Hey yall, long time first time!
I have a 1996 Road King FLHRI. My uncle bought it brand new and took real good care of it becore I took it off his hands with 15,000 miles. Im up to 23,000 and am stumbling in to my first disconcerning issues. First I caused a very very small break in my bottom gaskets from riding off in cold weather going to work. No loss in oil so not terribly worried.

This is the main issue. My idle has become extremely erratic, always will rev up higher than normal when sitting still. When this is happening my throttle has a delayed response and will spit black smoke out the rear. The bike also ends up running extremely hot and pops on de-acceleration.
With the high idle I thought I might be getting too much air like a leaking vacuum hose. I sprayed some carburetor spray around the intake and didn't get any rise in idle (was I spraying in the wrong place?) I also adjusted the screw under the grip where the throttle cables come in. That didn't seem to help any.
The bike is comletely stock other than some old slip ons (manufacturer doesn't even exist anymore). It didn't smoke or pop before this idle problem.
I've read some posts on here about messed up temp sensors. Its $95 and I don't feel like ordering one if there's another cause. Also don't feel like having a stealership bend me over.
Any advice you guys have is extremely appreciated. It's bikes to the beach in OC MD next weekend and I wanted to be squared away from the long ride.

 

Sounds like you are running with a lean condition and/or an air leak somewhere as well.

 

grab you a clean rag, lay it out in the bottom of the throttle body to catch any debris
look inside the throttle body at the top there is a small hole. get some carb cleaner and spray it inside that IAT sensor hole until it flows clear. The first time you try to start afterwards will run a little rough and want to die, no worries will clear itself up briefly. See if that helps.

 

its the engine temp sen.its on top of front cyl.just changed one out.its about a hundred bucks.

 

any codes?
you can test the ET sensor by removing it putting a DMM across the pins and heating the element up. the resistance will change as it heats up. I can't find the exact specs on it at the moment but they're out there.

 

I agree with cleaning out the 2 little holes at the 10 & 2 position inside the throttle body. I have to clean mine out occasionally as it will do the same thing.