1999 Harley Davidson sportster 1200 stalls while idle?

A

ARLENMARVIN

New member
Its a harley. have you ever sat at the lights beside a harley? They chug chug......chug slower and slower then just before it dies the guy revs it up. This happen every time you see a harley that comes to a stop. Its not built to run properly, it only has one throw on the crank on a V2, its physically impossible for this motor to run in an even smooth rhythm. It is designed to run like a 3 cylinder with one piston removed.
 
only 7000 miles. Starts up fine, never stalls while riding, but if I do not give it gas it will stall in about 5-15 seconds even after its warm.

It has a screaming eagle kit on it, I know a lot of people bring this up with idling questions.
As you guys can probably tell, I am no mechanic.... One thing I think I should also mention is that when I pull the choke all the way out the bike idles fantastic... Then I push it in and about 10-20 seconds later it dies its slow death... Does this mean I should just speed up the idle?
 
it is stalling because its not getting enough gas, so therefore you might have the choke on to low, or its not getting enough compression into it. or you may need to clean your carborator it may be clogged up
 
Its a harley. have you ever sat at the lights beside a harley? They chug chug......chug slower and slower then just before it dies the guy revs it up. This happen every time you see a harley that comes to a stop. Its not built to run properly, it only has one throw on the crank on a V2, its physically impossible for this motor to run in an even smooth rhythm. It is designed to run like a 3 cylinder with one piston removed.
 
You can make it run better by fine tuning it, valves, air fuel mixture, gap plugs, and check for vacuum leaks and a few other things. But you will never get it run good, it's not designed to run good. It always will hit, hit, miss, miss, hit, hit, miss, miss, sequence. You can not fix bad design. If it idles with the choke out or partially out its obvious your not getting enough gas. The problem will most likely be in your low speed circuit of your carb. You should remove your low jet and see if its plugged. Also clean the holes in your carb between your low jet and the throat. Carb cleaner and compressed air usually takes care of it, if not soak your carb in carburetor cleaning gunk.
 
adjust your idle screw, till your motor doesn't stall. It should idle at around 1000 rpm's, but a little faster is fine. If you have to set the idle screw way high, then you have other problems. You always want to try the simplest fix first, then move on if that doesn't work.
 
Back
Top