1997 Daewoo Racer GTi from Philippines - Comments

I consider this car as a maintenance free car. No parts are broken except for the normal parts that worn out of daily use like timing belts, clutch disk, brake pads, and the regular change oil. Literally, this car is a start and go!

This car is a great bargain! I mean why settle for expensive cars like Honda, Toyota and the likes? You can the same performance at almost half the cost. My car has power steering, power windows, power trunk release, power locks. All these for a cheap price. The car accelerates very fast. 0 to 100 km/h takes only about 5-7 seconds. It is also a very fuel friendly car. No wonder in our country, this is mainly used as taxi cabs. Engine is powerful and smooth.

It is difficult for me to believe that this car takes only 7 seconds to reach 100 kmh, perhaps downhill. It has only 70 hp (with TBI), not enough to have that acceleration.

1990 Pontiac Le Mans made by Daewoo Motor in Korea is equal with Daewoo Racer. Very nice and useful car. Especially the blue metallic painted models.

This is a very good first car or for someone that wants inexpensive transportation. In America they are called the Pontiac Le Mans and are becoming quite rare. The only drawback is the lack of parts availability and TBI instead of multi port fuel injection. Other wise a good reliable car.

I love my car and will soon be seeing power and torque numbers upwards of 400 to the wheels.

Come visit the home of the Daewoo aftermarket, performance and maintenance, www.daewootech.com.

Submitted by: 'gse_turbo' owner of a 1989 Pontiac LeMans GSE.

Daewoo Racer GTI is a junk (95model)!!! I bought it a month ago. I replaced spark plugs and battery. Now I need an engine overhaul. There are holes in the cylinder head. Need to rebuild engine! Just rebuilding it may cost me $500. This car is really a junk!!! I should have not bought it in the first place!!!

I own a Daewoo ETi 1997. I am having a problem with its engine. It is emitting black smoke, losing power and the spark plug gets dirty easily. Its carburetor has no adjustments for idling... apparently it is electronically controlled. When started, the engine vibrates and idling is not as smooth as it used to be. I already replaced the sparkplugs and high tension cable wires with new ones, but the performance of the engine remains erratic. The timing belt has also been replaced.

What seems to be the problem? How can I have my car tuned up and where in metro Manila?

To owner of the Daewoo Racer RTI 97. You should replace fuel pump, cos this causes engine to vibrate. It causes it to lose power, especially uphill, and it causes your rpm to increase while running, even though you're not stepping on the gas pedal.

Yes the Daewoo Racer can accelerate that fast from 0-100km/hr in those few seconds. You can do first gear upto 50km/hr and second gear upto 100km/hr without blowing the transmission. I've already tried it myself without doing damage to the engine and transmission.

To the one who replied last 27th Feb, 2009, 09:23 regarding the problem of Mr. Daewoo Racer ETI 97 last 24th Jun 2008, 01:42.

Are you a mechanic? Maybe you can help me too. I have the same case with Mr. Racer ETI 97. I have a Daewoo Racer ETI 93 and its engine emits black smoke, losing power and the spark plug gets dirty easily. It has a random behaviour during start; sometimes it works fine, but when it accelerates it loses power, and most of the time it vibrates while idling, and is not as smooth as it used to be.

I have already replaced the following sparkplugs, high tension cable wires, and fuel pump with new ones but still no progress :(

My mechanic advised me to buy a new carburetor, but I do not know where to buy a new one here in the Philippines :(

I went to Banawe, Quezon City, but most of the vendors endorse 2nd hand ones. I have ask for new ones but they told it would cost much around 20K tsk tsk tsk. I'd like to grab that opportunity, but my mechanic has a second thought that it might also be the distributor urg :(

I don't know what to do, please give me some piece of advice.

Please email me at glenn.mayawin@gmail.com in case you have a better solution for this, or you can recommend a certified Daewoo technician. Please email me also about stores that sell Daewoo car parts and accessories.

Thank you very much, and more power to all Daewoo owners...

Sirs, I feel your pain, I actually purchased a used Daewoo Racer and an ex-taxi at that, didn't know what I was getting into... so here goes the story and the nightmare that I went through...

Current mileage was at 165k, car was in bad shape "pang culture na nang talaba" as we filipinos would term it.

No side mirrors, no rear view mirror, dents all over the place, window mechanisms not working, no air conditioning unit (as in no aircon parts, don't know what the previous owner did with them), suspension was shot, velocity joints had these weird creaking sounds when you turn the car, erratic idling.

The car would turn off when at high speeds then shifting to neutral - this is really scary as the brakes don't work properly when the engine is turned off.

Hard starting, lights were very dim, overheating problems (Daewoo Racer models released in the Phils were never tropicalized - current settings are for cold countries, ergo the usual overheating problem).

