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Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage (Read 201 times)
HenryTM82
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Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
05/17/18 at 22:16:52
 
Hi everyone, I was pointed to this forum from the motorcycles subreddit, and am hoping you might be help to help me get my new-to-me Savage up to snuff.

It's a 2002 LS650P. When I picked it up, there was a good deal of fuel in the air cleaner housing - I'd say around half a cup of fluid - which I drained out and then cleaned the filter as best I could (I'll be ordering a new one). From what I've been reading on this site (this place is fantastic) it would seem I've got a couple of problems, beginning with needing to either modify my stock gascock (or replace it outright with a Raptor, which is what I plan to do as soon as I can), and possibly tear down and clean my carb.

This is where I'm having an issue at the moment. The bike gives me a hard time starting up, even using the choke, and when it does start, it idles rough and then dies as soon as I stop giving it throttle. I'm fairly new to motorcycle maintenance and I'm not exactly ASE certified, so I'm hoping people smarter than me can help me identify the source of my immediate problem and, if it's feasible, point me to how to fix it (I'd like to learn, and honestly the less money I can throw at a mechanic, the better). As of right now, what I've done is make sure the battery is charged, drained the old fuel and replaced it with a couple gallons of new fuel, and added some Seafoam to help clean the system. Problem is I can't keep the bike running long enough to get the Seafoam to circulate.

I'm expecting my first two big projects with this bike to be replacing that gascock and cleaning the carb. After watching that video and listening to my bike run and die, and reading my description, does anything jump out at you that I should be checking? Any help at all would be appreciated.
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« Last Edit: 05/19/18 at 18:29:21 by HenryTM82 »  

2002 Suzuki Savage LS650P
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HenryTM82
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #1 - 05/17/18 at 22:18:23
 
I have a video of the bike trying to run and then dying that it wouldn't let me post in my original post because I had to post one "normal" message first. This video should give you some idea what I'm dealing with, you can hear it struggling to start, idling rough for a short time, and then dying.
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batman
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #2 - 05/17/18 at 23:00:56
 
 Before you replace the petcock you should test it (look in the Technical Section - on the right side of the page when you first sign in) , But chances are if the bike sat for a while before you got it the carb needs cleaning, I guess that the pilot jet that feeds your Idle circuit (which is very small ) is plugged. If you don't have a Clymer book ,go to a site like, Ron Ayers , they have exploded views of the bike ,with the parts numbered and the name and order numbers list on the right side of the page.
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HenryTM82
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #3 - 05/18/18 at 06:40:44
 
I'll do that when I get home, thanks. I do have another question - when I was checking the battery last night, it occurred to me that the vent hose was just kind of lying in the battery compartment, but wasn't connected to anything. Looking over the battery itself, there was nowhere for the hose to connect - is it typical to get a new motorcycle battery without a vent hose? If so, am I supposed to be doing anything to vent it, or can I just set that hose aside until I get a new battery that does have a vent on it?
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justin_o_guy2
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #4 - 05/18/18 at 06:57:51
 
Test?
Mine was fine when I bought the bike.
Got the raptor and shelved it.
It was a good thing.
The old one went tits up in no time.
They are just a problem waiting to happen.
Get ya a nice new Raptor, in a Genuine Yamaha part box.
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HenryTM82
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #5 - 05/18/18 at 08:15:42
 
Yeah, that's the plan. I've already ordered one, and will change it out next week. I'm going to try out the manual "conversion" on this site later tonight, just as a temporary stop-gap to get the bike running until the new one comes in. That's tonight's project after dinner - convert the petcock to manual (already have the hex screw and O-ring to do it), and possibly start a tear-down of the carb to clean it up.

Also going to be checking the vacuum hose and oil for gasoline. God, I hope there's no gas in my oil...
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #6 - 05/18/18 at 08:56:53
 
Did you gain oil?
It's cheap enough anyway.
Filter is fine,
If you're concerned
Dump the oil.
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HenryTM82
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #7 - 05/18/18 at 08:59:51
 
Did you just write me a haiku?  Grin

Yeah, I'm gonna get a jug of Rotella-T from O'Reilly's tonight, and just change out the oil while I've got everything else torn apart. Figure I might as well since I'm already doing all this other stuff.

With any luck, I'll have her ready to ride this weekend.
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justin_o_guy2
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #8 - 05/18/18 at 09:06:38
 
I guess I did..
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #9 - 05/18/18 at 11:10:42
 
If your battery doesn't have a vent hose ,it's a sealed battery vent not needed (their better as water level shouldn't need checking during the riding season).
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HenryTM82
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #10 - 05/19/18 at 15:37:11
 
Alright, so I've already ordered a new Raptor petcock, but I wanted to see if I could get the bike running in the meantime while I wait on it to get here. So I followed the guide for creating a plug to stop up the PRI setting and remove the diaphram from the stock petcock, and turned it into a manual ON/OFF/RES petcock.

And that worked! Took me a few hours to drain the fuel, take the thing apart, do the modifications, put it all back together and refuel the bike, but once it was all said and done, she fired right up like a champ.

Now, the bad news. I decided to take her around the block to make sure she'd go in gear and drive and all that good stuff. Everything was great, and I got on a stretch of 40 MPH street, and that's when she died. Third gear, about 40, she acted like she was out of fuel, and sputtered to a halt. Wouldn't start back up despite the fact that there is easily still half a tank of fuel. So, ran home, got the trailer, brought her back, and...after having sat for a bit, she started up and drove up the driveway and into the garage.

So I figured maybe there was something about putting her under strain - like accelerating in gear - that was the problem. I decided to test this theory by letting her run idle in the driveway for a few minutes. Lo, and behold, after about five minutes of idling, it happened again. Acted like fuel was out, weakened a bit, then sputtered and died. Still plenty of fuel in the tank.

So, it doesn't seem to be an issue with trying to accelerate - in fact, it seems to be related to how long the motor's been running. I had only been riding for maybe five minutes when it died the first time, then it idled for around five minutes before dying again.

What might cause the motor to start and run like normal, but sputter and die as if it's out of fuel after running for several minutes?
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #11 - 05/19/18 at 17:16:54
 
"What might cause the motor to start and run like normal, but sputter and die as if it's out of fuel after running for several minutes? "


My first thought is that the gas cap vent is blocked causing a vacuum condition in the tank. The bike runs until the vacuum overcomes gravity and stops the fuel flow.

Also, There is a very fine screen above the float needle in the carb inlet that could be partially clogged slowing fuel delivery enough to starve the bike after a few minutes.

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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #12 - 05/19/18 at 18:05:11
 
Order a raptor and instal
Order a jet set and buy carb cleaner rip apart the carb, clean it and rejet
Assemble
Ride
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HenryTM82
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #13 - 05/19/18 at 18:26:44
 
MarcosS40 wrote on 05/19/18 at 17:16:54:
My first thought is that the gas cap vent is blocked causing a vacuum condition in the tank. The bike runs until the vacuum overcomes gravity and stops the fuel flow.

Also, There is a very fine screen above the float needle in the carb inlet that could be partially clogged slowing fuel delivery enough to starve the bike after a few minutes.


Would either of these conditions cause it to refuse to start again until it's had about ten minutes to sit?
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Re: Having trouble with a new-to-me Savage
Reply #14 - 05/19/18 at 18:54:20
 
Pop the cap after it stalls see if it starts.

Dont run the bike on the kickstand too long, this starves oil to the cam.
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