I was headed to work this morning and just outta the blue the Savage will only give me 1/4 throttle. I thought I needed to switch over to reserve but that didn't help. Anyhow, I rode on in to work and thought nothing more of it. Then this evening when I started home It didn't get any better. It ran that way from the shop all the way home. So I check my air filter....clean as a whistle. So I check my spark plug....nice and brown just as it should be. So I check the pilot screw....right where I left it at 2-3/4 turns. That left me only one other place to look.....The Carb.

After taking the top of the carb off I found that the slide was actually stuck to the carb body. I bumped it with a screwdriver handle and it popped loose. When I took it out I found that the slide had what looked to be carbon deposits all over it and the inside of the carb body. I cleaned it up best I could as well as the carb itself. That's when I found that the slide had some shiny places on it where apparently it has been rubbing.

Anyway, why did it get the deposits?

Obviously it stuck due to the deposits. And I suspect that the deposits also caused the scuffing/scratching of the slide.

Next question. How do I prevent it from happening again?

For the record I am still running the stock air filter, 152.5 main, 55 pilot, and an open 1-3/4" straight pipe, with the idle screw out 2-3/4. Also running regular (85 octane) unleaded fuel. The bike runs a tad rich. Not enough to blacken the spark plug though.   ???

why you say.  well here it is.. everything god makes dies, everything man makes breaks.  

think about it. it's true.

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


I cleaned it up good before reinstalling it, but I am still perplexed by where the crap came from. Surely it isn't just the fuel or else I would have some sign of it elsewhere.

Think I'll try the Marvel Mystery Oil. I know it's good stuff. I once used it in the spark plug holes of an old "58 DeSoto Firedome that had seized up from setting for 20+ yrs. Half a can total and 4 and a half days later we took it up the road boiling smoke from the oil burning off of the same 20+ yr. old spark plugs that we took out. What a ride!

The intake tract pulses when the bike is running even though it is in a vacuum so the slide get pushed back and forth, yours looks pretty good compared to some I've seen. The sticky stuff is fuel that has not gone into the combustion chamber. If you run the intake valves with a tight clearance it will be worse than on the looser end of the range. Also some oil may get down the intake valve guides and be part of the gunk. It will work its way back toward the carb as it is heaver than the air so doesn't turn around and head back down the inlet as fast. Max

OH SH!T, we all agree with Sluggo. Now at the risk of sounding like my mother, Lancer I really expected more form you. See what happens when you hang out with deviants.

Thanks guys, really all jokes aside. Max that all makes sense, but other than the suggestions by Reelthing what would you recommend as a preventative measure?

You could use some fuel system cleaner but that's basically what Marvel does.  It's a penetrating oil and solvent and has been used for years as an additive in gasoline and/or oil to help remove sludge/deposits from fuel systems and engines.  For the Savage, a capful in a full tank of gas every now and then is probably not a bad idea and that's what I use.  If you have a vehicle with fuel injectors, it's probably not a good choice.  While on the subject of Marvel; though it's promoted as an oil additive to help clean engine parts and quiet lifters, etc., I would not use it for that unless your engine is older and you suspect it's gunked up.  One other note is that manufacturers of synthetics like Mobil1 advise against using any additives in their oil.

from the pics im seenig varnish.. this is from old fuel if it is varnish .. did you buy a tank full for the wrong place??
still haave the locking gas cap??

Steelwolf ,I noticed I had the same problem when I took my slide out,I used 600 grit emory paper to clean it off,
it looks like a nice gun metal blue when finished. when I put it all back together my throttle snapped back really smooth ,I don't know why but since I cleaned it I have not had one backfire. good luck,mick