my 90 fxstc is running way rich. i can smell it. plugs are black around the base and dark earth around the porcelian. i beleve it has the wrong jets in it or something is pluged up in the carb. when i pulled the carb off the vac. line to the voes is in bad shape could this cause the bike to cut out at acceleration and run like crap? or is it too rich and fouling the plugs?

im trying to get those blasted float bowl screws out but someone else has stripped them!!

 

Is your choke on...just curios?

 

For the float bowl screws, try a good pair of needle nose vise grips. When you go looking for replacements, those are metric, and the head is actually not phillips, I think they are PZ or pozidrive, which are easily ruined by using a phillips screwdriver. I replaced mine with hex heads, but would have preferred torx. As far as the vacuum leak goes, I would think that it would result in a lean condition by not lifting the slide as easily. Have you checked/cleaned your air filter? A clogged filter can cause more fuel to be pulled in.

 

I had trouble with plugs in my stock evo at around 75,000 miles and in the end it turned out to be piston rings, needed the top end refreshed. At that time when I put in new plugs it ran OK, but after a few thousand miles the plugs started fouling out. I thought it was the carb, and took it to the HD dealer near Lancaster Pa. to clean and set up the carb on the dyno - I told them the problem with the plugs and told them I was not looking for a dyno report that showed a big increase in power, I just wanted the bike to run better. We had previously arranged to have it done while I wait and we had no alternative way of getting home. After servicing the carb the authorized "HD Technician " working on it thought the VOES was bad because the horsepower was lower than it should have been. I had to take it back when they had a VOES in stock.

The incident made me extremely angry because after the second visit and he replaced the VOES he gave me a faux dyno report, telling me that after he made some adjustments the engine was better and the horsepower was much better than when I took the bike in for tuning - I was waiting to pay the final ($500+total) bill when I saw the date on the final dyno run they gave me was a couple months previous to the date I was there - I could not believe this was an authorized Harley Dealer! I confronted them about the faux dyno report and asked to see the report from my bike, so they took the bike back in and this time several of their "HD authorized and trained Technicians" were working on it and after a little while they added oil to to the cylinders to confirm it was rings - we barely made it home that day as it ran so bad.

Previous to that, I never would have guessed an authorized Harley dealer would try to use a faux dyno run report. If they had been honest and up front, I probably would have agreed to letting them do the top end, but after they tried passing off a faux dyno report to me I wanted nothing more to do with them. While my wife and I were waiting and watching the guy at the cash register looked at us and said somehting like "Don't blame me , I am just a messenger " Needless to say I sent an email to the service manager of that Lancaster Harley Davidson letting them know I was not happy with their service and would never be back. That was several years ago but I still get angry thinking about it.

 

If you have a dremel, take a cutting wheel and cut a single slot in the screw head for a flat blade screwdriver. If you can't turn them off with that then take the screwdriver and hold it in one end of the slot at an angle and give it a smart tap with a small hammer. Get replacements at ACE hardware, they have stainless hex heads.

Is the bike new to you or have you had it awhile and this is a new condition. If you've had it awhile and it just started this then I'd leave the jets alone, clean out the carb real good, given the age of your bike I'd probably change all the intake gaskets and line, new plugs and give another try. If the bike is new to you I'd still try the above first but I'd take a good look at what size jets are in there and and other mods that may have been done by the PO.

Take a look around this site for good info..
http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hd_cv_mods.htm

 

Take the carb off and work on the bench with small vise grips if they don't work cut slits with dremel, just went through this with top screws.
I've been riding my bike for the longest time with a bad voes, replaced it and runs like a top now. Check timing, try new plugs, check jet sizes, check Slide Diaphragm for holes, give a good cleaning and the carb should be good to go.

 

when my vacuum line to the voes disconnected it idled great but didnt run very good.

 

By the way I set the air/ fuel to 2 turns out and no more sputtering or run on. I'm running 45 and 180 jets .

 

I check my VOES every time I do a cold start. I pull the enrichener full on to start, and then push it all the way in and use the throttle hold to keep it running. When I back off of the throttle, it drops enough vacuum that the VOES drops out and drops the idle to very low. As soon as I add a little throttle it comes right back on and the idle comes up. The idle is different when the VOES drops out. It will only do it when it is cold as the idle is to fast when it gets warmed up.

 

I don't think the voes will directly effect startupI beleive it is more along the line of advancing and retarding the ignition. Here's some interesting reading http://www.wildwestcycle.com/f_voes.html There's also a neat little how to for wiring in an led to tell if voes is on or off retarding or advanceing.