Verona Lemon Aide,

Lemon aide a 2005 Suzuki Verona

A promise full-filled finally….. An Autism mechanic special.

On the surface and for the for the 1^st year or so the Suzuki Verona held it s promise of being a superior automobile value at a great price. It had very impressive standard features from premium sound to a very fast and refined inline six motor. It was luxury performance and value all at once. Well after the first year? Owners got a very nasty shock when this and that literally started going haywire. You never knew when it was going buck and bang, or barely move from a traffic light despite a full throttle or pumping the gas. It never completely stalled and it would always idle but not much else. Then the motor started hammering and sounding like a diesel all the time. As time and problems regressed you had to drive it with one hand pushing the gear shift forward against the “D” position to facilitate a smoother operation .

The internet was filled with all kinds of similar stories from all types of Verona Owners. It seems the sum of all the parts suddenly didn’t add up to be the reliable value driving machine as promised - that faded promise was lost in a mess of wiring harness shorts (literally the engine wiring harness was too short) causing the wires to pull apart. Naturally the check engine light was on and not so shockingly trouble codes were numerous and all over the book. Normal mechanics simply threw their hands up in despair. I had to add 3 inches wire to every wire in the engine harness and it took forever to solder and shrink tube every wire splice repair. It was worth it as now it would run a lot better.

Not only was the wire harness too short the negative battery cable was too short and it broke stranding the car yet again. The shift cable from the interior to the transmission was hung too tight and thus the mounts broke making the cable in effect too long. It also ruined the device that converted the drive PRND2&1 signal to the computer from the transmission. Of course none of these problems were helped one bit when the motor decided to do a bucking episode.

The Dual Cam 24 Valve I-6 Dawoo Motor

A great idea strapped to the GM parts bin and further hampered by two under the hood catalytic converters assuring a well done cooked motor and burnt hoses and more burnt wires.

Most cars have the most of the exhaust system located away from the motor compartment but not this one. The Verona has two catalytic converters and yes, both are under the hood. That is not good for anything but trouble with a capital T. I had to cut a huge 4 x6 inch hole in the fire wall to from a vent to get the excessive heat out from under the hood. That stunt alone made a world of difference in the running of the car. The excessive heat also cooked the motor and the oil and even the oil filter located beside the converters and the result was inferior lubrication and thus all kinds of motor noise. Most Verona’s sounded like a diesel motor or a Thrashing machine. Ok so now it will not run with out bucking,, and it sounds like hell just what do you do with it? Most people junked it, Suzuki replaced many motors but most just dumped it.

I did my favorite all time repair and I flushed the dirt out of the motor by giving the car 40 some oil changes in the span of a year. By the time I got the dirt out of the motor it is finally running quiet. Most of a motor over haul consists of cleaning the dirt from the motor parts so why tear the motor apart to do that? Let the oil do it. I did however have to replace a connecting rod to totally get the motor quiet. The cooked dirty oil and 4000 mile oil changes by the previous owner were just ruining the oil and the deposits were plugging up the oil passages. I call this the over haul in a can of oil and it has saved many cars I have worked on and made my daily drivers run flawless with out a leak.

　

Smart owners junked the car at this point: If you kept it you had transmission issues develop and a further insult was the transmission fluid is $28 bucks a quart and it takes 8 quarts of it. Oh it gets worse there is no dip stick or fill tube for the transmission. The Service Manual has a complicated procedure to observe and special tools to buy to check and drain and refill the transmission . In reality I drained the fluid and measured it out from the drain pan. Then just like I spent hours doing every wire in the engine harness for a repair I had to re fill the transmission via the vent tube small funnel and turkey baster. It had to drip in a few drops at a time. It was like a liquid hour glass I thought as I filled it.

Well if this is not enough, the Gm EGR Valve failed as well. Unlike better quality makes it is not water cooled and although improved over the years still it is lack luster and fails too easy. I have seen all kinds of ill will stuff and repairs written about them on the web so I just got mine to shut off with the aid of a hammer then I disconnected it.

In all of my trial and tribulation with this machine I was not so shocked to see it (

Hollander Interchange Manual) had a generic Siemens VDO Automobile computer installed in it. This base computer is available in everything from a Volvo to a VW to a Opel to a Chevy and of course the Dawoo and the Suzuki. Since the computer is needed for emission control mostly any generic computer will work, it just so happens the benefit to the emission control functions is a perfect running motor. Well now, that this two year experience is over and the all the issues are resolved the Verona is again the car as it was promised. No wonder the Suzuki dealer mechanics all stand around and point fingers at it when I show up at BOBB Suzuki to get parts for it , Come to think of it I get a few fingers from other Verona Owners I pass on the street , you can tell their car is bucking as it runs. Ride them cowboy!