Daewoo Cielo Problems

THOUGH I have reservations about Daewoos of the past, the decision you make should hinge on your car's reliability record. You seem to have looked after it and had it regularly serviced, which is the key to keeping cars going well, so I would be inclined to keep it.

THE whistling that goes away when you depress the clutch may be from the clutch throw-out bearing. The engine warning light is much more difficult to diagnose. Daewoos were prone to a range of electrical problems that could account for the odd behaviour of the warning light, but it's best to take the car to a dealer and have it checked.

There are a number of possible explanations, and all are linked to the airconditioning installation. Early Daewoos came fitted with much of the hardware needed for airconditioning and only needed some equipment such as the compressor and condenser and some hoses to complete the installation. Part of the package was an idle-stepper motor which is used to stabilise the idle when the airconditioning system is turned on. If that's not fitted, or not operating correctly, the idle will probably be too low and unstable, and the engine could stall as a result. Difficulties restarting could be due to too much load being applied to the engine by the airconditioning system. Check the installation to make sure the electric fan is operating correctly. If it's not, it could result in too much pressure building up in the system, which in turn can increase the drain on the electrical system and make it more difficult to crank the engine over when starting. While these are some suggestions, I would strongly recommend that you take the car to an airconditioning expert and have the system checked.

That's quite a run of misfortune and your message is fair. As I wrote in my review of the Daewoo 1.5i, buying an early Daewoo, whether new or secondhand, is a gamble. They were poorly built and the ancillaries were unreliable and of poor quality. But the Holden-built four-cylinder engine was generally reliable, despite your bad experience. Remember, you get what you pay for. The cheap and cheerful Daewoo was designed to be thrown away relatively quickly.