It's an '06 S-40 that is pure stock. It has 3500 miles and has always been kept indoors.

Yesterday I let it idle on full choke while putting on my helmet, etc. and it quit - I suppose because it warmed up and had too much choke.

And then my troubles began.

It will not idle. It runs great under acceleration but hesitates badly, like it's missing, at a steady, cruising throttle.

Today I rode it again after I let a bit of gas out of the bowl, and the gas seemed fine. I blew into the tank from the carb feeder hose, then into the carb. Nothing changed, it still ran as indicated above.

Any ideas? Carb? Plug? I looked through three pages of this forum and didn't see anyone else having this problem. Any advice would be appreciated.

Dale

How many miles on it? Did the gas sit all winter?

If the dang thang runs good acceleratin,, well, you do the math!
In other words, run the crap out of it a while! Just kiddin..

If it sat all winter, perhaps a sticky float needle,, or finally a leak in the vacumn hoses, or lastly but probably not as it was working - varnish buildup in the carb... would be my first choices after you've checked the petcock.  Good luck and keep us informed of your progress...its all of 9 degree F tonight. :'(

It should be able to idle (even on choke -enrichner-) for the length of time to put on a helmet...so I wouldn't suspect overheated elctrical stuff for the first round.....

Did you try choking it a bit while it was studdering along ?
This will tell us if the problem is lack (lean) of fuel.

IMO, about only 2 things could cause this,......
1) a big vacuum leak, which would cause it to not idle, and cause it to run ragged at low to midrange throttle, but yet run great at WOT.

2) A foreign object is lodged in the low speed circuit of the carb, which, short of cleaning the carb, you can only hope that running a rich mixture of Seafoam will disolve it away.

I also was having some surging problems and after running 3 ounces sea foam and 2 ounces in oil, the surging is gone.

To bring this old thread full circle, let me update the issue that began this subject - my '06 was stumbling and nothing seemed to help. This thread went off into lots of other posts about the gas valve, and, in fact, that was my problem.

This recent thread
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1338735214
was about the repair at a Hardley shop that went very badly, but they did get it fixed. (Just before it seized!)

What broke was the metal rod that (I think) pushed the diaphragm back and forth. As a result the engine sucked gas into the crankcase, resulting in the need to change the oil - which led to the seizure. What a round-about story, eh? Anyway, this post explains what began this saga that resulted in my getting a new S40!

So... thanks for all the interest and suggestions even though I didn't fix it myself. The good news is that it all came to a happy ending.