Folks,
Recently picked up a 2001 Savage with about 3,500 miles on it.  In spite of its low mileage, however, the bike looks like it's been sitting outside since day one and has never been cared for as it should have been.  The bike seemed to run fine, however, in spite of some expected issues (junk in the fuel tank, dirty oil and filter, etc.).  Perhaps significant to the problem(s) at hand is the fact that the bike shows clear signs of salt pitting (it was acquired from a friend in Philadelphia, so all of this makes sense).

Foolishly, I thought that the bike might really benefit from one of those "routine dealership service" visits that I have studiously avoided in the past.  And here our problems begin.  For almost $300, I got:

1.  A new and exciting valve noise that was not there before;
2.  an oil leak of mammoth proportion (it appears to be the infamous plug/cap leak detailed by others);
3.  a crankcase overfilled with cheap oil (a problem which is slowly remedying itself as the bike "bleeds out");
4.  and, perhaps most significantly, a bike that seems to intermittently refuse to idle/run when cold.

A little more about the bike and what I've observed:  The carburetor is a stock Mikuni which, to my knowledge, has not been rejetted or previously modified.  (I did drill out the brass plug and attempt to correct some of the bike's backfiring issues by enriching idle mixture, but wasn't able to yield much and returned the screw to stock setting when the bike started giving me trouble.)  The bike seems to have a loose/rusted exhaust baffle, which causes a strange whistling in the exhaust note (related to engine RPM and not motion, and hence not related to belt or other usual suspects for this sort of thing).

The most significant problem (number 4 from above) manifests itself as follows:  The bike, when cold, will start with the choke on and warm up in its usual way.  Once the choke is fully off, the bike begins to idle erractically.  Power off-idle is almost nonexistent--the engine sputters and coughs before finally catching up with itself if given throttle, but without throttle, the bike will rather quickly die at idle and will only restart after much cranking.  Any application of the choke at idle when it is running rough kills the engine immediately.  The bike seems, moreover, to be flooding out.  Also, I have noticed that every time it exhibits this kind of behavior (three times during the week since I got it back from the "st"ealership), I have drained a significant quantity of gas from the airbox drain line (much more than could possibly be condensing from the crankcase breather in the amount of time the engine has been running).  At other times, when the bike is idling fine, there has been none in this drain line.

I'm prepared to put the bike up for the winter (it's been too cold to ride far around here for the last few weeks) and begin troubleshooting the problems.  Plans for the winter include cleaning/rechroming the header (massive surface rust), installing a Screamin' Eagle muffler, rejetting the carb, and modifying the white spacer, as well as fixing the plug/cap leak and readjusting the valves (to correct what I believe was a sloppy dealer job).  But I don't want to undertake any of this until the idle problem is solved.  Hence, the carburetor is coming off next week for cleaning and adjustment (everything is in need of a degreaser bath).

That should give some of the better minds in the group enough info to work with.  Any thoughts on what might be causing the intermittent idle problems?  Carb float problem?  Are any of these problems possibly related?

I would clean the carb honestly and check the float.  You also might want to check the hoses, esp the vacuum one as well as the 2 carb hoses on the side. The savage is a noisy engine, as long as u cant hear the cam chain slappin against the wall of the cylinder u would be ok.


If u were able to get all the junk out of ur tank completely u might want to install an in-line fuel filter for a couple of bucks just in case.

I cant say for sure any of these thing would reduce the problem 100% but I know at the least they will help.
Oh and if u get ur tank off again.  change the spark plug while ur at it

dangerdave wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:10:

That's very odd.  Removing the vacuum when it's on RUN should wind up running it down.  It almost sounds like your petc0ck is bunged up.

You could take your fuel line off the carb and try draining your tank into a gas can while it's on RUN (with the bike not running).  If it drains, your petc0ck is bad.  If not, continue on toward the carb.

I'm working today and most of tomorrow, but should have time to begin testing on Sunday evening/Monday.  I will say that the last time I had the tank off the bike, the petc0ck was left in the vacuum position and I didn't notice any gas leaking after it had been sitting on the floor for several days, but then again, I wasn't looking for a leak.  Thanks to everyone for the suggestions; I'll retest the petc0ck and post an update on Monday.

So the latest developments in my ongoing battle with the Savage:  Idle issue seems to have all the marks of a carb float problem, and has at least become more predictable (if not gone away or lessened at all; in fact, the bike has, in the past few days, simply become unrideable...).  Checked the petc0ck, which seems to be functioning correctly, so it's on to the carb for cleaning, adjustment and rebuild.

But the oil leak continues to grow....  The left side of the engine is now covered with oil even after short rides around town.  Adding to my growing suspicions as to the overall mechanical health of this machine is the fact that it seems to be seeping some quantity of oil from the head gasket.  Whether this is the source of the leak, a related problem, or a new development I'm not sure.  I'll remind everyone that the oil was overfilled when the dealer serviced the machine--a problem that I failed to notice and correct for several days.

I'm leaving work within the hour to begin breaking the bike down to inspect/fix the possible head cover plug leak.  Once I get the bike to this point (i.e. head cover removed), is it significantly more difficult to go ahead and replace the head gasket?  Obviously it will require removing the camshaft and dealing the with the cam chain, but for $25 (that is, the cost of a new head gasket), is it worth the hassle to go ahead with the head removal, or should I simply retorque the head and hope the problem resolves itself?  Can the head be removed with the engine in-frame (Clymer says no, but my instinct says maybe)?

Any advice or experience with similar issues would be appreciated at this point.  A 650 single seems like it should be a relatively easy engine to work on for someone with the knowledge of an advanced hobbyist, but I'm quickly learning the Savage has a way of complicating seemingly routine tasks (like changing the d@mn spark plug!).