Thats exactly what I am going to do

I'm taking it to an indy shop this weekend, guy's up there charge about half of what the dealer does per hour, and they have a good rep in the area. They said it's probably just a dirty carb...1 - 2 hours of work.

 

Mark, you can get rid of most of your problems by just adjusting the idle mixture screw out a little. What you're describing is pretty much "what they all do" until you richen up the idle mixture. There are some pretty good articles over in the DIY forum on how to do this. The mixture screw ishidden bya tamper resistant cover that must be removed.

 

Thanks man, I'll have to check it out...not very tech savvy on these bike's..rode crocth rockets before and they were fairly easy to work on, Harley's seem to be a bit more complicated, but I love it anyway : )

 

I don't have the manual in front of me, but I'm pretty sure it says (for my '92) to start it with the choke full out. After around 30 seconds, the RPMs shoot up a little letting you know it's time to ride. I ride it for 1-2 miles with the choke all the way out, then another 1-2 miles with the choke halfway out. At that point, I push it in and all is well.

I was told to not let my bit sit and idle for very long at all, since it's air cooled. Isn't that true?

Chris

 

I was told to not let my bit sit and idle for very long at all, since it's air cooled. Isn't that true?

Once it's hot, I'd say yes. Letting it idle to warm up shouldn't hurt anything, but Ihave read that it's not good for it to let it do the really slow potato-potato when it's still cold.

 

Just a thought.....

The choke on the stock CV carburetors have a tendency of "not staying out." When you pull the choke out.....confirm that it is actually staying out. There is a black plastic nut that will backoff sometimes, then allowing the choke to not stay completely out. If it is indeed loose....use only finger tight or you will find yourself purchasing a new choke cable.

You might want to pull the sparkplugs as well. That can help you greatly in diagnosing a running problem.

Another thing easy thing to would be to simply drain the carburetor. If I remember correctly, there should be a phillips screw on the backside of the carburetor. You have to go under where the horn is and go between the two cylinders to access the drain screw. You have to have a fairly long screwdriver to get there. Taking the scew all the way out is not needed.....just loosen it until it starts to drain.

If you have nonstock open pipes and a high performance aircleaner setup.....then you most likely need some jets changed out. The bikes come very lean state from the factory to pass EPA specifications and most likely....your bike is very coldblooded. From my experience and I have seen this before.....someone buys a coldblooded Harley. Thinking only changing the pipes and/or aircleaner will help cure the coldbloodedness.....actually made it worse. If the idle mixture screw has been tampered with already, then someone has possibly changed jets already.

I've also seen where the fuel vapor valve gets clogged when someone overfills the tank causing problems. This being clogged does not allow the tank to vent properly. This being clogged somehow made some bikes extremely lean. I don't fully understand it....perhaps it is due to pressure buildup in the fuel tank.

Once your bike is fully warmed up.....how does it run then? Fuel mileage? Octane rating useage? Any black smoke? Excessive oil carryover into the aircleaner from the heads....(airfliter now over oiled).

Anyways.....just shooting out ideas......

 

Mark

I have an 03 WG and had the exact same situation. My mods include a stage 1 kit for the carb and SE II slips ons. Forum members suggested that I turn open the idle jet screw 1/8 turn and see if that helped, but no more than 1/8 turn. This idle screw is in what looks like a tower whichfaces downward from the carb. Unless you havehad the carb modification, the tower is capped with a thin piece of metal. This is drilled out during the carb modification in order to put in the new jet. After doing that it helped a little, but I still had popping.
My dealer really helped put. They gave me their own start up tips for carburatered engines in the Northeast. Cool weather is the culprit on these engines with constant velocity carbs.In summer,full enricher for the first 2-3 minutes of engine start at idle, 1/2 enricher for thefirst 2 miles of riding, then shut the enricher off. For cooler temps (below 70) or winter, full enricher for 5-8 min at idle, then 1/2 enricher for 2-3 miles, then off. Yup let it idle for 5-8 minutes before riding. These air cooled engines really need to heat up. I thought they were crazy but it works every time--not more popping at all. I turned in the idle screw 1/8 turn to it's original position and followed the start procedure---no popping at all. Similar applies to a warm restart if you let the bike sit for only 1/2 hour or so.

No cost to just try it-Good Luck PM me if you need more.

 

Interesting! I've been doing it wrong all along. I do full choke at first, but only let the bike warm up at idle for 1 minute or so, then take off. I leave it on full choke for a mile or two, then down to 1/2 choke for another mile or two. It sounds like I need to let it warm up more at idle. Thanks for the info!

Chris

 

I agree with Evorider. Sounds normal to me. My carbed evo does the same thing when cold, but once it warms up, it runs great. If yours runs good while warm, don't worry about it.

In south Florida, I never use the enrichner (choke). Before turning the engine over I twist the throttle a few times, then start it, blipping the throttle to keep it running untill it is warm. You will know when it is warm enough to ride because it will idle. Let your EFI buddies wait on you. As time goes on your bike will become more and more unique.

 

My carb is also very picky until the motor is fully warmed up even though I've got a stage 1 kit for the carb and cycle shack slip ons - and a well trusted HD tech tuned it for me.

I usually don't idle too long in the parking lot since I live in apartments, but until it's been run for about 10 minutes it won't idle on its own without the choke. Sometimes after a short stop when the motor is still warm the carb will act up again, but only for a short time. Mine is still a work in progress and I'm changing the jets and maybe the idle mixture a bit this weekend. I'll bet your local shop visit helps you out....