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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Won't go over 40 mph
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Message started by wyokenn on 04/26/23 at 10:48:34

Title: Won't go over 40 mph
Post by wyokenn on 04/26/23 at 10:48:34

Hello - thanks for allowing me to become part of the community!
I have a 1999 Savage that I bought new and have been riding (sparingly) since then. It is completely stock with just over 8800 miles on it.

The only things that I have done to keep it running are changing the oil every year, put a couple of batteries in it, and added Stabil to the tank before parking it for the winter - it has been a great bike.

It starts OK and runs OK up to about 40 mph. When I hit 40 and try to give it some gas, it hesitates and chugs. If I back off the throttle it runs fine.
I've tried it with the petcock on prime, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Reading through the forums, it seems like it may be a carburetor issue (after 23 years it wouldn't surprise me) but I wanted to get some expert advice before I start tearing into things.

Thanks and any suggestions for this issue or anything else I should be taking care of will be greatly appreciated!

Title: Re: Won't go over 40 mph
Post by verslagen1 on 04/26/23 at 17:46:38

sounds like the slide in the carb is sticking.
take 2 carb cleanings and call me in the morning.

Title: Re: Won't go over 40 mph
Post by wyokenn on 04/26/23 at 19:35:52

Thanks - I did a couple of rounds of carb cleaning sprays and took it for a short test drive. I didn't put the air filter back in or put the air box cover back on. It was better, but not back to normal.
It also got me thinking that there may be an airflow issue since it felt more responsive. Poked around a bit more and found that both the carb vent hoses dumped into the air intake. I had assumed that this was where they were supposed to go due to some emissions regulations. On a hunch, I took both hoses out of the airbox and took it for another ride - voila! everything worked great!
I figure that at higher throttle positions there must have been enough of a vacuum on the vent hoses to screw up the mix in the carburetor. I'm sure the carb cleanings also helped.
Looks like my problem was mostly self inflicted...

Also, based on other posts I changed my oil to Rotella Synthetic 15W40. The bike sounds better than ever now. I wish I'd know that 20 years ago.

Title: Re: Won't go over 40 mph
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 04/27/23 at 06:41:14

First. spraying fluid in the carb throat is not a cleaning. In order to properly clean the carb it should be removed from the bike, the jets removed (and individually cleaned or removed) and the internal passages of the carb cleaned and confirmed to be free of restriction. Upon reassembly the float height should be set and the movement should be confirmed to be free of any hang-ups. Typically the carb is rebuilt with a kit that includes jets, a seat, float valve and bowl seal.

Second, the bike simply will not run correctly without the filter and boot in-place because there wont be enough vacuum to operate the slide correctly.

Changing oil will not have an impact on how the bike feels/sounds/performs. It's the hope that things are better that you are perceiving.

Title: Re: Won't go over 40 mph
Post by Armen on 04/27/23 at 07:20:54

Just for giggles, hold the bike upright and check the oil level. I had one with those symptoms and the bottom end was way overfilled.

Title: Re: Won't go over 40 mph
Post by ohiomoto on 04/27/23 at 16:34:47

5A5442464843432D0 wrote:

It also got me thinking that there may be an airflow issue since it felt more responsive. Poked around a bit more and found that both the carb vent hoses dumped into the air intake. I had assumed that this was where they were supposed to go due to some emissions regulations. On a hunch, I took both hoses out of the airbox and took it for another ride - voila! everything worked great!
I figure that at higher throttle positions there must have been enough of a vacuum on the vent hoses to screw up the mix in the carburetor. I'm sure the carb cleanings also helped.
Looks like my problem was mostly self inflicted...

---------------

Wow. Who would have thunk? I'm struggling to make sense of this one but hey, if it's working then more power to ya!

If the problem does come back, I would start with the slide. I had a worn one when I got my bike and it stuck during a shift and my bike topped out at 45 mph. I pulled over, fussed around with the throttle a bit and it came back to life.

Another time the bike stuck at 20 mph. I pulled the airbox and the slide was stuck. A little nudge with a screwdriver and the bike came back to life. The slide had a significant amount of wear on the slide and some of the black coating was building up on the carb body.

My bike was really clean and had 3k miles on the odometer when I got it, But who knows what the PO did with it. For all I know, he pulled the speedo cable and ran an open carb for 10k miles. ::)