My recently purchased 2004 FXST seems to be in pretty good shape, but it absolutely won't idle, no matter how warm, without a little extra gas from the enricher or the throttle. I have put a couple of hundred miles on it and it's cold and wet here now, so I'm thinking of doing some adjusting.

Looks like it has a Screamin' Eagle air cleaner and it has Samson pipes that are a straight pipe with no baffles.

My first thought is it needs carb adjustment to account for the air cleaner and lack of back pressure from the pipes - some people say they never run good with straight pipes, so I might go with some baffles.

Any thoughts on the likely cause and solution?

 

Fuel filter?

 

Imho...add about five ounces of sea foam carb cleaner to a full tank of gasoline. Ride it!! Adjust the idle control screw for added rpm's. (clock wise)

 

Heres one I found on how to tune her.

http://www.harley-performance.com/ha...arburetor.html

Heres the same problem other members has had..

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/engin...wont-idle.html


Hope something in here Help Ya....OCT1949

 

Hmmm -- my bike won't idle (especially in the winter) on a cold start without pulling the enrichener either. After about 60 seconds and a few pops on the throttle, no problem. I figured it was the nature of the carbureted beast and it never occurred to me to mess with the idle adjustment. Maybe I should (great link on the carb adjust oct1949, thx)

 

your engine is lacking in fuel, that is why it will run with your choke pulled out. you are in need of a carb rejetting. i used to run a 190 main jet with the Big Guns in my bike but could have used a 185. if you are not familiar with changing jets there are many shops out there that can help you out. you will be surprised how well it will work for you.
thank you,
JR

 

I have several carbed engines that suffer from this problem(motorhome,riding lawnmower,pressure washer)...they were jetted close enough before they started putting alcohol in the gas...now they will not run without a little choke...time to go up a few jet sizes.

 

Kind of what I was thinking. The page oct1949 linked and other stuff says to try adjusting the mixture before rejetting, so I will probably do that first. Problem is, it's so cold here now that I can't keep it warm enough to do the adjustment. My Sportster was running like a top all summer, but when it started getting cool out it went downhill too. Apparently, air cooling works too good.

 

yup, id adj mix screw a half turn or full turn out,see if that helps. mine was running like crap too but i went ahead and put it up for the winter.

 

CV performance sells a thumb screw, so you can adjust idle mixture without the screwdriver. If I was you I'd get a kit with all you need in it from them. I got one, it has a needle, jets and what not. Changing jets isn't that complicated, the adjusting is a pain in the ribs, tho.