I've got a 95 Super Glide with an S&S Super E carb installed. Recently had to replace the lifters, cam, bearing and bushings. After fixing that I put about 200 miles on it with it running great.

Yesterday while out riding we stopped in a small town and got gas. Filled it with premium like usual and off we went. About 40 miles later while riding at about 50 mph the motor started sputtering and backfiring. It would idle but the rpm's kept dropping drastically bogging the motor. We limped it to a nearby relative's house and tried to play with the timing and carb settings. The motor sounds fine and it will idle but only for maybe 20 seconds and then it drops rpm's and backfires a couple times before dieing. If I try to give it throttle when it bogs down it backfires and pops sometimes catching and reving up while other times it'll puke.

Today I went out and got new spark plugs. Drained the gas thinking maybe the gas I bought was bad and fired up the bike. Ran it in full choke to warm it up and took it out of choke like usual. Ran great and sounded like it always does. Took it around the block a couple times and went a few blocks down and back...ran great. Pulled in my yard and let it idle for a minute, by then i'd say it was close to warmed up since I hadn't gone over 25 mph (I live in a very small town) and it started doing it again.

The bike starts everytime but anywhere from the initial start to within 20 seconds it'll go from 1000 rpm idle to instantly dropping to maybe 400, sputters like its chocking, backfires out of the exhaust and then usually dies.

Any ideas? I do have an aftermarket ignition but it came with the bike. The carb is an S&S Super E. I followed the video instructions to reset the carb and when I drained the tank I also tried to drain the carb as well.

 

If your bike has adjustable pushrods check that they have not loosened.

 

How is your igniton pick up and coil?

 

I would have said bad gas but you say you drained it . Is your ignition mod one of those nose cone style ? If so sometimes heat can eat them up and will be ok till it gets hot again. or just burn up completely.

 

What color are the plugs? Sometimes if they get all carboned up you actually have to remove them and clean them up before your bike will start to run properly again.

 

If your bike has one of the vacuum operated petcocks you may want to check the inner diaphragm for pin holes or any type of leaks.

 

You have something blocking the idle circuit in the carb.
The tell on that is sometimes you are able to catch it (accelerator pump does actually)
I don't know what you mean by "tried to drain the carb" but cleaning the carb properly would be my first place to check,long before running ignition tests .

 

What I meant by tried to drain the carb was I originally took the fuel line off the tank and out from between the cyclinders and tried to drain it, only a little bit of gas came out which could of been just from the line itself. My buddy came over last night and showed me that there is a bolt that has to come out to drain it properly so he flushed it out.

He also suggested the idle circuit after checking the bike out. He wants to rebuild the carb and clean it in his parts washer.

On the S&S carbs (Mine is a Super E), has anyone rebuilt one to know what the difference is in the kits? Theres a body rebuild kit for $40 and a master rebuild kit for $78. With all of my cam and lifter issues money is tight so I wasn't sure which I needed. Just curious on the differences...if the master is what I really do need the bike's gonna be down for a bit lol.

 

Never mind the rebuild ,,remove the bowl,,remove the jets etc ( take photos or have a diagram to reassemble) and clean everything making sure all passageways are clear.
Be wary of the height of the float(don't bend the tab).

 

Always begin with simple elimination process before moving forward to more complex ( costly) solutions.
Check the tank filter above the petcock,,,check the petcock also