Hi guys/girls--  I am a brand new rider and lucky recipient of a 1998 Savage, no mods, 10,680 miles.

Last owner kept it in a garage but hadn't ridden it in at least a year. One year ago, she sent it to a Honda dealership to get it 'running' -- according to the paperwork, they did an oil change, carb clean, and 'spring tune up' whatever that was. It didn't specify. But again, she hasn't ridden it since then.

I got the bike last week, without knowing it had been parked this whole time (it was given to me, no charge, so I didn't test drive it). It started right up, sounded good. I drove it around town for about 30 mins and it  started to smell hot. Headed for home and it sputtered out on me. Checked the gas tank, it was pretty low. Tried to switch to reserve but switch was stuck in 'ON' position, would not move at all. After 20 mins or so, it started up again, barely. Got it two blocks, sputtered out again. Eventually restarted and got it two more blocks to my driveway.

It was dark, so next day I took a look at it and noticed dark brown fluid had leaked out onto the grates of the engine. The fuel switch will move now, which is weird. But the bike won't start. It tries to turn over but sputters out. I considered filling up the gas tank -- obvious solution -- but after learning it had been parked for so long, I figured it would be best to empty out what's in there first, although I haven't done that yet.

I visually checked the oil window and oil is at a good level.

After reading manuals and lots of posts on this forum, I'm thinking I should replace the factory issue petcock with a raptor. But I'm concerned about whatever was leaking from the engine. Can you guys give me a list of things I should check/do, considering both the problem I described and the fact that the bike has been parked so long? I don't have any experience with mechanics but I'm more than willing to learn. I want to learn how to maintain the bike myself rather  than to take it into a dealership.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome mate. You are in the right place to sort all your issues here. A good bunch of people here.
You might need to clean or replace the petcock. Replacing the petcock seems to be a common issue with the Savage.

jaydefazio wrote on 05/27/14 at 22:22:22:

What the L is that?
fins?
what side?
front/back?
high/low?

non running issue, most likely petcock
goto tech section
ctrl-f
petcock
find how to test
do it.

I don't know how bike savvy you are but...

Check the oil level.... hold the bike upright (from the brake side).... take a look at the oil level window (small circular window where your right heal would be if you were sitting on the bike), it should be between the lines, if the whole window is filled you might have gas in your oil.
The petc0ck is a known issue and fails, put on a manual one, almost everyone uses the Yamaha raptor 660 one.
If it sat for a year, I would have change oil and gas before riding it, reguardless... you should do that...and make sure your container can hold more than 2 quarts...the one I bought was garage stored and I got almost a gallon of stuff that came out of my oil system.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions! I will check the oil level for gas overflow, change the oil with Rotella or T6, get a raptor, fresh fuel, etc and see what happens. You guys are awesome.

To answer verslagen1 -- I'm posting a pic of the area (this is not my actual bike, but a photo just to illustrate the part I was referring to) where I found the dark brown fluid. I'm trying to rack my brain to remember which side of the bike it was on and I want to say left side (clutch side) but I'm not sure. Sorry for the poor terminology...what would I call this, fins?

THANKS!  Will check it out

jaydefazio wrote on 05/28/14 at 10:16:27:


From the direction of the exhaust it looks like the clutch side. But either direction, yeah, you probably have a plug cap leak.  My first bike had that at 9K miles. I treat my bike oil leaks like my car oil leaks... when the puddle looks bigger than my checkbook then I'll fix it.  

I would def Drain all of the old fuel out of the tank and try fresh fuel before doing anything else but i am thinking your carb will need to be cleaned or at least try running some seafoam in a tank or 2 of fresh fuel ( if it runs  with fresh fuel.) 1 year old + fuel doesn't burn too well   old fuel also has a distinct smell so if it smells sour/stale then you know for sure u need to get rid of it. if it still stalls out afterwords then start digging into the common things. From all i have read on this site about Petcock problems I ordered a raptor petcock right away even before trying the OEM petcock on my low mileage bike  bike 20 odd bucks isn't too much to pay for a fairly simple fix for a common problem and you have the bonus of being able to take off the fuel tank more easily to access the spark plug.