SuzukiSavage.com - Waiting on the Tow Truck

gmc

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Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdown
05/12/24 at 18:31:27

Well, I had a great day riding to Huntington Beach and back after having rebuilt the carb. Stopped at Starbucks and then headed home. Less than 2 miles from home, the bike lost power and I had to pull over,l into the bike lane, at which time it stopped. I could start it and idle it, bit no power, then it finally quit altogether.

Here's the weird part: I took the key out of the switch, but the green neutral light stayed on. For a while. I finally got out a screw driver and disconnected the negative side of the battery.

Thoughts?

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28824 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo Reply #1 - 05/12/24 at 19:30:26 Hi, welcome So you rode it, shut it off, started and rode it most of the way home. Then it quit, then restarted till it quit again. green light on while key is off says short. When it quit, did it just die or did it sputter or back fire? What year, mileage, you did carb work, anything else?
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Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo
Reply #2 - 05/12/24 at 21:32:44

1996 Savage. 21200 miles give or take a few 100. I just took the carb off and cleaned it after letting it sit too long due to having to leave suddenly and getting back a month later. After the carb cleaning, it worked fine for over 60 miles.

Maybe i pinched a wire or something and it finally worked through the insulation and is shorting to the frame. I'll take the seat off tomorrow and poke around. Thanks for helping me think it out.

And backfiring? Yes - stock carb, so it should, right? Actually afterfire if I'm being accurate. All. The. Time. Well, all the time after I get off the throttle, anyway. I'm thinking of just getting a better carb instead of doing the carb mods. Not sure what carb that would be, though. I'd also like to get something besides the stock muffler, but it's in good shape, so not sure I can justify replacing it for now.

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Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo
Reply #3 - 05/12/24 at 22:04:32

gmc wrote on 05/12/24 at 21:32:44:

1996 Savage. 21200 miles give or take a few 100. I just took the carb off and cleaned it after letting it sit too long due to having to leave suddenly and getting back a month later. After the carb cleaning, it worked fine for over 60 miles.

Have looked at the cam chain tensioner? Not saying that's your problem now, just beware.

Quote:

Maybe i pinched a wire or something and it finally worked through the insulation and is shorting to the frame. I'll take the seat off tomorrow and poke around. Thanks for helping me think it out.

1st thing I'd look at is around the decomp/starter controller (black box on top of carb) neutral wire runs up past there (blue wire) and there'll be a hot wire running to the d/s controller. 1 thing that happens often is the wires between the airbox and bat box wander over to the belt guard and get chewed up.

Quote:

And backfiring? Yes - stock carb, so it should, right? Actually afterfire if I'm being accurate. All. The. Time. Well, all the time after I get off the throttle, anyway. I'm thinking of just getting a better carb instead of doing the carb mods. Not sure what carb that would be, though. I'd also like to get something besides the stock muffler, but it's in good shape, so not sure I can justify replacing it for now.

Yes you're correct afterfire. No, it shouldn't happen all the time. Look for header/muffler air leaks. You should be able to chop the throttle, shift, and shut off with no more than a mouse fart on shut down only. Do you know what your jet numbers are?

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ohiomoto Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 2704 WTF is JOG?	Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo Reply #4 - 05/13/24 at 20:19:05 Do you still have the stock vacuum operated fuel petcock? It doesn't account for the neutral light but it sounds like the bike ran out of fuel. I would check that before anything else. Also, you shouldn't need to clean a carb after sitting for a couple of months.
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Gary_in_NJ

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Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo
Reply #5 - 05/15/24 at 05:37:36

gmc wrote on 05/12/24 at 18:31:27:
Here's the weird part: I took the key out of the switch, but the green neutral light stayed on. For a while. I finally got out a screw driver and disconnected the negative side of the battery.

Thoughts?

The only thing I can think of that would cause this condition is a short in the wire harness.

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Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo
Reply #6 - 05/15/24 at 12:04:13

verslagen1 wrote on 05/12/24 at 22:04:32:

gmc wrote on 05/12/24 at 21:32:44:

1996 Savage. 21200 miles give or take a few 100. I just took the carb off and cleaned it after letting it sit too long due to having to leave suddenly and getting back a month later. After the carb cleaning, it worked fine for over 60 miles.

