Ok guys, I need some help.  I have a 99 savage ls650 and its driving me crazy!  First problem, shes idling great but when I take her down the road she will shut down before I get it a mile or so.  I can make her do it while in my little shop by reving the rpms up and keeping them there for about 3 minutes.  What is going on?  Second problem is that she is puking oil out of the breather tube coming out of the top of the head when the rpms are kept high.  To give you a little background on her she has about 14000miles on it and I just finished restoring her body wise and she has an aftermarket breather and the muffler is punched out.  Other than those two things she is mechanically stock.  HELP!!

I wouldnt high idle it for 3 minutes without it getting air past it myself,

Is the idle at 1,000 rpm or better?

14,000 miles,, sure is time to cast an eye on the cam chain,


OIl out the breather? Ill wait on a smart guy for that one.,

If theres not gas in the vacuum line, Put it in prime & get the bowl full,pull the gas line off the carb or take it off the petcock & put a longer one on,That would be better. Put a catch can down & put it on prime & see how it flows. Turn it to on,, shouldnt be any gas now,,now, start it & see what the flow is like, goose it & see if it slows the flow.

what did it do?

you mean too much blow-by is comming out

as in broken ring(s) or ring slot on piston?


or


you mean oil can't drain down out of the head and is getting blow out the vent  ?


either way    about 14,000 miles is when I replaced the cam chain the first time ...  If I had of gone with a softer spring and  a "Versey" type adjuster then , "I,d still be on the second chain".   We live and learn!

When you go in to replace the chain you'll be deep enough to ansure all the above questions.

Like its not draining back properly.

Thats what I was thinking from your original post, but I dont think thats ever been seen. So, I had no idea what to say, & still dont,

How much has it been run since the cam chain was done?
Theres a wad of scrub pad looking stuff poked in over there,

Deep Valley,    Take it back to the dealer, show them the issue -- get them to tell you exactly what they took off and did to the bike when they worked on it.

Inside the top cover is a mass of rolled up screening that acts as an liquid oil / blow by separator system and if this screen were left out by your "perfectionists" you would get oil liquid coming out with the blow by gas flow.   This rolled up screening can fall out of the cover and hit the floor, unnoticed and get kicked under the lift.

These bikes "huff" a huge volume of air when the piston goes up and down.   To see this first hand, pull the timing plug on the left side cover on the motor, spread some rags on the ground and crank her up.   It will blow "rain" all over the concrete.   "Huff" is such an energy stealer is has a carefully designed control system designed into the bike and that is the one you are complaining is putting out too much liquid oil.

BTW    What makes you think your perfectionists have ever worked on one of these bikes before?

Young mechanics come and go every summer and the dealership only sells one or two Savages a year ..... and sees one of them even more rarely.

Except for the oil/head problem, it almost sounds like it might be the gas tank vent; i.e., vent plugged = tank vacuum.   One easy way to check is to run engine with gas cap loosely fitted.

Like always, petcock paranoia has already set in. But most likely, it is not getting full vacuum to the petcock, starving the engine for fuel.

Turn it to "prime",....see if it cures the dying problem. If it does, check for a vacuum leak to the petcock, like a loose fit, or split end hose.

I coulda swore he said there was no oil in the gas. Maybe I was hulustinating ;