On the Mikuni carb, the little wire that hangs down with the star head adjustment screw (Cased in black). Is this an idle adjustment or for the lean/rich adjustment? A friend adjusted it and now it runs very badley. Let me start at the beginning. I did a bad jump start on my 03 TP 107ci softail custom. Single fire, dual coil. Fried the points in the solenoid, did a rebuild, pinched a little wire on reassembley, fixed it. My friend who is helping me, adjusted the idle (he says) with that little wire on the Mikuni. Took it for a test run, started fine, ran fine at moderate low speed. When I cranked the wick, it sputtered like bad gas, if I worked on it, it would get past it and open up, run fine, but as soon as I let back on the wick, it would sputter again when I tried to open it. Ran like not getting enough gas, or mabey too much? Checked the plugs, they are black (new, just put them in). Now, I kept going and the problem got worse, it sputtered worse, now I had to nurse it home. Not far from home, I stalled, tried to restart...nothing! Dead! Not even a ckick from the solenoid. Called tow truck. I am not much of a wrench ( but am learning every day, with this beast!) and my more mechanical friend is out of town. Can anyone help? Oh yes, on the dead start..no lights, but my battery is still charged.
Thanks
zen

 

Yes, that is the idle adjuster. Mot real sure about the problem, but the Mikuni manuals are really good as far as tuning and troubleshooting goes. I am ASSuming it's an HSR42...???.... You can go to this site: http://www.mikuni.com/fs-carburetor.html and download a manual for the carb and, if nothing else, set the idle screw back to the factory setting & see if that helps get you back closer to where it needs to be.

Sorry I am of no more help!

[&:]

 

For now, forget the Mikuni problem. There might not even be a Mikuni problem. The ratty running might be related to the electrical problem. You say battery has a good charge. How do you know this? Did you load test it, or just read the voltage? A bettery can show correct voltage, but fail utterly on a load test.

Since the bike won't start & has no lights, start at the obvious places: + and - battery connections, and ground connection. Make sure they are tight and not corroded. If OK at these points, go to the fuse or circuit breaker, whichever your bike has. Check the voltage at both sides. If OK, move to the next point, which is probably the ignition switch. Check the input and the outputs. Hopefully you'll get lucky and simply have a bad connection or a blown fuse/tripped breaker. Do you have a wiring diagram? It'd make the job 276.912% easier if you have the diagram and can follow it.

 

Got the starting problem fixed, still sputters when I open it up. When I got her, it had short straight pipes. I put on longer pipes (Gatlin's) with torque cones and a small baffle. So, I need to rejet, or lower the main jet? Mikuni Carb.

 

Could be too rich now. Which Mikuni?