Dahlia wrote on 11/08/09 at 13:33:39:Okay, I was out riding my '03 Savage on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I had been riding down a highway and through neighborhoods looking at Halloween decorations for about two hours with no problems. I started towards home and on an open part of the highway was running just over the speed limit of 45 mph (~47 mph) and had just passed a slower moving truck. That's when I noticed what felt like a little sputter and a momentary loss of power (like it wasn't getting gas), so I opened the throttle a bit more. It cleared briefly and then went back to sputtering and finally stalled. I pulled over, double checked that I did indeed have fuel (I did) and even changed the petcock to pri just to make sure I should be getting gas even if the vacuum system was acting up (didn't know that it had already been removed by previous owner). I restarted no problem and rode ~1/2 mile before it sputtered and died again. This time, I could do nothing to get it to restart and run.
So I got help and trailed it home. Several people had suggested a fuel filter clog, so using Clymer's I pulled the tank and the fuel filter. It was completely clean, no debris in the tank or on the filter. In fact, when I pulled the fuel line from the carburetor, the fuel ran out cleanly and easily. I did try to open the petcock to check the diaphragm (not sure if that's actually a good idea), but wasn't able to break the seal. So I put it back together.
I figured it might make sense to pull the carburetor and check it since it seemed to be a lack of gas getting to the engine properly. So I disconnected everything, but can't seem to figure out how to physically remove it as the battery box doesn't allow it to be slid back as Clymer's suggests and no way I pull seems to provide enough gap to free the carburetor.
I admit I'm a newbie. I have some mechanical experience, but not with troubleshooting as I've always just worked with my Dad or as directed by an A&P mechanic. Now I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I'd be appreciative of any further troubleshooting ideas besides trailering it to the mechanic (which I guess I'll do if I can't get any further, but would really prefer not to). It just frustrating that I'm missing the beautiful riding weather here in Houston!!!
I always remove the battery box before removing the carb. You
can remove the carb with the battery box in place but it is a pain in the a$$. Just pull out the battery and remove the four bolts in the bottom of the box that hold it in and pull the box.
Are you saying that you do not have a vacuum petcock on your bike? Did I read that right?