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Message started by Ed on 04/10/13 at 12:23:00

Title: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/10/13 at 12:23:00

Hi all! I am new to the site, and fairly new to motorcycles as well. I recently replaced the leaky cylinder head cap, and put the motorcycle back together. Now, I am noticing it wants to stall when I slow down, and dies at almost every stop sign and red light. When I start it, it starts after a few tries and then sputters and dies again. Pulling out the choke makes it even worse. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with it?

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by engineer on 04/10/13 at 13:00:01

There are guys on this forum who will be able to help you but first there are some things you should tell them so they can zero in on your problem. First of all, after you did the work to stop the oil leak did your bike run OK or did it run poorly from that moment on? How was it running before you did the work?

Have you done any other work to the bike? Does it have the stock petcock with the diaphram or a Raptor petcock. Do you know if it has a stock air filter, exhaust, carburetor jetting etc.
That and anything else you can think of will help solve your problem.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/10/13 at 13:25:22

I just did the cylinder head cap on Sunday, and it has been stalling since then. I have all stock parts as far as I know, and I have not done any other work to the bike. Before I did the work it was running fine, but I never had used it in cold weather before. I live in Chicago, and right now its about 45 degrees. But even after I let it warm up, it runs for a bit and then stalls.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/10/13 at 13:30:52

If I start it and let it sit, after a while once it has warmed up, it seems to go through cycles of running smoothly, then it slows down and spits black smoke out of the exhaust a bit, then it speeds back up and runs normally for a bit. This cycle repeats for as long as I leave it running.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Arnold on 04/10/13 at 13:30:58

Clogged idle needle.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/10/13 at 13:34:34

How do I unclog the idle needle? Take apart the carb? Also, what are the potential side effects of me using the bike a few more days without doing it? I won't really have time until Saturday, and I need it to get around.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by verslagen1 on 04/10/13 at 13:38:30

Test your Petcock,.. don't just turn it to Prime.. (http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1251932429/1)

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/10/13 at 13:41:36

I tried it while it was on, reserve, and prime. No difference.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Oldfeller on 04/10/13 at 15:11:57

Ed, did you read the thread carefully enough to note you were supposed to block off both a vac tube and plug a hole in the carburetor AND LEAVE IT THAT WAY?

Why? Because if you don't block them off fuel can dribble down the vac tube line confusing issues greatly. And the hole in the carb is a huge air leak if you didn't block that off correctly.

And, if you just flipped the petcock lever around, you didn't DO the test at all. What you did carried no meaning, in other words.

=============

Nobody is going to offer you anything else to do until you have done this particular test correctly -- the test acts to tell us what area of trouble you have.

And folks offering you a bunch of other items to do before you have correctly completed this test should simply stand silent -- they obviously haven't been around here for very long.

You may want to verify you have a tank full of fresh gasoline before getting too far off into the test drills -- folks here always assume you have a FULL tank of FRESH GASOLINE -- is this the case?

Other than that, what you describe fits a failing vac petcock to a tee ....

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/10/13 at 21:02:14

Ok, ignore that last post. I haven't had a chance to look at this forum on a computer. I did not realize that he had linked to a thread where it shows how to test it. I am terribly sorry for the confusion. I will preform this test as soon as I can. Thank you all for your advice so far. I will come back once this test is done.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/11/13 at 06:15:30

Good, we Need a CHicago resident here.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by bill67 on 04/11/13 at 06:17:51

The easiest and best way is to put Sea Foam in your gas and run it.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/11/13 at 06:58:06

&, until you get this solved, make sure that idle speed is set up high enough to keep it from sloooowly idling down & dying,, every time it dies slowly, it goes thru a Low Oil Pressure event,,

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/12/13 at 12:25:01

I have not had the time to test the petcock yet, but I figure if it isn't the problem, it will be soon enough. So I plan on getting the Raptor and just insatalling it. In the meantime, while waiting for it to arrive, I was thinking of doing this mod to the current petcock

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1113631600

What are your opinions on this mod as a temporary fix until the petcock arrives? This way I can get back on the road ASAP.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/12/13 at 21:40:59

Hey, just looked at my petcock. vacuum hose is kinda torn up on the end that connects to the carb. could that be causing the problem?

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by engineer on 04/13/13 at 06:20:05

A vacuum leak could do it.

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Oldfeller on 04/13/13 at 08:43:46

So, you still don't have a golf tee in the hose blocking the tube off and a rubber plug over the inlet in the carburetor.

You like to get distracted some, don't you?

You could be riding that bike right now if you would just do the test method the way it is specified, in the vast majority of cases it cures you 100% -- certainly long enough for you to get your parts on order.

You can replace your vac line completely, and that might help (for a while) as a vac leak to a vac sucker petcock certainly makes it work worse.

In any case, you know now which component is causing your bike to run like crap -- it is indeed the stock vac petcock. A long time ago we were all amazed when we each figured out that one little bitty bit of cheap pot metal could cause an entire bike to leave us stranded by the roadside occasionally and make it run like crap the rest of the time.

Then we started counting incidents and within 3 years we understood that the vac petcock caused MOST ALL of the poor running incidents, the "I must need to rejet" on a stock bike incidents, and that yanking the vac sucker petcock was REQUIRED for those who had gone after performance mods that changed the vac suction level (all air filter mods).

But you can repeat all of that one item at a time, if you really want to ....

;)

Title: Re: Bike stalling out
Post by Ed on 04/13/13 at 16:18:04

Ok, I just ordered the Raptor (along with a bunch of other bits and pieces I needed). So I'll slap that one when I get it, and we'll see how it runs. Thank you all for your help!