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Please help with diagnosis

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chevypilot

Member
I have a '97 Heritage FLSTC that I recently purchased. It has the 1340 EVO with stock carb, K&N filter, and new Andrews 220 Cam and lifters/rods.



I didn't bother checking the plugs right away as I've only had it a few weeks and only put about 70 miles on it. I changed the oil, some small bolt on parts like switch housing, adjusted the clutch, replaced timer cover.



The problem:



Went out to fire it up today for a ride, and it sounded awful and backfired. I felt the pipes and engine and only the front cylinder was firing/getting warm. I pulled the plugs and they were both black and a little wet.



I cleaned the plugs off, sanded the contact points with some fine sandpaper, checked the gap ( .040) and reinstalled. Both cylinders were firing now, but it still sputtered a little and popped. After 1 minute of running, the plugs were fouled again and wet.



Did I do something wrong?



Thanks for any help.
 
Possibly too much enricher or there's a problem with the wires or plugs. Last resort is some bad fuel.
 
Pull the float bowl off the carb and clean it out, you may have some crud in there keeping the needle off the seat and flooding the engine.

Once you get it straightened I suggest you take those points out and throw them in the scrap pile and install an electronic ignition, even a stock system is light years ahead of a points system.
 
I do believe they are the adjustable type...but how do I tell?

Ok, couldn't make it down to buy new plugs and wires today, but here is what I did and what happened.
1. Loosened throttle housing and made sure no wires were pinched, retightend.
2. Cleaned spark plugs and wires and reconnected.
3. Removed timing cover to observe.
4. Started with choke pulled out for about 10 seconds then kept it running with throttle until it would idle by iteself. Popping/backfiring with occasional flame out the back of the pipe.
5. Adjusted idle till it sounded "right". Not too low/loping sound, but not racing either.
6. Checked the timing hole, but could not see any light, just the turning wheel in the window. Put the timing cover back on and let idle for about 4 min with occasional throttle bursts.
7. Took for a short ride, about 5 miles. It would backfire under hard throttle, but engine seemed pretty smooth. After a couple stop signs, I had to give it some "extra" throttle from full stop. It sound like it was bogging down if I tried to smooth throttle off the line.
8. Got home, shut it off, and after about 3 min, fired it up again and it started with no choke and smooth idle.
??????????????????????
 
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One way to tell is take a look under the pushrod cover.

It sounds like you have a fuel problem, possibly some debris in the tank/carb.
 
ok, broke out the multimeter, and here's what I got so far:

Lights on:
-Battery 16VDC
-To Each side of coil 15.5VDC

Removed wires and test the wires with 20k ohm setting on multimeter, short measured 4.5 and long measured 11.5
 
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