I have an '08 Road King. I've had problems starting it with excessive cranking and occassional backfire through the throttle body, but it runs fine after starting. I listened to the fuel tank while the fuel pump primed and heard spraying, and thought a fuel line was chafed. I took the top cover off, cycled the pump, and saw that the fuel is actually spraying out of the hole in the top of the fuel filter shell where the top of the fuel pressure regulator inserts into the hole. In the picture, it's spraying out of the hole with the semi-circular shield around it on the top. The nipple on the fuel pressure regulator goes in there through an o-ring that is installed and looks fine. Could a bad diaphram in the regulator allow fuel to escape through that part of the regulator?
Thanks

 

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I'm having the exact same issue going on spraying out the top. Is that normal? Or did a new one fix it??
I appreciate any reply .. thank you.

 

The way a regulator works is by valving off the excess pressure and returning it to the tank. On my ancient Marelli setup, the regulator is on the throttle body and has a return hose. Looks like yours is in the tank, and may very well just spray back into the tank, cuz its all inside. You need to use a fuel pressure gauge on the line to the injectors to really know anything.

 

As states, fuel will spray inside the tanks while the fuel pump is running. What you want to listen for is fuel spraying after the pump has shut off.

Are there any mods to the bike? How many miles? After a short crank, can you hear the pump still running for a short time?

 

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