I have an 04 Road King that has been giving me grief lately and it's also given my mechanic some frustration as well. He's been working on it about a week and we've tried a few things but the issue still remains. First some background.

It's an 04 Road King that I bought just under a year ago and it only had 2880 miles on it at the time. Very few miles for the age, so I know sitting didn't help it any. Here's a list of the engine/mechanical work done at the time of purchase new by the original owner:

29775-02A 1550 ST2 EFI Kit
29604-00 Dynojet Kit
DS-288881 Stage 2 Air Filter 93-03 CV
10014 Clamp
10038A Hose Clamp
21919-99 Piston Ring Set 1550 + .005 O/S
5495025 Full Sys 2-1 Fat Cat
5495026 Slipon Ghost Pipe
8983 Roller Bearing Assy
8990A Ball Bearing
17048-98 Gasket Kit, Exhaust
29165-89 Air Cleaner Cover

Then there was labor charges including:

Big Bore and Cams 12 hours
RE Jet Carb .5 hour
T-Header 2 hours


Now, since I've had it, it has been pretty good. Over the course of last summer and fall, I only had the occasional issue starting it up but nothing that gave me any concern. However, ever since the winter months it's seemed to have been getting consistently worse starting up. I'll pull the choke all the way out, give it a couple throttle turns and hit the ignition button. It will just grind away but not kick off. I'll let off and try again and it just grinds. I'll twist the throttle just a bit and sometimes it kicks on. Sometimes I have to sit and wait a minute or so and try again and it fires right up. Other times it fires up without trouble. Once it gets going it runs fine. But even once it's warmed up, if I stop somewhere and then go to fire it up, sometimes it will still give me trouble. Sometimes not. But it seems that as time goes on, it's more often that it gives me trouble.

So I had a local technician take a look at it and he went through all the usual checks. Spark plugs are fine, fuel seems ok and so forth. He suggested trying a Dynojet Thunderslide kit, but that didn't solve the problem. He also adjusted the pin, stating the the bike was setup to idle too high. This resulted in the bike feeling like it was struggling for power while idle. I'd sit at a stop light and it felt like it would vibrate much, much more than it did before at idle. It felt sluggish as if it was going to stall, but it doesn't. something just wasn't right still.

At this point, it was suggested that rather than it being a fuel issue, it could be electrical and the crank position sensor was replaced. Still no luck.

These things have improved the overall feel of the bike as it rides down the road. I notice a more smooth shifting transition and the bike feels great once I get it going and am riding down the street. However when I come to a stop, the teeth chattering vibrations kick in, the sluggish idle kicks in and just a little throttle or once I get going clears it right up and it seems to run fine.

That is until I stop or turn it off and go to fire it back up and it doesn't want to start without doing a list of things to get it to turn over.

The tech said he wanted to sleep on it for a few days and get a fresh train of thought. It's one of those things that's requiring some trial and error. The tech seems like a very informed, straight up person who really wants to get to the bottom of this. But at this point, baring spending hours and hours in labor, he is taking some time to think through it.

In the meantime I thought I'd check in here and see if anyone has ever been baffled by a similar situation and how they might have solved it.

Thanks.

 

No help here, but I can get you a free BTT.

 

Lot of red herrings in that list of work and parts. Enough so that I kinda suspect there's two different bikes in that pile of parts numbers.

You say it grinds and doesn't start. Are you meaning it's cranking over and not starting, or are you actually meaning there is a grinding happening?

Generically, a hard to start engine that's been getting worse with time sounds like an engine in need of a basic tune. Not just admiring spark plugs and guessing spark looks ok, but an actual tune up. New plugs, checking spark, etc.

Someone who adjusts a carburetor pin because the idle is too high isn't probably someone you want working on it. That pin is almost assuredly the mixture needle. It's not an idle adjustment screw. So now you're mixture is so screwed up the bike runs badly, like you describe. He didn't help you with that one, did he?

Teeth chattering vibration at idle could well be the motor mounts. Front one in particular. Well documented. Learned here that the muffler bushings can cause some. Replaced mine and it did help. As well learning to quit holding the front brake when I'm sitting there at a light.

Since you say it runs fine going down the road, I'd suspect the idle circuit and perhaps the cold start circuits of being out of adjustment on the carburetor. But I would also do a good and thorough tune up as well.

 

I think that you are talking about 2 different bikes as well. You have an EFI kit, but then you talk about pulling the choke out to start it. Is the bike carburated or EFI? If it is stumbling at idle after the idle was turned down then it needs to go back up. That is not what is causing your problems though.

 

The EFI part listing on the spec sheet baffled me too...but the bike is definitely carb because of the choke. Lots of good info, but not sure what I'll do. Will pass the info on to the guy who's helping me with this stuff, but might end up seeing what the dealer has to say as well.

 

The EFI Kit seems to be the 1550 kit, pistons, jugs with 203 cams, a/c , clutch spring and gaskets.

Screamin’ Eagle® Pro Stage II Kit - 95 Cubic Inches - 29775-02C
Genuine Harley-Davidson® Product
Screamin’ Eagle&reg Pro Stage II Kit - 95 Cubic Inches - 29775-02C
Click to enlarge image(s)
Harley-Davidson® 29775-02C
Instruction Sheet
When stock cams just won’t do. This Big Bore Kit provides the parts you need to increase the horsepower of your EFI-equipped model. The kit increases the displacement of your ’99-’06 Twin Cam 88® from 88 cubic inches (1450cc) to 95 cubic inches (1550cc). Includes Stage II (SE203) cams, 3-7/8" cylinders, 3-7/8" pistons, clips, air cleaner and breather, high-performance clutch spring, hardware and gaskets. requires separate purchase of primary cover gasket and Air Cleaner Trim ring. (not all components shown.) All EFI-equipped models require ECM calibration (priced separately). For race application only.

Black. (Image not shown)

Fits ’01-’06 EFI Softail® models, ’02-’06 EFI Touring models and ’04-’05 EFI Dyna® models.

Superceded from: 29775-02, 29775-02A and 29775-02B

Made in the U.S.A.

 

Sounds to me like the carb needs attention, with the low miles that bike did a lot of sitting around.There is probably all sort of goo in the carb. As you ride it and run fresh fuel through it breaks the cud up and it ploggs up the works inside.
I had a carbed Evo that sat a lot and when I first got it seemed to run fine but progressively got worse, similar to you.
I pulled the carb and the first thing was the accelerator pump diaphragm was rotted so I replaced that and then thoroughly cleaned the carb, there was all kinds of crap in there, in port and passages, some became blocked up. Anyhow after a good cleaning I gambled and just put it back together without a rebuild kit as I got lucky and the gaskets and such I did not damage.
Used the factory manual to set the carb and it ran like a champ, way better than at first. That was 5 years ago and I just talked to the new owner and he said it still runs incredibly.

 

I will have to agree with the others and ask if this posting is some kind of internet joke. The 2004 RK came from the factory with Delphi fuel injection only. You can't install new jets as it has none. The FI system is equipped with injectors that have a fixed amount of fuel they release. As I said, You are not sure of the proper terminology to use or you have no idea what you are speaking about. There is nothing wrong with being a neophyte, or trying to pass a joke to see how far and how many you can get to bite but I think it has made it's run. Take Care Fairshake

 

I just checked and you could get a Road King with a carb. You need to check facts before posting something so wrong and so easy to verify.

 

Carb may not have been available on the Classic