i recently bought a 2002 Suzuki savage about late Feb early march and it ran fine for a while and then it started acting sluggish about a week after i put new oil in and then blackish smoke started coming out of the exhaust about another week later . i put a new spark plug in it but it didn't help and i did gap the spark plug right. when i had the choke pulled out it wouldn't run like it wasn't getting enough gas or something and that's when you could really see the smoke. and after a while it wouldn't even start. im new to bikes so im not sure what it could be.

i got the bike started last night. i pulled the spark plug that i just put in it out and it was black. i cleaned the soot looking substance and rechecked the spark gap and put it back in and it started. it is still acting slugish when i pull out the choke and when i ride it, every 5-30 sec it feels like it its chokeing again and then picks right back up to normal

verslagen1 wrote on 04/28/13 at 18:20:44:


You really need to follow Verslagens suggestion and test the petcock.  When the diaphragm is damaged it can allow fuel to flow through the vacuum line.....and may be he cause of your black smoke.