primary fluid question?
ok guys bear wth me here i have a 1968 xlch that has been sitting in my garage for the last 4 or 5 yrs since my dad gave it to me. i finally decided to take it out this year after riding a 2007 all last year. well i found that my clutch was frozen, so i took it all apart and repaied the clutch problem. which leads me to my next problem the bike has an aftermarket clutch cover on it without a fluid level hole. only a chain inspection cover. and for the life of me i cant find how much fluid to put into the primary? my dad said he thought it was 1.5 pints but wasnt positive. can anybody on here give a guy a hand? i would liketo get this ol girl on the road once again.
thx for the quick replies guys, now i just need to get a few carb issues ironed out and i should be all set. at least im assuming its carb issues. it seems to run fine at idle but when you start riding after a few blocks its starts making some odd noises and missing on one cylinder. by the time i pull over to stop it goes back to runnning like normal then starts acting up again every few blocks. it acts amost like it starving for fuel or something. i pulled the plugs a little bi ago, they are totally back and sooty. which would indicate that its too rich right? i think tomorrow i will pull the carb off and take it apart and clean it real good and check float and jets. any thing else i should look at or check out?
Slopoke.......
If your 1968 has a Bendix carb (or the Harley equivalent) I may have an idea of what the problem is.
Assuming it is a Bendix, remove the carb from the engine.
Remove the float bowl.
Remove the brass main jet holder.
At the top of the brass body there will be a groove where an O ring sits.
What does the O ring look like? If it is eaten up or broken, you have just found the problem.
The O ring will degrade over time. This O ring prevents raw fuel from bypassing the main jet and being leaked into the intake manifold.
When it does leak, this will result in a super rich condition which will rich foul one or both plugs at highway speeds. It sounds to me that this is the problem.
Go to Lowe's and buy a 10 pack of O rings in the fawcett department. You want either a #5 or #6 size (I forget which) and put one on the brass body, then reassemble the carb.
If your carb looks like this (except for the homemade parts) then it is a Bendix......

This pic shows the O ring and jet holder............. pg

PS: It might be a good idea in the future to start a new thread when you change subjects in a post. This will help others find the subject easier. Case in point........... This thread is titled as a question about primary fluids, and now we are talking about carb problems. Someone with a carb problem is going to have a really hard time finding this post buried under a question regarding primary fluids. I hope you see my point here.
If your 1968 has a Bendix carb (or the Harley equivalent) I may have an idea of what the problem is.
Assuming it is a Bendix, remove the carb from the engine.
Remove the float bowl.
Remove the brass main jet holder.
At the top of the brass body there will be a groove where an O ring sits.
What does the O ring look like? If it is eaten up or broken, you have just found the problem.
The O ring will degrade over time. This O ring prevents raw fuel from bypassing the main jet and being leaked into the intake manifold.
When it does leak, this will result in a super rich condition which will rich foul one or both plugs at highway speeds. It sounds to me that this is the problem.
Go to Lowe's and buy a 10 pack of O rings in the fawcett department. You want either a #5 or #6 size (I forget which) and put one on the brass body, then reassemble the carb.
If your carb looks like this (except for the homemade parts) then it is a Bendix......

This pic shows the O ring and jet holder............. pg

PS: It might be a good idea in the future to start a new thread when you change subjects in a post. This will help others find the subject easier. Case in point........... This thread is titled as a question about primary fluids, and now we are talking about carb problems. Someone with a carb problem is going to have a really hard time finding this post buried under a question regarding primary fluids. I hope you see my point here.
Last edited by piniongear; Jun 10, 2009 at 04:40 AM. Reason: added PS
thanks for the the very valuable info on the carb. and yes i doo see your point, im sorry for the topic change and normally i would have started a new thread, but for some dumb rason i didnt think about it. probably just too excited over getting this ld farm implement running and out on the road again.
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No problem. It just hit me that the carb info may be hard to find under primary oils and that is the only reason I suggested a new thread.
Let us know what you find inside your carb.
I have never seen this O ring problem encountered by anyone but myself, (twice in 15 years) nor have I ever seen mention of it.
But it is a fact, and it will rich foul plugs. Don't ask me how I know, but it took me a very long time to discover what had happened............ pg
Let us know what you find inside your carb.
I have never seen this O ring problem encountered by anyone but myself, (twice in 15 years) nor have I ever seen mention of it.
But it is a fact, and it will rich foul plugs. Don't ask me how I know, but it took me a very long time to discover what had happened............ pg
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