Hey everyone. I just recently got an 01 savage. It didn’t run when I bought it, but after a carb clean, changing the petcock, and changing the oil( it was full of gas from the leaking petcock) it’s back in the road. The bike only has 1800 miles on it 150 of which have been me. Anyways I’m habitant a myriad of issues, oils dumping out of the head seal, leaking forks and a clutch slipping in higher gears. I think I sealed the fork today with a seal mate(thanks to this forum for putting me on), the clutch I’m assuming is due to old springs so I’m putting in stronger springs this weekend, and I’m replacing the head plug. One issue that has me stumped however is my terrible gas mileage. I’m getting 25 mpg. In fairness I use it to commute to and from college and A&M campus is a free for all for pedestrians crossing the street so I spend a lot of time stopped. Regardless, I feel I should at least be in the low 40s. The carb has brand new stock jets from alls balls, I plan to change them soon but I’d like to get working right first. I can’t imagine the rings are that far gone on an 1800 mile bike so I really don’t know where to look now. To cover the bases, I have mobile 1 4T 10w40 it’s designed for wet clutches. I don’t notice any fuel leaks, I do smell some gas when at low rpm but I believe I shaved my white spacer too far (it backfires) but I had bad gas mileage before ever doing that. Thanks in advance for any help

How many miles long is the commute?  Is it all city traffic and low gears?

Dave wrote on 03/30/23 at 03:10:12:



Yes, it’s all city, from my apartment to campus

twhitus wrote on 03/30/23 at 06:41:16:


No it doesn’t die if I idle too long, the gas smell may be from me shaving too much off the white spacer, but I had bad gas mileage before that. If the plates are contaminated I’d have to replace them entirely right, there isn’t much that can be done as far as I know.

verslagen1 wrote on 03/30/23 at 08:05:13:



I guess I didn't even consider the rebuild kit having the wrong main. were the differences that significant to where my gas mileage is effectively halved from what it should be? Regardless, I have other jets, I have the factory jets (not the ones from the rebuild but the ones I pulled out), then my main jets I've got a 147.5, a 150, and a 152.5. For pilots ive got a 52.5 and a 55. I'm ruining a dyna exhaust (the factory exhaust got gutted by the last guy and was embarrassing to ride with) so from what I've read I should probably go with the 150 main and 52.5 pilot as a starting point as im at 250' above sea level. Also, side question, is quoting the person you reply to how its supposed to be done, seems like the threads will get long

EDIT: I looked the kit up and it is designed for the 01, ill still change the jets in the event that maybe they gave me the wrong ones but im fairly confident that the jets are good. I'll pull the plug as well and check if its running rich too be sure

If you are communing mostly in the city, you probably aren't even using the main circuit. The main begins to enter the fueling circuit at about 2/3 throttle and is in full effect around 3/4 throttle (supported by the needle).

More likely is that you have accidentally swapped the main and pilot.

Facts:  Top end is lean but MPGs are down.  But there was fuel in the oil and the clutch is fried at just 1800 miles.  You smell fuel when idling which means you smell it when you're not moving.

Some of your symptoms are conflicting.  It's clearly not a jetting issue.  But fuel is going somewhere and it has been found somewhere so...

Where the fuel would go if an overflow line were to get plugged into the vacuum manifold???  

I'm thinking it would be taking a sip right off the top of the float bowl.  Just a hunch, but it would explain most of the symptoms.

Yeah, I was going to say to check your float level along with the needle and seat but went with the mad scientist suggestion instead.

But you have to wonder if that could have possibly happened to someone, somewhere.  haha