I have owned a 1995 Ultra with stock carburetted Evo engine for five years. Every winter I experience the same problem - it is slow to warm up and refuses to run smoothly and even misfires and backfires . I received advice that I should try pulling the enricher out about 1/2 way I tried this today and the bike performed great just like a summer day. Will this harm the engine ? Should I enrich the mixture for winter? and how do I do that? It performs great on summer days but I am retired and refuse to park it for the winter. Thanks.
Carb setting for winter riding ?
- Thread starter tourglide
- Start date
Bad move using the enricher to compensate. Excessive carbon build up would be the end result.
Rejet the carb properly.
Harley Davidson Community
Rejet the carb properly.
Harley Davidson Community
What he said, Again.
Bottom line is your probably running too lean in the summer too. You just notice it in the cooler months.
I think that what you are experiencing is carb icing once the weather gets cooler the moisture in the air can freeze and form ice on the jets in the carb the shape of the carb throat compresses the air which chills it when the fuel vapourises it chills the air further and the particles of water in the air clump together as ice
from my experience it is the slow jet that forms ice first and as it is blocked by ice then it will weaken the mixture
In cold weather riding in my area i usually found that slowing down as i went into a town would have the engine cut out due to insufficient fuel leave it for a wee while heat from engine melts ice and bike will run again although bike would be a real pest from cold over the first few miles backfiring etc
i tried a fuel additive silkolene pro fst was developed by silkolene at the request of kawasaki uk who were having a lot of carb icing in there keihin carbs however it was only partially effective in my area
the problem really needs a carb redesign
For me the best solution was to replace the carb with a mikuni hsr which seems to work a lot better in cold moisture laden air although the bike will be a wee bit hesitant during the first mile of riding but after that it is great
as i ran my bike 92 softail custom alongside my wifes bike 94 dyna wide glide i was shocked at how badly her bike ran at times in weather i would have thought would have been too warm for carb icing however she had the icing issue
i eventually spent the money and fitted her bike with a mikuni hsr 42 and now her bike also runs great if not better than mine
for cold weather starting prior to pressing the start button snap the throttle open a few times this will cause the accelerator pump to squirt some neat fuel into the throat of the carb giving an over rich mixture for easy starting
Brian
from my experience it is the slow jet that forms ice first and as it is blocked by ice then it will weaken the mixture
In cold weather riding in my area i usually found that slowing down as i went into a town would have the engine cut out due to insufficient fuel leave it for a wee while heat from engine melts ice and bike will run again although bike would be a real pest from cold over the first few miles backfiring etc
i tried a fuel additive silkolene pro fst was developed by silkolene at the request of kawasaki uk who were having a lot of carb icing in there keihin carbs however it was only partially effective in my area
the problem really needs a carb redesign
For me the best solution was to replace the carb with a mikuni hsr which seems to work a lot better in cold moisture laden air although the bike will be a wee bit hesitant during the first mile of riding but after that it is great
as i ran my bike 92 softail custom alongside my wifes bike 94 dyna wide glide i was shocked at how badly her bike ran at times in weather i would have thought would have been too warm for carb icing however she had the icing issue
i eventually spent the money and fitted her bike with a mikuni hsr 42 and now her bike also runs great if not better than mine
for cold weather starting prior to pressing the start button snap the throttle open a few times this will cause the accelerator pump to squirt some neat fuel into the throat of the carb giving an over rich mixture for easy starting
Brian