I am going on a 600 mile drive to Tennessee on Monday. I am going to drop this POS off at the original seller. I have already called them and told them what is going on and how pissed off I am to have to drive 600 miles to get this fixed or replaced.

 

[jasper60103]

tomme boy » Today, 1:05 pm[/url]"]New update. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Went this AM to pick the boat and motor up. Got back about 10AM and went right to the boat ramp to take it for a ride. ...

Did the dealer attempt to fix anything or just wanted to wash his hands of it?

 

[tomme boy]

Well I took it back up to him and dropped it off. He called back about 3 hours later and said it was ready. I asked him what he did. He said he went through all of the electrical connections and tightened up everything. Then he said he put it in his test tank and ran it at full throttle in gear. He said it might have been a bad ground.

I took it out this evening for 2 hours and it ran fine so far. We will see.

 

[Abraham]

So much for saving money on an internet purchase huh? Maybe you should have listened to your local dealer when he told you it was too cheap instead of sending your money 600 miles away to someone who could give two shits about you?

I work at a dealership and I swear the internet is making an expert out of any person who can run a mouse. And to be quite honest it pisses me off a lot of times.

Examples in the last 3 months or so:

Some guy told me a website was blowing our price out of the water on a $220 radiator. It was $25 cheaper, coming from Florida, and he had to pay freight. :shock:

Guy calls and says he's been buying injector pressure regulators from Oreillys or Autozone but they only last 6 months or so. Our price was $30 more so he got pissed off of course. So I reminded him that the original had lasted 6 years. Made no difference, he still went and got a junk one from downtown.

Local fellow calls and says the vehicle he purchased came with only one key. I asked him where he bought it and of course it was two hours away. The selling dealer wanted us to sell the key to them at %10 over cost and program it at a discount as well. Well of course they did, they don't want to look like assholes for making this guy drive four hours round trip for something they should've handled. Plus, they don't have to deal with the customer.

I told him to take it back to the selling dealer. This was not the answer he expected of course lol. He said "well, I'm never doing business with you again!" I calmly replied with, "well, have you ever before?" No? Well I guess I'm not missing out on much than am I

Moral of the story, big dealers from far away don't care about you and can sell things cheaper because they can deal in larger quantities. Big dealers also get kick backs from the brands they sell that smaller, local dealers do not get. Support local business and keep your money where it can help your community and don't look for the cheapest way to do something.

If we sell a vehicle and it has a warranty issue, recall, needs an oil change, a detail, etc...That vehicle gets pushed to the very front of the line. Every...single...time...

 

[tomme boy]

You are talking about 30$. I am talking about 1500$ Not the same at all. I asked him to come close as I wanted to buy it from him. He would not budge on the price. I didn't want him to meet the price, but come close. I have done business with the original dealer before and have sent A LOT of people his way to buy boats from him. I have done a lot more checking about this dealer and even Suzuki does not recommend him for repair anymore. They advise two other places in a 50 mile radius. So that tells you something right there. I have heard all kinds of stories of him charging 3 x's the amount on repairs that he said would only cost 100$. Then holding said boats hostage till it is paid. He charged one of my friends 75$ to clean the battery posts on one battery that was sitting in the back of a flatboat in a battery box. Plus 1.5 hours of diagnostic time to find out why his motor would not turn over. At 85$/hr I think a little vaseline should have been free at no charge.

Oh and 20-30 on a radiator ain't shi*. Thats the price fluctuation just from one store to another. If this was a dealer part at that much difference, I would go with the dealer part as they are always way better than any of the big box stores parts. I have been involved in a local repair shop for over 30 years and see it every day. The bad thing is they are getting worse every year on the parts they are selling to the masses. So think what you want, if this was over 500$ I would not be as mad.

 

[earl60446]

If it ran right for 2 hours, you are good to go. The ordeal is over, calm down now and enjoy some fishing.
Tim

 

[Abraham]

tomme boy » Today, 10:24[/url]"]You are talking about 30$. I am talking about 1500$ Not the same at all. I asked him to come close as I wanted to buy it from him. He would not budge on the price. I didn't want him to meet the price, but come close. I have done business with the original dealer before and have sent A LOT of people his way to buy boats from him. I have done a lot more checking about this dealer and even Suzuki does not recommend him for repair anymore. They advise two other places in a 50 mile radius. So that tells you something right there. I have heard all kinds of stories of him charging 3 x's the amount on repairs that he said would only cost 100$. Then holding said boats hostage till it is paid. He charged one of my friends 75$ to clean the battery posts on one battery that was sitting in the back of a flatboat in a battery box. Plus 1.5 hours of diagnostic time to find out why his motor would not turn over. At 85$/hr I think a little vaseline should have been free at no charge.

