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Spuds posted 09-09-2008 05:05 PM ET (US)   Profile for Spuds   Send Email to Spuds  
I saw the thread about Suzuki outboards and tried to add my comment before I saw how old the thread was, and that it was locked down. I hope I don't stir the pot, but I have to tell you about MY Suzuki outboard story from this past weekend.

I re-powered my 1962 Nauset with a new 1993 90hp Suzuki (2 cycle) fifteen years ago. At the time it seemed to be years ahead of Mercury, Yamaha and OMC in technology; and it was much cheaper than any of them. It always ran great and never had to go in for repair. In 2001, I had to work out of town for about a year and when I finally got back home and took my boat out at the end of the year, I discovered that my bow eye had wallowed out and I was taking water into the anchor well around the bow eye.

My kids had reached high school and middle school age, and with all their activities, the boat sat idle and I never got around to repairing the fiberglass. I eventually got into kayak fishing and all my spare time was spent fishing from my yaks, while my Nauset sat in the garage and became a general purpose storage and junk holder.

After a couple of years, I resigned myself to the fact that the neglect that I had inflicted upon my engine was not going to be good and figured that in the Houston humidity, my engine had surely seized up, as I had not taken any storage precautions for the duration while it sat idle.

Long story short, I FINALLY cleaned my boat off and pulled it out of the garage last weekend. I bought a new battery and the tilt and trim worked fine. I sprayed a little penetrating oil into the cylinders and later that day I decided to try the ignition key and just see what the engine did. I was all ready to turn it right back off to keep from possibly tearing up the teeth on my starter gear.

But to my surprise, the engine turned over! I bought a couple of gallons of fresh gas and the engine ran great. I kept an eye on the water pump stream and it ran strong the whole time. However, I am going to do all the little maintenance items that need to be done: water pump, lower unit gear oil, new trailer tires, but I should be back in business as soon as I get down to Joe Orlando, the Whaler fiberglass expert in League City, to fix my bow eye.

Bottom line is, that I get a GREAT BIG SMILE when I think about my Suzuki cranking over like it did after seven long years of sitting idle.

Moe posted 09-09-2008 07:15 PM ET (US)     Profile for Moe  Send Email to Moe     
We got a Suzuki DF50 on the MacGregor powersailor we bought used in 2004. It was new in 2001 and had been used once by an elderly gentleman developing Alzheimer's. His wife sold it to us after it had sat on the trailer in Las Vegas for three years. Because of the condition of the tires on the trailer (a long story), I decided to replace the water pump impeller. I'm glad I did. Although it had a healthy tell-tale stream, the impeller was dried out and cracking, with permanently curved blades.

There are no Suzuki dealers anywhere near us, and as a result, I discovered one of the best features of owning a Suzuki--Browns Point Marine Service in NJ.

http://www.brownspoint.com/

These guys have all the illustrated parts breakdown drawings and parts lists right on their web pages. They also sell the Suzuki service manuals, which I feel is essential for DIY maintenance. They made my life with the Suzuki easy.

The fuel-injected DF50 was an unusual outboard, at least at the time, a relatively small displacement, high revving, chain-driven DOHC, four-valve per cylinder motor. It fed through a 2.27:1 gear set, boosting prop shaft torque and keeping prop rpm down, comparable to that of the 2.08:1 in the lower-revving, carbureted Honda 50. Max rpm range was 5,900-6,500 with a 6,800 rpm rev limiter. The in-line 3 was very smooth, and its 18 amp alternator more useful to us than the Honda's 10 amp would've been.

If I made one mistake, it was to try to use a Michigan Wheel Vortex prop, with their knock-off of the Mercury Flo-Torque hub. It didn't work well on the DF50, not even similar to the Suzuki hub, and I should've just stuck to a Suzuki prop.

While I might not have chosen that motor over another brand, I'm glad I got the experience with it. I came away pretty impressed with Suzuki.

