Sorry, there's sort of an overview of prior history and I wouldn't mind commentary on it, but there's a tl;dr with my question at the end.

Well, I got 1998 Suzuki Savage that's been sitting for about eight months outside, and probably more prior.  Finally got around to draining the gas tank, cleaning out the carb and replacing the dead battery with a Big Crank.  As an aside, the Big Cranks have terminals that face perpendicular instead of parallel to the bike body, making the experience of installation a little annoying, particularly on the negative side.  Somewhat worried that the connection between the terminal and lead isn't enough with the screw or that it will contact with the body of the battery box, but it honestly seems pretty okay.

Anyway, so I dumped two gallons of fresh gas in the bike and test it out.  I  hadn't set the idle screw correctly earlier, but I was impatient wanted to ride it a bit.  It started fine, drove it a bit, though with the idle not in place, it kept dying at any stop.  Once I got about half a mile away from my house, I try to fiddle with the idle a bit, realize I can't really seem to get a grip on it.  When I start the bike up again, it revs and then I get a loud pop noise from what felt and sounded like right below me, but the helmet I had on may have distorted things.  I immediately released the throttle and let it shut off again.  Next time I tried to start it up, it would turn over, rev up and then die on me.  My guess is it's something to do with the carb or the air intake, but I don't know what exactly to check for.  Any suggestions?

tl;dr When I try to start my bike it turns over, revs high and then dies.  What the devil is wrong?

Carb's been recently cleaned, and the gas tank has a coating of sealant inside.

Also, what the devil was that pop?

The carb's been cleaned, so it must'be been off.
check the clamps to see if they are loose.
also check the carb to see if it was pushed into the rubber thingie all the way.  And the other rubber duckies too.

sounds to me like you got a intake air leak.

Test your petcock,.. it happens a lot...

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1251932429

So, I'm getting:
1. Check petcock to make sure fuel is flowing properly
2. Check float level to make sure it's set correctly

What messes up the float level?  Is it likely I futzed with it by accident while I was cleaning stuff, are you supposed to make adjustments every time you clean the carb, or is it something else?

MMRanch wrote on 01/14/10 at 07:31:44:

Interesting, so the fumes ignite and cause a little mini explosion?

smokin_blue wrote on 01/14/10 at 19:35:13:

I'm afraid I couldn't identify what a slide is, could you describe it to me / show me a picture?

bill67 wrote on 01/14/10 at 23:56:24:

Seemed fine when I was in there before.  Is there some particular way I should be testing it?

ArielT wrote on 01/14/10 at 23:59:16:


This is assuming you have a stock style CV carb.

If you have the carb off then first lift it with your finger,  it should go up and then come all the way down and not drag either way.  Next seal your lips around the oval shaped opening at the top of the incoming bellmouth of the carb.  blow gently to moderately.  You should hear (and feel) the slide hit the top as it opens and then when you stop it should drop to the bottom again.  This checks the diaphram that lifts the slide and makes sure there aren't any major issues with it or the assembly of it.