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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshooting
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Message started by Dahlia on 11/08/09 at 13:33:39

Title: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshooting
Post by Dahlia on 11/08/09 at 13:33:39

Okay, I was out riding my '03 Savage on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I had been riding down a highway and through neighborhoods looking at Halloween decorations for about two hours with no problems. I started towards home and on an open part of the highway was running just over the speed limit of 45 mph (~47 mph) and had just passed a slower moving truck. That's when I noticed what felt like a little sputter and a momentary loss of power (like it wasn't getting gas), so I opened the throttle a bit more. It cleared briefly and then went back to sputtering and finally stalled. I pulled over, double checked that I did indeed have fuel (I did) and even changed the petcock to pri just to make sure I should be getting gas even if the vacuum system was acting up (didn't know that it had already been removed by previous owner). I restarted no problem and rode ~1/2 mile before it sputtered and died again. This time, I could do nothing to get it to restart and run.

So I got help and trailed it home. Several people had suggested a fuel filter clog, so using Clymer's I pulled the tank and the fuel filter. It was completely clean, no debris in the tank or on the filter. In fact, when I pulled the fuel line from the carburetor, the fuel ran out cleanly and easily. I did try to open the petcock to check the diaphragm (not sure if that's actually a good idea), but wasn't able to break the seal. So I put it back together.

I figured it might make sense to pull the carburetor and check it since it seemed to be a lack of gas getting to the engine properly. So I disconnected everything, but can't seem to figure out how to physically remove it as the battery box doesn't allow it to be slid back as Clymer's suggests and no way I pull seems to provide enough gap to free the carburetor.

I admit I'm a newbie. I have some mechanical experience, but not with troubleshooting as I've always just worked with my Dad or as directed by an A&P mechanic. Now I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I'd be appreciative of any further troubleshooting ideas besides trailering it to the mechanic (which I guess I'll do if I can't get any further, but would really prefer not to). It just frustrating that I'm missing the beautiful riding weather here in Houston!!!

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by bill67 on 11/08/09 at 13:38:57

I would put some sea foam in the gas charge the battery up and see what happens.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Yonuh Adisi on 11/08/09 at 13:50:08

5750514646484542240 wrote:

I always remove the battery box before removing the carb. You can remove the carb with the battery box in place but it is a pain in the a$$. Just pull out the battery and remove the four bolts in the bottom of the box that hold it in and pull the box.

Are you saying that you do not have a vacuum petcock on your bike? Did I read that right?

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Dahlia on 11/08/09 at 13:55:27

I'm not totally sure what's going on with my petcock. It looks like the stock petcocks, but someone has clipped the vacuum hose on both ends (petcock and carb) and sealed the short ends remaining on both ports. After reading about the vacuum petcocks on other topics here, I don't understand how mine is functioning unless the previous own also pulled the diaphragm at which point I guess all my settings are just gravity-fed?

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Yonuh Adisi on 11/08/09 at 14:01:53

Interesting, I know some folks on here have altered their vac petcocks to manual but I do not know the procedure. It could be a petcock issue (but do not quote me on that). If you want to replace the petcock, go with a Raptor petcock, it is a direct swap, it is a manual petcock and cheaper than trying to find a stock replacement.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Toymaker on 11/08/09 at 14:15:09

If you have an altered petcock, then the "pri" spot is OFF and the on position is down and the reserve position is with the lever pointing forward. Pull the fuel line and with fuel in the tank, put the petcock to the pri position. If no fuel comes out, then you are already changed to a manual one.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by bill67 on 11/08/09 at 14:26:20

The last thing you want to do is take that carb apart,I've had a motorcycle for 20 years and the carb was never apart.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by verslagen1 on 11/08/09 at 14:45:55

1st thing I'd do is find out what you got.

If the vac line is clipped and plugged, then either prime or res is plugged. Take the gas line off the carb and try each setting.

And when you park the bike, you should set the petcock to the off setting. Otherwise you are relying on the float valve to shut the gas off. This valve is known to fail after awhile. Gas could flood your carb and will either drain into your airbox or engine. If gas gets into your oil, you'll need to change it right away.

OK? on to your original problem. Add an ounce of seafoam to your tank of gas. If the problem doesn't clear up, drain the carb, fill with seafoam overnite. next day, drain the carb again and pour the seafoam into the tank. the engine doesn't run very well on seafoam alone. And if that doesn't work, get the carb cleaned. A new sparkplug might help too.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Yonuh Adisi on 11/08/09 at 14:45:56

0B373A0B3026323E343A2D5F0 wrote:

Thanks Toymaker, I didn't want to give too much advise about an altered petcock as I have never dealt with one. I figured someone here would know.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Dahlia on 11/08/09 at 16:03:48

Okay, this is interesting then because when I removed the fuel line, I had put it in the reserve position as indicated by Clymers as the "off" position. So I was a bit surprised when fuel started draining out full stream. So I changed the petcock between all three settings (res to on to pri) and none of them stopped the fuel flow.

