So I pick up my first Savage from my cousin a few weeks ago who had it as his first bike and has since moved on to bigger and better things. It has been garage kept, unridden for the past two years, however, before it was parked it was his everyday rider.

Being somewhat mechanically inclined I decide to tackle the few things I know need to be done that I also know how to do. It gets an oil change, fresh battery, new spark plug, fresh gas, carb cleaned & looked over, tires aired up and a bath.

After about 15-20 minutes of attempting to start, she fires and idles like a dream, then I hit a snag. When I attempt to increase the RPMs all I get is backfiring, inconsistent engine rev and a lot of bogging down that can, and has lead to stalling out. I consult SuzukiSavage.com to see if maybe there is some information there I can use.

At that point I take the carb off, clean it up, spray it off, check everything from the diaphragm to the needle and throw it back on. I run the test I found on here to see if the petcock is bad and only come out of that with positive news. So after running it through everything I can come up with I'm still having issues. It does run and I have ridden it however it chugs the entire time, barely gets up enough speed to get out of first and is prone to backfiring.

I was hoping since it is a 2000 with only 9,300 miles on it that all the routine things would have it back up and running in no time. Obviously I should know by now that nothing is as easy as it should be. So now I throw it out there to any and everyone who may have something else I could try. My next alternative is to take the bike to the shop to have someone more qualified look it over, as reluctant as I am to do so. Like I stated earlier, I do know a little about what I'm doing but by no means do I consider myself anything more than a novice. I'd be more than willing to take more stuff apart & put it back together with any idea of what would need to be investigated at this point.

I'd like to thank anyone in advance if you have made it this far through my rambling and certainly thank you to anyone who may have an idea as to which direction I should be heading.

how does it act if ya pull the choke button out ?

ohh,, try hard to keep it running above 1,000 rpm. low oil pressure type pump,cam rides in the head, not on bearings

Well you have come to the right place.

from your description:

petcock... run on prime
carb.. as stated by others
air filter
verify that the exhaust manifold is tight
verify that that exhaust is free flowing

but meh.. sounds like carb

87 savage wrote on 07/09/13 at 02:02:45:


If the pilot jet is clogged and the enrichener valve is closed (i.e. black knob pushed fully to starboard) and the throttle is closed and the idle speed screw on the carb is set correctly.......it won't idle....at all!

DAMHIK!