Pilot jet issue??

[hardleydavidson]

I think I might have an issue with my pilot jet but I'm not sure.

I usually start the bike up before wheeling it out and on to the road to warm it up. When I start the bike up it starts ok then slowly the revs get slower and it dies, this is without touching the throttle. If I give it some choke it does the same thing but much slower.

After restarting it will move off ok and has some oomph before slowly conking out again. It's taking me at least three restarts on route just to get to work. The weird thing is after each restart it's fine for a while.

If I take it out for a longer run than the normal commute it starts to behave quite well and doesn't die.

It also doesn't like hills when it's like this.

[Mr Fro]

So what does the plug look like?

Sounds like your carb could do with a bit of a clean - take it off (and apart) and get happy with a can or two of carb cleaner before you start piddling about adjusting things!

[Phil]

Carb icing?

[Stu]

its too warm for carb icing

have a look at the vacuum hose to the fuel tap you may have a small split causing the tap to not open properly thus starving the carb of fuel until you get more revs on

[hardleydavidson]

Ok, this is really beginning to hack me off now.

So far I have....

Cleaned the carb, checked all jets, needle valve, float pin/jet, float, all carb pipes, fuel tap, fuel filter, air filter, airflow. I've given it an oil change, checked tyre pressure, charged the battery, checked chain tension. Checked for gasket leaks, have compression, clean new spark plug, have a spark, new fuel....

And it still won't run right.

A while ago I was having issues, bought a new carb and that sorted it out, was like a new bike, since then none of the carb settings have been altered, air/fuel mix screw is in the same position, idle screw is in the same position. Checking the plug it's black and wet indicating the mixture is too rich. How can this be when nothing has changed??? Plus it runs fine after three or four start/run/die/start's make's no sense to me.

If it is the mixture then how do I know if it's too much fuel or not enough air?

[Tango]

Is the plug just wet or is it a bit oily?.....is the bike 2 or 4-stroke?

[hardleydavidson]

4 stroke, just wet

It feels like it's flooding, I'm wondering iof it just has trouble starting, then my continued attempts to start it every 500 yards is flooding it......maybe

[acting_strange]

The pilot jet bypass tube could be blocked...I had a similar problem on another bike and that was what I found...I took the air/mix screw out and blew it through with compressed air....she worked fins then...

[bmwdave]

Sounds to me like it could be a fuel supply problem. Try undoing the fuel pipe at the carb end and check the petrol is flowing freely. Some muppet put sugar in my tank once (car) and the symptoms sound similar, the fuel flow being stopped by the crystals forming in the pipe and narrowing it until the flow almost stopped.