I actually ended up draining the entire fuel tank into a fuel storage jug by having it in the "on" position, then switching it to "res" when that quit flowing, then switching to "pri" to see if I got any more and I got just a tiny bit more flow. When I pulled the tank it was definitely empty as verified by visual inspection (through petcock/fuel filter opening), sloshing and attempting to pour anymore out through any orifice.

I did decide it was a bad idea to continue to try to pull the carburetor without doing more research and trying seafoam. So I put the whole thing back together, checked for fuel leaks and tried starting it just for kicks. It started fine with the choke open. It idled fine with the choke open. But it idled rough and died with the choke closed after I had idled for about a minute and run up the rpms a couple of times with the choke open.

So at this point, I'm still not sure why my bike was fine for about two hours and then suddenly started sputtering and died on my ride a couple of weeks ago. I guess I'm going to try the seafoam next. Plus, now I'm concerned that I don't have an actual off position on my petcock which puts me at risk for flooding my engine or air filter. And btw, this problem of sputtering and dying happened on the first real ride after bringing it home from it's 7500 mile service which I had done by a reputable and recommended Suzuki shop. This included replacing the spark plug.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by verslagen1 on 11/08/09 at 16:14:43

I'd either read up on the manual petcock mod and do it, or swap out for a raptor petcock. Or replace it with a new stock petcock.

Anyway, that reputable shop should've let you know that the petcock wasn't working to stock config. Not very reputable in my book and concidering it was a new2you bike.

I'd go straight to soaking the carb in seafoam (fill soak and drain)
sounds like you got something caught in your jets.
This carb is pretty simple, look up the procedure in the tect section.
BTW it was written by a girl, so I know you can do it if you want to.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by RidgeRunner13 on 11/08/09 at 16:30:00

Living on the gulf coast, I seem to get water in my fuel several times a year. If mine starts sputtering, the First thing I do is drain the carb bowl. Catch the fuel in something like a tuna can & you can see if anything was in it.
Most of the time this cures my bike. I also use Seafoam and/or Lucas fuel treatment.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by nicholas on 11/09/09 at 13:05:11

I use Stabil marine stabilizer and performance improver - year round -
where I live you never know if the fuel is ethanol or not - there are no laws for stickers on pumps -
anyway - the marine stabil has 4x as much detergents and 2x as much top end lubricating oils -

I also use it in my lawnmower and snow blower - all the time.....
great stuff---!

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Trippah on 11/11/09 at 19:22:07

Glad to read you are taking care of baby. 7,500 mile check up is extensive..did you leave the bike overnight? ;)

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Tonydtiger1971 on 11/11/09 at 19:37:47

This sounds exactly like the same problem I have been having. Love the suggestions. The only difference is that the bike is completely stock on the engine side. Rides great through the curves even up to 55 and 60. Hit a long straight away and it sputters and dies like there's no fuel. Usually moving it to RES keeps it going and after a few minutes changing back to ON works fine for a while again.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by ero4444 on 11/12/09 at 10:05:00

My bike also has stalled a couple of times from steady 65 mph on straightaway - I've not been fast enough with the RES switch yet. I wasn't out of gas though so it's probably the petcock.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Tonydtiger1971 on 11/14/09 at 22:34:33

Added Sea foam Friday, took a 2 hour drive on Saturday, no problems with the stalling, got it up to 75 & 80 in the stretches and held it there. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Dahlia on 11/29/09 at 19:41:19

So I tried the Seafoam suggestion. Let it sit and restarted. It idled for a couple of minutes and then sputtered and died. Same response when I restarted it. So today, I pulled the carb apart and inspected it. Clean as a whistle, no apparent problems there. Put the whole thing back together and it ran again for 2-3 mins before sputtering to a stop even after opening up the throttle to try to prevent it from dying.

So at this point, I'm stumped and frustrated that I'm not getting to ride. >:( I guess its back to the shop for my Suzi. I'll post the results when I know them in case someone else has similar problems that seafoam doesn't help.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by verslagen1 on 11/29/09 at 19:46:52

Try again in prime.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Trippah on 11/29/09 at 20:14:40

Outside of the petcock+ vacumn lines issues (ignoring the carb for a minute) the other two things that can do this are, (I think) are (1) a leak in the exhaust system or (2)a lousy valve setting job. The valves have to be done with the engine stone cold. The exhaust header's two bolts like to loosen up, and the connection between the header pipe and the muffler ia another obvious places to check. It sounds like once you hit operating temp, something goes awry. Best of luck and as always,, please keep us posted.

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 11/29/09 at 20:22:53

Dont let it idle, keep the RPM jacked up, not 70 MPH worth, just 30 ish mph in 3rd or 4th type RPM. Are you sure you didnt add more Seafoam than it needs? It wont run on Seafoam, ya kow..

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Texas-1-lunger on 11/29/09 at 21:49:17

Have you messed with the mixture screw I did a small adjustment the other day and it did the same thing on my as your saying. I suggest you shut the screw and start again making your adjustments.

just my .02

Title: Re: Loss of power at hwy speed - need troubleshoot
Post by Ruddy on 11/29/09 at 22:03:10

Just for grins, try it with the fuel cap removed. If the vent is clogged, vacuum builds and will shut off the fuel flow. If it runs OK with the cap off, you've found the problem.

Good luck.