OK, so that was the current situation, the car even stalled right smack in the middle of an intersection after I got it during heavy traffic and it wouldn't start!!! hehehehe :) But I was not going give up on it, so here is what happened.

Started buying the essentials at banawe or wherever I could find them, the net was much help as the Daewoo Racer is very scarce. Had to comb banawe to get info on where to buy there are 3 stores there Seiring (bnew) /BW (bnew) /Fronte (Surplus) - seiring has the most complete parts lineup but expensive. Replaced the airconditoning system with a Sanden 501 system, which worked OK, but drains all the car's power when turned on, should have gotten a smaller one.

Lights, side mirrors and headlights replaced, new air filter, new sparks plugs, new high tension wires, still the same problem with erratic idling and the car shutting down at high speeds when moving from high speed to neutral.

Tried cleaning the carb with a carb cleaner, still the same problem, brought it to the dealer (BTW all Daewoo dealers are closed now - used to be GM and Chrysler, so if you're looking for a Daewoo mechanic, try looking there).

Lo and behold, the ETI has a computer box; it's near the passenger side box below the glove compartment near the door. I thought this car didn't have a computer box since it was a carb type car, so nonetheless it was there so the tech explained to me the things that were wrong with the car - it could be the computer box and the many array of sensors which tell the computer box how to react - yes these sensors are the culprit - if one of them isn't working properly, it will affect the performance of your car - the sensor which caused all the car shutdown problems was the velocity sensor after it was replaced no more shutdowns on high speed :)

Another sensor that needs to be taken out is the thermal sensor; since the car was never tropicalized, its settings are for cold weather countries - take out the sensor - stick a Mitsubishi Lancer thermal sensor into the radiator and hook it up to an added aux fan and there you go, no more overheating, instant tropicalized Daewoo Racer :)

Replacement of the starter and ignition assembly fixed the issue of hard starting.

Dim instrumentation panels - had to replace all the LEDS in the instrumentation panel.

Brakes locking up during small and large bumps on the road was caused by scarred disk pads, yup there were scar marks on the rear brake pads of the car, which caused the car's rear brakes to brake or lockup whenever I ran into some small cracks, holes rubble etc... which actually made the car drift -- which can actually get you into a very serious accident - really scary whenever that happened - so new brake pads front and rear, I wasn't taking any chances - brakes are OK now :)

New window mechanisms and new power door locks with remote and new key locks, so windows and doors are OK now.

Engine was very noisy, so one day I was seeing white fumes from my exhaust, didn't know it was steam till I got home and checked the oil, which had white gooey stuff mixed with it, it was actually the water from the radiator... so there went the engine, engine overhaul was done so new pistons, springs, etc... engine is OK now.

Also has the car completely rewired from top to bottom so the electricals are OK now.

New suspension and shocks so it's OK now.

Got fog lamps and some side skirts so it looks better.

BTW stopped counting the cost after 30K Pesos or so, was already getting a headache.

Anyways, the car was already OK, it sounded a bit quiet for a beaten old piece of junk as it was, had the car repainted so it would really nice and get rid of all those small dents :)

The car is slow, hasn't won any race yet and would you believe even a Kia Pride was giving me a hard time - that was the last draw... went to the transport show armed with cash to mod my car to make it faster... lo and behold I wasn't able to buy anything; all aftermarket performance parts were for Japanese cars only, so I'm stuck with a stock Daewoo Racer that can't race :( They should have named this car the Daewoo Loser...

Stuff still breaking down as of the present. No air conditioning, shocks only last less than a year of constant use, but they're pretty cheap below 1k per piece new.

Steering is heavy, so velocity joints need to be fixed, and properly covered with a boot and lubricated properly to eliminate the creaking noise when turning.

That's all I can remember so far. Hope this helps you guys with your Daewoo Racer issues here in the Phils :)

God, I must say that you really had a bad nightmare, & you have lots of patience to spend money on this car. But by the way, what you expect from the taxi drivers to keep their car in top condition. But some do keep it, but this one really took this car for a long hell drive.

I can proudly say that Daewoo Racer is one of the best cars manufactured by Daewoo. Some people even say this car is better than the Daewoo Cielo. Totally crazy about the Daewoo Cielo; its looks, its style, power, everything. As you will find out in the forums of Daewoo Racer that almost 90% of people say that Daewoo Racer is the best car they have owned.

By the way, all the best for you Daewoo Racer. Don't get on her as it had an overhaul, so don't try to go above 35 mph to get its performance scale higher & higher. Keep posting on regular intervals how your car is running.

I currently purchased a Daewoo Racer GTi 97. Had the start engine = idle problem as well, but what happened was the mechanic just cleaned out the oil that apparently dripped into the spark plug... and voila. Fixed.

I'm currently attacking the electrical right now. Have yet to test its top speed.

BTW, guys, do have links to my car's manual? Thanks and more power to Daewoo users.