SuzukiSavage.com /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Speedometer cable and carburator problems /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1220480807 Message started by Xrzn on 09/03/08 at 15:26:46

Title: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Xrzn on 09/03/08 at 15:26:46 I was driving down the road on my '96 Savage the other day, and my speedometer cut out on me. I immediately suspected that either the cable was unscrewed, or it was broken inside. I took it to the shop the next day and they confirmed for me that the cable was in fact broken. I have a new cable ordered, but I was hoping that somebody with more knowledge on the subject would be able to tell me if this is something I would be able to put on the bike myself, or something I should leave to the professionals. I am not concerned with taking the gas tank off, but I am concerned that there would be something I need to do (twist the cable a certain way etc.) to calibrate the speedometer. Any help on the subject would be appreciated. Also, The guy that I bought the bike off of a few weeks ago told me that there is an issue with the carburetor. Apparently what was happening to him was that going up steep hills, but engine would completely shut off. All he would have to do would be pull over and start the bike back up. He said that there is no consistency to the problem. Sometimes it wouldn't do it for months at a time, and sometimes it would do it two days in a row. The only thing I can think of is to put some kind of carburetor cleaner in the gas tank to try and clean it, but I'm not sure what would be best to put in. I have not experienced this problem myself yet, but would like to avoid a nasty experience on the interstate or something someday. Does anybody have any thoughts/advice on this matter? Thanks, Chris

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Reelthing on 09/03/08 at 15:36:36 Naw the cable is very easy to change - just watch the direction of the seal at the crankcase the carb may take a little thinking

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Reelthing on 09/03/08 at 15:40:55 Could be trash in the carb - easy enough to check - just drain it up hill might mean heavier throttle - need more gas - leading to perhaps a gasoline feed/flow issue and to the petcock - might replace the petcock/carb vacuum line just for grins - cheap and easy to do

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/03/08 at 16:33:09 If you pull the vac line off the carb & suck on it, it should hold that vacuum.You should get no gas. I checked mine the other day & was able to pull a vacuum & plug it with my tongue & held it long enough to see that it wasnt leaking down. A piece of tubing on the nipple under the carb bowl will let you drain the bowl into a glass container & you can see what comes out. If it's dirty I would run the bike low on gas & drain the tank into a container, pull the petcork & check the screen. It Can be done with the tank on the bike, but reinstalling the petcork is a bit fidgety. It takes a gentle touch to reinstall it & not bend the plastic tower the screen is wrapped onto. If the tank is really loaded with crud, I wouldnt know the best way to flush it.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by serowbot on 09/03/08 at 16:45:01 If it sputters then dies, check the float level in the carb.  If the tubing you use to do Justin's test is clear,... you can bend it upward from that drain plug at the bottom of the carb in a "U" shape up towards the seat,... with the bike upright , it will show you the gas level in the floatbowl. If it just cuts out instantly check the electrical connections to the ignition shut-offs at the kickstand and the clutch lever.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by bill67 on 09/03/08 at 16:52:45   First try some SeaFoam in the gas it might clean it up and you want have to take it apart.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Charon on 09/03/08 at 17:10:01 If you want a cleaner, Seafoam is probably worthless. There is nothing in Seafoam but oil, naptha (pretty much the same as gas), and isopropyl alcohol (not much of it). No additive is going to clean a really dirty system. Think about it - where will the removed dirt go? Into the carburetor? The best you can hope for from any additive is to - maybe - dissolve varnish and hold it in solution so it can go through the carburetor and burn. If the tank is really dirty, you will have to remove it, drain it, and clean it with something like detergent and water and a length of chain dropped into the tank to mechanically knock the dirt loose.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by bill67 on 09/03/08 at 17:12:54   The dirt dissolves and goes out your muffler.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by FreeSpirit on 09/03/08 at 17:54:32 644F46554849270 wrote: If you want a cleaner, Seafoam is probably worthless. There is nothing in Seafoam but oil, naptha (pretty much the same as gas), and isopropyl alcohol (not much of it). No additive is going to clean a really dirty system. Think about it - where will the removed dirt go? Into the carburetor? The best you can hope for from any additive is to - maybe - dissolve varnish and hold it in solution so it can go through the carburetor and burn. If the tank is really dirty, you will have to remove it, drain it, and clean it with something like detergent and water and a length of chain dropped into the tank to mechanically knock the dirt loose. So is Sta-bil better? :-/

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Sandy Koocanusa on 09/03/08 at 17:56:02 I hate to sound like a simpleton after all those well-articulated comments.  But I'm going to anyway... When you are low on fuel, climbing a hill positions the pickup tubes on the petcock in such a way that the bike will "run out" of gas sooner than expected.  Before I opened anything up, I'd eliminate that as a possibility by switching to reserve next time it happens.   On the other hand, Savage Greg's Julie was having a similar problem, and I don't know if he ever did solve it.  It only happened in Montana, so maybe her bike just didn't like our climate.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Reelthing on 09/03/08 at 18:19:31 5A6E79794F6C756E75681C0 wrote: So is Sta-bil better? :-/ At least here we stopped using Sta-bil in the fuel w/10% ethanol - for a stabilizer we're using Star-tron seems to hold gasoline together better - as a cleaner neither would work very well I doubt that it's dirt in this case that only effects it on a up hill - maybe a float level or it's starving via the fuel diaphram in the petcock - but if fuel starvation was the problem - expressway at WOT for awhile should reproduce that situation.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by Charon on 09/03/08 at 18:29:58 I have mixed feelings about Sta-Bil. I have been unable to find out what it actually contains, as the MSDS I have found seems to say only something about petroleum distillates. I went for about fifteen or so years with no additives whatsoever in either gas or oil, and had no trouble whatsoever. This included, in one case, a bike that sat for a year with a full tank of fuel (although with a drained carburetor). In Nebraska the non-riding season can be long, and all bikes sat with full fuel tanks for two or three months at a time. Most did not have drained carburetors, because it wasn't easy to drain them. When the time came to start them, I turned on the fuel petcock, waited a suitable time (occupied by checking tires and so forth), and they started just as if they had been put away the day before. I will concede to having charged the batteries every couple of months with a low-current charger - not a Battery Tender because I don't own one. I have trouble imagining any additive that can reduce problems from none to some lower level. However, the manuals on a lot of my equipment, ranging from motorcycles, lawn tractors, my boat, and my generators say Sta-Bil should be used if the fuel is to be stored for more than several weeks. Sta-Bil is the only named product in any of the manuals. The manuals for my motorcycles say, in essence, any other additive in either oil or fuel will do nothing except increase operating costs. In accordance with that advice, I have been using Sta-Bil for the last few years. The only effect I can positively notice is the color added to the fuel, and the different smell of the exhaust. I had no troubles prior to using Sta-Bil, and still have no troubles. Just to add information, I have been using gasoline with ethanol added since the early 1980s. I usually buy fuel by price, and for many years the price of gas and gasohol see-sawed back and forth. Of late the ethanol fuels seem to be about ten cents cheaper than straight gas. I have never been able to reliably measure a difference in fuel economy in any of my vehicles between the fuels. Nor have I had any troubles which could be attributed definitely to ethanol. I do avoid ethanol in two-stroke equipment using pre-mix.

Title: Re: Speedometer cable and carburator problems Post by bill67 on 09/03/08 at 19:05:40   The oil in the SeaForm is good it lubes your carb. Shop manual on my suzuki 1500 says don't use gas with corn alcohol,unless thats all you can get.

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