--
Moe

elaelap posted 09-09-2008 07:48 PM ET (US)     Profile for elaelap  Send Email to elaelap     
Not nearly as dramatic a tale as Moe's or Spud's, but here's mine:

We've had a Suzuki DF140 (EFI four stroke 2044 cc four cylinder) outboard on two of our last three partnership Whalers, both banana hulled Revenge-types, the former one a 19-footer and our current boat a 21. Try as we like, the three of us--Matt/placerville, Warren/WT and myself--can't cause the damn thing to have any problems at all, despite being used in different ways and with different intensity by each of us in the lumpy waters of the Pacific north of San Francisco. We run the thing hard and we've put about 800 hours on it over the past 2 1/2 seasons, and it just hangs there, ready and willing, under a tarp on the transom of our boat which we keep in a salt water slip ten months out of each year. Other than a preventative replacement of an impeller a couple of seasons ago, we've done nothing but change the oil every hundred hours, the bottom end oil every two hundred hours, and fresh-water flush the motor after use. Absolutely no problems whatsoever, and the motor is peppy, starts up instantly, runs smokeless and quiet, and has decent fuel economy. We've heard about the shortage of authorized Suzuki wrenches in many parts of the country, but that's really not the case for us, since we've found a competent dealership which services the motors in a relatively convenient location.

Bottom line--I'd buy another Suzuki four stroke without hesitation, even though I'm sorta a Yamaha 4/s fan on my personal Whalers, having enjoyed three of them on three different boats. I can't really tell the difference, when it comes right down to it--both manufacturers have provided me (and my boat partners) with fine four stroke outboard motors.

Tony

seabob4 posted 09-09-2008 08:19 PM ET (US)     Profile for seabob4  Send Email to seabob4     
Suzuki 300s with elec. shift-and throttle. Awesome system, and if I could afford a boat that these would be suitable for, that would be my choice. An added plus? The eastern US field engineer lives about 10 miles from me. Kinda handy!
A2J15Sport posted 09-09-2008 11:08 PM ET (US)     Profile for A2J15Sport  Send Email to A2J15Sport     
My Suzuki story is 180 degrees opposite.

I bought a new 140 HP (carbed) in 1995. It was troublesome from day one. It never lost its mid-range "stutter".

Even though I was and still am a maintenance freak, I had to clean the four Mikuni carbs at least once per year. One carb, or more, would "leave me" at very unfortunate times. I ran nothing but Suzuki oil and had a Racor filter/seperator on it. I also used the stabilzer the dealer recommended.

I was never so glad to see an engine go away as that one. I frequently run into the guy that bought it. He knew about its issues. He told me he dumped it in '00' and put on a new (old stock) Evinrude Ocean Runner 150. He still has it with the same Racor.

The biggest issue was the lack of dealer support. Even though I bought it from a reputable dealer (still in business) they couldn't fix it.

A2J15Sport posted 09-09-2008 11:42 PM ET (US)     Profile for A2J15Sport  Send Email to A2J15Sport     
I should add.

I'm sure my experience was just a fluke. I have heard good things about the four strokes.

The dealer support issue is still one I consider when buying something.

AZdave posted 09-10-2008 01:28 AM ET (US)     Profile for AZdave  Send Email to AZdave     
A2J15Sport Were you in AZ when you had your service issue? When I look on the Suzuki website it looks like Arizona is not the place to find dealers unless you are over on the Colorado River. Thanks. Dave
tombro posted 09-10-2008 07:20 AM ET (US)     Profile for tombro  Send Email to tombro     
Hi, Moe! Good to see you out of lurk mode; long time-no hear.
Small world, as Brown's Point Marina was right next door to the marina (KMB) where I kept a bunch of boats over a 6 year period in the 1980's.
I'll drop you a line and some pics by e-mail one of these days.
Tom
A2J15Sport posted 09-10-2008 11:21 AM ET (US)     Profile for A2J15Sport  Send Email to A2J15Sport     
AZDave,

Most of that experience was in Minnesota, with a reputable dealer.

You're right, Suzuki service in AZ is what I would call- non existant.

There is a so called dealer (remain nameless) here in PHX but I wouldn't let them touch anything I owned.

Tohsgib posted 09-10-2008 01:13 PM ET (US)     Profile for Tohsgib  Send Email to Tohsgib     
My father bought a 1981 140hp Suzuki new back in the days. We were the freaks of Barnegat Bay and everyone was just puzzled why we bought such an odd brand engine. Dealer support was non-existent but after 7 years of hard running she never needed anything but a waterpump and thermostat. Fast forward 20 years and I buy my first Suzuki 70hp 4 stroke. I had it for about 5 seasons and 300ish hours. Never a problem. Since then I have bought my 115 Suzuki and again after 2.5 seasons she is flawless. My best friend also runs 3 suzukis(1999 60 4s, and twin 01 115's) and none of them have ever been to the dealer as well. In my area of FL we have an awesome dealer network as with most of FL. I would of course buy other brands but Suzuki, just like in 1981, is always less expensive. Since they have been bulletproof, efficient, quiet, and great owner experiences, it looks like until I rob another brand they are my #1 choice.

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