Re: Suzuki Outboard "Warranty Nightmare"
Walsh Marine, Thank you for your response regarding Suzuki Warranty/Dealer Problems. I purchased this DF70 because I had read that these were the number 1 rated 4 strokes by Consumers Report. I can say that this is a very fine engine. The best I've ever owned. My problem started at 68.4 hours when the engine returned to idle and the oil light came on. The dealer originally found the problem to be a bad oil sending unit. He ordered it(3weeks to get it and 1 week to install). This did not fix it. After they talked with the Suzuki Rep., they said it was a defective camshaft causing the oil pump to stop operating. I then asked for a new motor, it had been operated about 15 minutes to get back to the landing without oil pressure. He(dealer) said Suzuki had said no. We got into a very heated discussion, he told me to call Suzuki and proceded to hang up on me. I called Suzuki, talked with a Rep. named Damion Riddle. He said no new motor, but would get a delivery date on a new camshaft from the factory. Three weeks later they had a new camshaft sent from Japan. Damion said they had shipped a different P/N camshaft. I asked him why the different P/N, he said he didn't know why. I then asked if there had been any other failures of this type. He said not that he knew of. The camshaft was sent to the dealer, and he installed it. This process took 3 months. That is a half season where I live. Your certainly right about these small dealers. If he would have offered me a boat to use, this could have been avoided. My gripe now is Suzuki said they would extend my 6 year warranty by 3 months. I sent a registered letter to Damion Riddle in Brea Ca. on Jan. 18 requesting he honor the 3 month warranty extension he had promised me. I also asked for them to explain the cause of failure and provide a reasonable explanation that their repair had fixed the problem. If they couldn't do this, I asked for a reasonable offer to buy the motor back. I want to regain some confidence in this motor. I'm still waiting to hear from them. On these message boards, we've found 4 owners with the very same problem. This failure has occurred on a 1999, 2000, and on my 2001. I do not know what year engine Maui girl has(that's the fourth failure). On the 1999 failure which occurred in the UK, the dealer told the owner it was a bad batch of camshafts. I feel being it has happened to 3 different production year motors that this may not be the cause of the problem. Have you heard of any camshaft failures on the DF60/70 motors? Thank you again for your response. I will keep your phone number in my Suzuki records if I have any parts problems in the future. Can you recommend a reputable dealer in Minnesota or NW Wisc? rtice.
