I'm a complete amateur at repair and not much better at riding, so I'll do my best to describe the issues as accurately and detailed as possible. Hoping to get help on diagnosis before moving on to repair. It's a 2002 model, bought it in May 2019.

Engine Issues:

- Will lose power during operation. Engine/thrust will start sputtering unevenly before the bike dies and I'm free rolling down the road/highway.

- Difficulty starting the bike at times, even in relatively warm weather. Need to give it some throttle but it'll die back down once throttle is off.

- Bad gas mileage, and needs to be refilled before the tank is even half empty. Switching between PRI, Reserve, and ON does nothing to alleviate the problem.

- Lots of backfiring, especially when I turn off the engine. Tends to be one loud bang.

- Apparently 5th gear doesn't work anymore

I've been told it's most likely the carbs that need cleaning or even syncing, potentially the spark plugs and air filter as well.

Other problems:

- Gear shifter gets stuck sometimes. Like you need to stomp it before it changes, usually from 2nd down to 1st.

- Speedometer & odometer stopped working. I noticed the cable got disconnected from the front axle. Reattaching it did nothing.

Thanks in advance veteran riders.

I don't know if it's been modified, but I'm guessing it's pretty stock.

I will look into the shift lever linkage thing - how do I know whether it's bent or not? Or is it the type of fix you just do?

I didn't know the bike only has one spark plug. Complete noob with the mechanical side of things, sorry about that.

I saw the post about the Raptor petcock - I will try replacing it. It's going to blow my mind if that was the one thing causing all these mechanical operation problems. To be frank I've never done an oil change on it, so I will get that done ASAP as well.

Picture was attached; I will report back in a few days once I get the oil change and petcock fix done. If you want me to post certain angles of the bike, just let me know.

Thanks for taking the time to help!

I can see in the photo that the speedometer cable is attached to the engine case - is it possible that you removed the front brake cable is what you reattached?  Does the front brake work when you squeeze the right side handlebar lever?

Has this bike been in this condition since you bought it in 2019?

The shift lever may need to be taken apart and cleaned/greased as well as looking at the rod that connects the shift lever to the transmission.  (Take a photo of the little rod at the bottom of the left side of the engine for us.....there should be a "straight" rod a little smaller than a pencil that connects the two together).

I believe it would be a great idea for you to buy a Clymer repair manual that will help you to understand how to work on this bike.

Shifting takes a bit of finesse, and at times you'll find yourself stuck.

Don't panic and start stomping on it, it will only get worse.

The trick is to apply a little bit of pressure in the way you want to go then ease the clutch in.

And if you can't get into 5th gear the shift arm on the case maybe in the wrong location or someone bent the link.  The shift arm should be pointing straight down.  The should be a center punch mark where the split is.

Come on Ruttly, Let's not confuse the issues.  The engine clearly has the black OEM paint job of a newer 5-speed unit.   Did you not get your morning coffee yet??  

This may help clarify Verslagen's comment regarding the position of the gear shift link arm.  Later models of the LS have a punch mark on the shift shaft.  That punch mark must align with the split in the link arm as shown in this picture.

You end up with the shift rod hitting the alternator cover when you upshift.  You can see that the rod bends and it will be very difficult to upshift (1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, etc.).  This picture shows what can happen.

Also make sure that your shift pedal/lever does not hit the frame on upshifts.  You can see from this picture where to check.  You can adjust the length of the shift rod (make it shorter) to increase the clearance between the frame and the pedal/lever.