Have looked at the cam chain tensioner? Not saying that's your problem now, just beware.

Quote:

Maybe i pinched a wire or something and it finally worked through the insulation and is shorting to the frame. I'll take the seat off tomorrow and poke around. Thanks for helping me think it out.

1st thing I'd look at is around the decomp/starter controller (black box on top of carb) neutral wire runs up past there (blue wire) and there'll be a hot wire running to the d/s controller. 1 thing that happens often is the wires between the airbox and bat box wander over to the belt guard and get chewed up.

Quote:

And backfiring? Yes - stock carb, so it should, right? Actually afterfire if I'm being accurate. All. The. Time. Well, all the time after I get off the throttle, anyway. I'm thinking of just getting a better carb instead of doing the carb mods. Not sure what carb that would be, though. I'd also like to get something besides the stock muffler, but it's in good shape, so not sure I can justify replacing it for now.

Yes you're correct afterfire. No, it shouldn't happen all the time. Look for header/muffler air leaks. You should be able to chop the throttle, shift, and shut off with no more than a mouse fart on shut down only. Do you know what your jet numbers are?

---------------

Regarding the chain tensioner, I actually have a new one that's been modified for length that I bought of eBay - the guy did a very nice job. I also have a new cam chain and the gaskets I'll need when I get around to that job. Currently, I hear no cam chain noise, so hopefully I can kick that can down the road a bit and concentrate on this current problem.

As for your suggestions about the d/s controller and the neutral wire, I think that's a great place to start. I did hear some weird noise once in a while from the belt but thought it was my imagination. I'll definitely start there when I get a chance to look at this, hopefully on Sunday.

Regarding the backfire/afterfire thing, the bike ran great up until the problem that started this thread, and I don't really mind so much the noise, so I'll also concentrate on the current problem and leave carb issues for later.

One thing I do have to do is get a lift. These old knees and back can no longer deal with working so close to the ground.

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Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo
Reply #7 - 05/15/24 at 12:09:20

ohiomoto wrote on 05/13/24 at 20:19:05:

Do you still have the stock vacuum operated fuel petcock? It doesn't account for the neutral light but it sounds like the bike ran out of fuel. I would check that before anything else.

Also, you shouldn't need to clean a carb after sitting for a couple of months.

---------------

What I can say is that the current petcock is definitely not vacuum operated. I will note, though, that when I was test riding the bike after the carb cleaning, I got onto the highway and got up to about 80 and then the bike lost power and I found myself riding on the shoulder for a bit. It felt just like the bowl simply ran out of fuel. I ran on the shoulder until I got off the nearest exit and then the bike ran quite well from then on. I stayed off the highway for the rest of the day, but probably didn't need to, as I got up to as much as 70 mph on various surface streets with no problem. I think just running at 80 on the freeway isn't in the cards for this bike unless I work on the fuel starvation issue. No need, really - these SoCal cars can just go around me if they want to go faster than 65.

As for carb cleaning, this has happened to me twice this year, where I am gone for a while and came back and the bike would start but not get above idle. Both times the gas in the bowl was clearly bad, and both times a cleaning helped. Maybe the gas here in SoCal is just especially prone to this problem. I have decided to use gas stabilizer from now on just to save what little life my knees have left. Also getting that lift that I mentioned in a previous post will help.

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Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo
Reply #8 - 05/16/24 at 19:36:50

Don't overlook the slide either. I had one stick on me twice. The first time it wouldn't pull above mid-range in any gear. I pulled it, cleaned it, and it fixed the issue...until it stuck while shifting from 4th to 5th. I replaced the slide and that fixed the problem.

I know it doesn't solve the electrical issue...

Also, my bike doesn't go much past 80. I think I got to 85 once. It's much happier in the 60-65 range.

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och Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 627	Re: Waiting on the Tow Truck - symptoms of breakdo Reply #9 - 05/17/24 at 09:15:01 These bikes have a lot of electrical gremlins related to the handlebar switches. A short or corrosion somewhere, keep them away from getting wet.
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