1976 FLH Probelem

[hdcoder76]

I recently finished re-wiring my 1976 FLH. Upon starting and running the beast I find that I have good acceleration/smooth running through about a 1/4 of the throttle. When I go over 1/4-1/2 throttle the engine craps out. I cannnot tell if I am flooding or starving the motor. It does not shut off, just bogs. Could this have anything to do with the rewire? Last night was the first go since last October, though I have not had this trouble in the past.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

hdcoder76

[newultraclassic]

Originally Posted by hdcoder76

I recently finished re-wiring my 1976 FLH. Upon starting and running the beast I find that I have good acceleration/smooth running through about a 1/4 of the throttle. When I go over 1/4-1/2 throttle the engine craps out. I cannnot tell if I am flooding or starving the motor. It does not shut off, just bogs. Could this have anything to do with the rewire? Last night was the first go since last October, though I have not had this trouble in the past.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

hdcoder76

Drain the fuel tank and clean the petcock and all of the accumulated matter. That might be the issue. When I first got my Shovelhead, it did the same thing until I cleaned all of the cheese out of the tanks.


It sounds like a lack of fuel. If not, then look at the plugs and replace the wires.

[LittleBear]

I have had a coil cause similar symtoms so it could be your wiring or the coil. It did not have enough spark to fire with a full gas charge in the cyclinder.
NUC has a good point, start with teh simple and work your way to the more complicated. It can only be a few things, gas or spark.

[bagga]

could be jetted lean too.what jets do you have in there?

[hdcoder76]

Thanks for all the ideas. I began by draining the fuel. I had good flow through the petcock and fuel filter. Removed and cleaned the airfilter. Replaced the fuel and fired her up. I ran her for a few miles and she came around, just like new. I am now a firm believer in fresh gas. I had also called the local pre-evo guy and he said the same thing, "the quality of today's gas is very poor, never...never...never run old gas".

Thanks again for the help. I don't post often and was happy to receive replies.

hdcoder76 - back in the saddle again

[tictoe]

I too have had the some problem, turned out to be the cover over the Coil. The cover has two screws holding it, one had vibrated out. Anyway, as RPM’s come up the motor vibrates more and the cover touches the top terminal on the coil grounding the bike out. Took me a month to figure it out. Five cents later it has never happened again. Hope this helps.

[claydbal]

this would be a really good time to clean the carb also. todays gas will form varnish after just a few weeks, if it hasn't plugged the jets, it will plug the tiny holes in the mixing ( emulsion ) tube. this will affect your mixture mostly in the cruise range--------pinging will destroy your engine and you may not hear it if you have loud exhaust.

[nauipro]

I have seen a similar condition several times with the dash mounted ignition switch. As the brass contacts wear and the spring loses a bit of tension, vibration under increased engine load will cause contact issues. You can run a jumper wire from battery positive to the coil, eliminating all of the switches and breakers too help isolate the problem. Replacement solid state switches are available from the aftermarket............Bill

[hdcoder76]

No problems, and thanks all for the help/suggestions.

Is there a "carb cleaner" that can be run through the gas, or is it best to dismantle and do it the "old fashioned" way?

Thanks in Advance,

hdcoder76

[nauipro]

Originally Posted by hdcoder76

No problems, and thanks all for the help/suggestions.

Is there a "carb cleaner" that can be run through the gas, or is it best to dismantle and do it the "old fashioned" way?

Thanks in Advance,

hdcoder76

The old fashioned way is still best, but Chevron Techron is an excellent fuel system cleaner...............Bill