Hey guys. My name is Dan and I'm new to the forum. I'm 32 and live in Michigan and I picked a 2002 Savage a few months ago. The bike has just under 7400 miles on it and I acquired it from my uncle who had it willed to him by a friend several years ago. The bike was down at his house in Florida and I had it shipped up to Michigan in late December. I was told the bike was in good running condition at the time of its last use which was roughly 5 years ago. After sitting for that long without any attention, I knew I was going to have a bit of work on my hands but I've encountered a problem I'm having trouble solving. I'm hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction. The first thing I bought for the bike was the Clymer manual and I've also been searching for a solution on this forum for a couple weeks. I'd like to mention that although I'm not a professional mechanic, I've been wrenching on vehicles for a couple decades now doing anything from basic brake jobs up to extensive engine/performance work.

When I got the bike home, the tank was about half full of varnished gas and there was some in the air box as well. I drained both and replaced the air filter. I pulled the carb for cleaning and when I removed the float bowl it was pretty ugly. There was some crusty dried up gas caked all over. I ordered a rebuild kit and rebuilt the carb, cleaned it, and set the float level. I put it back together, bought a new battery, and put some fresh fuel in it (89 octane, ethanol-free). The bike started right up and seemed to run great. I let it warm up for a few minutes and I decided to take it around the neighborhood. It seemed to be running great, I got into third gear and then it misfired and popped a couple times (not a full backfire, a couple pops in the muffler) and then stalled quickly after. It wouldn't start back up right away so I walked it back to my house. I cranked it several times...nothing. I walked away for a bit and came back and tried again and it fired up but now stalls after short periods of running. That is where I'm at now. If I go out and start it when its cold, it idles perfectly for about 2 minutes (I timed it once) and then all of a sudden it'll miss a couple times and stall. It seems tough to start right after but with several rounds of cranking, it'll fire back up, idle for a few seconds and then miss and stall again. Once I get it running again, if I try to give it a bit of throttle it will usually bog out and stall immediately. But sometimes I can feather it a bit and keep it running but at this point it will be running pretty rough, missing and popping and it has even backfired a couple times also. It seems like the warmer the engine gets, the worse it runs and the harder it is to start once it stalls. Also, I'd like to mention if I give it a bit of throttle during the initial 2 minutes of it running well, the engine responds as it should and increases in RPM smoothly without any issues.

Here's what I've checked. I suspected it was a fuel issue so I started there. I've rechecked the float level and even tried adjusting it higher and lower than spec just to see if it responded at all but there is no difference. I've pulled the stock petcock out of the tank and the screen was clean. I tested the vacuum function and it is fine. Running the bike on the "on" position or "prime" makes no difference at all. I've checked the vacuum lines and they're in good shape. I tried capping the ports on the petcock and carb and running it on "prime" as well. I also tried giving it a little shot of starting fluid when it starts to miss just to see if it might be a lack-of-fuel issue. Also, the idle mixture screw plug is still in place so I don't think the carb was ever altered. None of these attempts have yielded any results so I began checking the ignition system. I haven't replaced the spark plug but it looks to be in in good working condition, just a little dark like the bike may have been a bit rich. I checked for spark and it is a nice blue to purple spark. I pulled the coil and checked the resistance of it as well as that of the signal generator and both are within spec. At this point, I'm not sure what to do. Does this issue sound familiar to anyone? Am I overlooking something that might be causing it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I apologize for the book I just wrote but I wanted to provide as much detail as I could.

there's a little rubber washer under the pilot jet (idle mixture) screw.
depending on what you've cleaned it with, could be a gooey mess.
there's a screen above the float valve, so if you didn't pull it out, if could be gunked up.
did you pull the needle jet?  could be the little ports could be clogged.
1st time I cleaned my carb with the spray cleaner ended up doing it 3 times.  So unless you dipped it...

I think Verslagen , is right about the tiny and rather fine filter that sits above the float valve seat , if mostly plugged it would cause the symptoms you describe . Some times rebuild  kits come with the wrong size jets, be sure the  pilot jet is a 52.5 and main jet 145 at least (stock sizes),and your idle speed set to at least1000 rpm.

Hey guys, I just wanted to reply in case anyone else ever runs into the same issue. I just finished installing the correct size jets and it seems to have fixed the issue. The bike runs great now without any stalling,  misfiring, or backfiring. Thanks Batman for the tip on the jet sizes, you saved the day. I also contacted the company I purchased the rebuild kit from and let them know they're selling kits with the wrong jets in them. It sounded like they didn't have a clue. Hopefully it'll help save the next guy the headache.

although these kits are billed as being for the Savage ,I think they were made for the Suzuki Tempster ,a bike not sold here, but had a very similar motor that displaced only 400cc and therefore used smaller jets.there were also Savages sold in Europe that were detuned by local laws that may also have used these jets.We have also seen plastic tubes inside the springs of the slide to restrict how far they could open.