Hi,
I just bought a 2000 savage and it has a running problem. It will start and run but has no power and sounds like it's about to run out of gas when you give it gas. Or more like a chev 350 with extremely retarded timing.
I've cleaned the carb jets, checked the diaphram for leaks, compression tested consistantly 175 psi, and the spark plug is new and burning great. So, I'm thinking valve and or camshaft timing.
I've been told these bikes are bad about premature wear on the cam lobes if they're ever run low on oil.
So is it more likely timing or cam lobes?

Is the bike stock? miles?

a few quick and easy things to check before you go nuts...

remove the vacuum line between carb and petc0ck and cap the carb port. then see how it runs.

check the petc0ck for dirt, a quick clean can't hurt.

any mods to the intake or exhaust will make it run lean.  So put it back to stock until you figure it out or rejet it.

You can check the cam lobs for wear.  I don't know what they are supposed to measure.  But do a valve adjust and see for your self.

Thanks for the quick replies.
The bike is stock with 8800 miles on it.
The previous owner said a mechanic friend set out to repair an oil leak between the cylinder and the head and it hasn't ran right since.
I suppose it could be the petcock or vacuum line. It wouldn't run more than 50 mph and had no pulling power at all.

jimbob57 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


Sounds like he went to fix the plug/cap leak. If that's the case it could be the valves or be out of time. People do crazy things. Maybe the engine was rotated while apart and the chain jumped a tooth or two? Maybe the valves are way off if they were set with the engine warm or 180* out. That has happened a few times due to people having a hard time distinguishing the compression stroke from the exhaust. Good Luck. You definitely came to the right place for help though.

jimbob57 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:

Hum, that repair may throw our standard thinking off - any idea what steps were taken to fix this oil leak?

the most likely source of the leak is the rubber plug in the head cover and just needs replaced and sealed of which steps are post in the tech section and does not involve taking the head off just the cover. - now we've read about shops thinking this leak is a head gasket and pulling the head off to fix it. If the head off was done and it hasn't ran right since sounds like the cam wasn't aligned properly when the chain went on - couple teeth off sure make it run bad.  

here was a recent trail:

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=RubberSideDown;action=display;n...

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=RubberSideDown;action=display;n...

The head was taken off. Yellow sealer evidence that the head, generator cover and clutch cover were taken off. Also evidence to me the mechanic was not that particular. It was taken to a friend of the owner and not a shop. He was supposedly a Harley mechanic but I suspect from recent discoveries that he was either incompetent or out for revenge.
I discovered that the washer between the clutch basket and the flywheel was off and loose in the cage. Clutch did not work. It's possible that this was an oversight. The drive pulley on the engine was turned around backwards and rubbing the cover. Also possibly an oversight. The battery hot cable was just loose enough that it would sometimes not make contact. Ground cable tight. Maybe another oversight.
I'm going to try the vacuum on the petcock today before going in to reset the timing. The way it ran it could be starving for gas.
This bike is for my wife who is going from dirt bike to street bike and I want to be sure it's a good experience for her all the way around.
Thank you all for your sharing your knowledge and experience.

My thought?  Back to basics.  Since you checked a few things, remember this...

Air, Fuel and Ignition...those are the 3 things that you need.  Don't cloud it with a lot of other thoughts.

Did the other guy remove the Headcover or the Head?  If he removed just the Headcover to fix the plug leak, then chances are that he didn't mess with the camshaft.  Only if he removed the Head would that be an issue.  Go to the tech section and read Vroom's article on valve adjusting and see if the timing looks to set right (besides, it's idling...I doubt any of this)

Another thing...the camshaft shouldn't be worn at 8800.  Even if you run it low on oil, the camshaft lobes sit in a little pool of oil in the top of the head.  So even on the first crank they get a little coating as they rotate.  Some idiot would have to run it so low that the oil pump starved out before that would be an issue.

Air?  You have 175 psi compression.  It "sucks and squeezes".

Ignition?  It sparks and it is clean.  It could "Bang".

What left?  Fuel and it don't "Blow".  Like others said, I'd get back in the carb first.  If you have too little fuel, then you will have a clean plug.

What color 2000?

Good afternoon all.
I bypassed the petcock with an old cooling tank that I've used before to work on bikes. Did not change anything.
So, I pulled the valve and clutch cover. The pin on the cam sprocket is at 12:00 facing the top, valves are all closed and the dot on the crank is at 3:00 facing the front of the bike.
This is where the engine stopped when I shut it off. I haven't pulled the plug from the generator side or checked to see if it was on the compression stroke, running out of time before I have to go to a funeral this afternoon.