Oh and 20-30 on a radiator ain't shi*. Thats the price fluctuation just from one store to another. If this was a dealer part at that much difference, I would go with the dealer part as they are always way better than any of the big box stores parts. I have been involved in a local repair shop for over 30 years and see it every day. The bad thing is they are getting worse every year on the parts they are selling to the masses. So think what you want, if this was over 500$ I would not be as mad.

I thought it was $1200?

I just mentioned the two stories to show how little the dollar amount can be to upset someone who is internet surfing.

How much did you spend on this motor if you don't mind me asking? $1,200-1,500 is a pretty good chunk of change.

 

[tomme boy]

Well I have only used the motor two times and it has been sitting because all of the rivers around here are way too flooded to use.

The motor is still leaking oil out the bottom. I am taking it back to the dealer that *fixed* it and we will see what happens this time.

 

[Djknyork]

Wow Tomme boy sorry to hear all of this and most especially about the dealer. What all dealers don't understand is that by not properly servicing the product they chose to sell, regardless of where it was purchased, they are potentially losing customers. Because if I took my truck or my evinrude to a dealer and they treated me like that I'd be sure to trash them every opportunity I could. With all the social media these days a dealer is taking a real chance snubbing a customer. And with some folks, lol, like myself, I'd make sure it was paid back 10 fold with horrible reviews on every single website I could find.
Btw... Once your motor is running normally or has been replaced by Suzuki please share with the forum the name of the dealer so fellow members can avoid it in the future and tell all of their buddies to also avoid it.
Best of luck man

 

[tomme boy]

Well it still has not been fixed. I talked to the dealer yesterday and he said that he can't touch it till one of the suzuki people stops by to advise on it. They have had it for over a month and a half. And have known about it since July. I told the dealer that I do not want it back unless a new powerhead is installed. Suzuki said that there is no way that will happen.

I gave them a month before I am coming to pick it up. So we will see what they do. I will never buy another of these motors again. I know of 6 people from the local area now that know me that bought other motors because of this BS that they have done.

 

[jasper60103]

Well it still has not been fixed. I talked to the dealer yesterday and he said that he can't touch it till one of the suzuki people stops by to advise on it. They have had it for over a month and a half. And have known about it since July. I told the dealer that I do not want it back unless a new powerhead is installed. Suzuki said that there is no way that will happen.

I gave them a month before I am coming to pick it up. So we will see what they do. I will never buy another of these motors again. I know of 6 people from the local area now that know me that bought other motors because of this BS that they have done.

Sounds like you had some rotten luck. Hope this gets resolved and doesn't ruin another fishing season. Good luck.

 

[tomme boy]

Still have not heard anything yet. Been at the dealer since Dec 1

 

[SumDumGuy]

wow, what a nightmare - total frustration me thinks.

 

[JoshKeller]

at this point, if you're still under warranty, id run it with no oil, lock it up, fill up the oil, and demand a new one. :mrgreen: [-o<

 

[jy951]

at this point, if you're still under warranty, id run it with no oil, lock it up, fill up the oil, and demand a new one. :mrgreen: [-o<

I wouldn't do that. They may be able to determine it was run with no oil and not cover it under warranty and then you're screwed.

 

[turbotodd]

at this point, if you're still under warranty, id run it with no oil, lock it up, fill up the oil, and demand a new one. :mrgreen: [-o<

I wouldn't do that. They may be able to determine it was run with no oil and not cover it under warranty and then you're screwed.

An engine that has been run out of oil....is obvious once it's opened up. Been there, done that, and unfortunately people will do this kind of thing to get what they want. And in some cases, they got more than they bargained for-like fraud charges.

The dealer working on the suzuki 15hp motor sounds like....not much of a dealer if they can't make a decision without the help of Suzuki's reps. I haven't dealt with 'Zuki any, but on Yamaha stuff, if I have a problem with a customer's motor and I can't resolve it, I call the local rep and he is there within 48 hours. But I also know that Suzuki has been (still is?) having financial issues which might play into things a little bit. I won't go into more detail with that, but Suzuki was having some serious financial problems for a while. I haven't kept up with it recently but it doesn't look any better to me, based on some "inside" info.

 

[tomme boy]

Well I got it back. Whether it is actually fixed or not that is another thing. They replaced the lower tank??? They said the main seal was not leaking at all from the last time it was worked on. They said it was leaking out a gasket where the drive shaft ran through the lower tank.

We are locked up in ice for a while yet. I just bought a Lowe 1440MV to run some of the smaller rivers around here. Man is this boat light. I also just got in a new 4 blade PowerTech SRT 10" pitch to put on the motor. I was bumping into the rev limiter so hopefully this will turn the rpm's down a little bit. The computer records every time it does this. He showed me on the printout for the motor how many times it hit the limiter and how many times it went over before the limiter kicks in. There is like a 200 rpm difference. Pretty neat all the stuff it records. Like temp outside when it was started. All the different rpms it runs in. 0-999 1000-2000......... I spent a lot of time idling trolling for walleye. about 2/3 of the run time was idling.