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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
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Message started by toddlamp8 on 07/15/07 at 18:41:10

Title: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/15/07 at 18:41:10

So I just picked up a sweet 1986 Savage with a salvage title. I took it around a bit and it seems to drive great.

The problem is when I slow down and/or come to a stop. The bike's idle is very erratic and most of the time it will just quit. When I parked it in my driveway after a successful ride, I noticed gas dripping from one of the lines under the airbox. There seemed to be caps on those tube so I took the one off that had the drops of gas and it started to form more dropplets.

I thought it was a bad float valve (since with all of my other bikes, dripping gas at the bottom meant overflowing bowls. I took the carb off and apart and dipped it in parts cleaner. Reassembled it (without adjusting the float level) and put it back on. The bike did start and run but the idle/stalling issue was even worse.

What are those two hoses from? Why would there be gas coming out of it? They look like the bottom of the airbox. If that's so how the heck is gas getting from the carb to the airbox??

You help is appreciated! I want to get this taken care of tomorrow.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by smokey02 on 07/15/07 at 19:31:20

There should be removable plugs at the ends of those drain hoses (# 15 in the pic), I'd open the air box too and see if it needs to be cleaned out. (open access cover on right side) Could be a float valve or fuel shutoff valve flooding problem, also check your oil level to make sure gas isn't getting into your crankcase.

PRI - gas runs to carb with engine off
ON - first 2 gallons of gas runs to carb if engine is running
RES - last half gallon of gas runs to carb if engine is running

when shutting bike off, valve should be left in ON or RES, never PRI (It'll flood)

http://www.ronayers.com/fiche/300_0039/air_cleaner/air_cleaner.jpg

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by tuxedo on 07/15/07 at 20:13:30

carb's overflowing back into the airbox.

Probably already filled your crankcase. If the oil window is any color except oil or black, you're going to have to change the oil and filter after you do all of these things.

Replace the vacuum line to the petc0ck. Check for overflow. Check the float needle for dimpling, and check the o-ring around the float needle valve to make sure it is fat and sealing. Check that the float floats, as well.

I cannot stress that o-ring enough. It took me, no kidding, 3 months to realize that it was so buggered up.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/15/07 at 21:44:35

I made sure to check the float needle and it looked very clean and the o-ring was in excellent shape. It was smooth and it was very difficult to remove the shaft that the o-ring goes around.

How do I test the floats? Take them off and stick them in water?

Also, assuming everything else is fine, should I just adjust the floats down a little bit?

What size is the vacuum hose?

ps: I just need to get a manual ::)

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by tuxedo on 07/15/07 at 22:33:16

toddlamp8 wrote:

Test that they float in water. Then lay them on a known flat surface that is backlit and look to see if there is light coming from under the bar that the pivot pin goes through. If one float is higher than the other, it can cause the float needle to bind.

The vacuum hose is whatever the guy at the auto parts store hands you after he looks at the hose you took him

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/16/07 at 14:24:49

Thanks. I got some new hoses, spark plug, oil, and filter.

I will check the float today but that should only take care of the leak, what about the stalling? It only happens at idle or just before when slowing down. When it does stall, a few cranks of the starter usually gets it going again, but only with a fair amount of twist in the throttle.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by YonuhAdisi on 07/16/07 at 14:52:56

If your bike is stalling because of the flooding issue, the repairs mentioned should take care of that as well.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/16/07 at 21:52:11

I cleaned everything out and the oring looks find and no pitting or deformation of the float needle. I now need a new float gasket as gas is dripping from the bowl ::) but it still stalled on me tonight >:(

What's irritating is that the stalling is very sporadic. I can't seem to replicate it with enough frequency to pinpoint a problem. A majority of the time the bike runs just fine and so i'm leaning toward a fuel delivery problem. I will have to take off the carb and check and level the floats.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by tuxedo on 07/16/07 at 22:38:26

toddlamp8 wrote:

I thought it was a bad float valve (since with all of my other bikes, dripping gas at the bottom meant overflowing bowls.

I took the carb off and apart and dipped it in parts cleaner.

Reassembled it (without adjusting the float level) and put it back on. The bike did start and run but the idle/stalling issue was even worse.

How far apart did you take it? sounds like you may have knocked a plug of gunk that was making it idle poorly into a place where it's making it idle badly.

Also, is it running rich or lean? Could be the choke's out.

Also, try setting your idle up to the point where you think it's retardedly fast. That helps a lot of issues.

Dirty spark plug?

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by tuxedo on 07/16/07 at 22:42:26

toddlamp8 wrote:

I cleaned everything out and the oring looks find and no pitting or deformation of the float needle.

Good. The o-ring should look plump. More like Rosie O'Donnell, less like Madonna.

toddlamp8 wrote:

I now need a new float gasket as gas is dripping from the bowl ::) but it still stalled on me tonight >:(

Use RTV to make the gasket. Don't pay Suzuki for one. Most hardware stores should have old style gasket material as an alternative to RTV. All you'll need is scissors and a razor knife.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/17/07 at 07:40:01

I didn't take the jets out when I took it apart and soaked it so i'm going to take it off again.

The bike is a salvage so I don't know exactly where all the parts come from. I know that Suzuki changed jets mid way through production. The frame is from an 86 but the carb could be from anything. How do I tell what jet and pilot screw I have? Is it imprinted on them? Also, what is the proper pilot screw adjustment? How many turns out?

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by tuxedo on 07/17/07 at 09:35:41

toddlamp8 wrote:

http://suzukisavage.com/images/uploaded/CarbSpecs01web.jpg

Lancer's Straight & Simple carb Tuning (http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1157720585)

To tell which carb you have, look at the throttle valve (butterfly). If it's a #125(stamped into it) it's an 86-88.

Almost everything in the carb has it's number stamped into it.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/17/07 at 11:49:39

Thank you.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/17/07 at 21:51:19

I just took another look at the float needle area and I don't think the o-ring is working right. Where can I get a replacement one?

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by tuxedo on 07/18/07 at 02:19:51

Any gas-safe o-ring assortment will have one that is appropriate for that. I got mine at O'Reilly's auto parts. Autozone, Advance, and Napa should have the same sort of assortment, if not the single o-ring. Take the faulty valve body with o-ring in and compare.

I stress gas-safe because there are a lotta o-rings really cheap that are NOT gas-safe and will melt when exposed to gasoline.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/18/07 at 07:42:35

I will do that thanks.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/18/07 at 14:22:39

On a side note, I took out the plug (which was only finger tight) last night (first time since I got it) and it was very wet

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by serowbot on 07/18/07 at 16:20:47

This problem is sounding a lot like the petock's vacuum diaphragm is leaking. Give a little suck on that line (not kidding!) that goes up from the right side of the carb to the petcock. If you get any gas at all coming down from the petcock, that is your problem. You need to rebuild, convert or replace the petcock. Good luck.

Title: Re: Just picked up bike; leaking gas and stalling
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/18/07 at 16:27:42

I actually took all of that apart last night and sucked on the gas line and I didn't get any air from meaning the diapraghm is working fine. I really think it's the floats or float needle not sealing and flooding the carb and thus the engine. I am waiting on some carb parts to fix the flooding issue.