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Stalls when upright

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Pest889

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Hi, I have a 1981 FXS lowrider - shovelhead. Just bought it in the winter. It has sat in my garage covered, until now. it leaked oil in a big puddle while sitting, and it dumped out oil when starting. I refilled the gear box with 75/90. (pretty sure this is normal for spring, but im new to Harleys) has stopped leaking oil now.... Sometimes it has trouble starting, not a burp.... then other times, fires right up right away. It ran good but started dieing and back fireing when giving it high throttle. Idles great, rev's great on kick stand. After I sit on it upright now, it will die after about 10-15 seconds before i can ride it. I have seen info about the ignition switch....

thanx :p
 
I had a similar problem when I first got my shovelhead. Turned out to be the seat pan hitting the positive battery terminal when I put my weight on itl. See if that's a possibility on yours.
 
Welcome to The Forum, What kind of carb do you have, May need a rebuilding, As far as the oil leak, mot uncommon for a Shovelhead to bypass the oil into the crank case when sitting Harley Davidson Community
 
good, thanx for the confirmation of the oil :0) could it be cause the sitting, and the oil leaking that the bike was running stupid, and will clear up? I think ill check the seat... its an iteresting idea.
 
Sure sounds like a carb issue to me. If it turns out not to be shorting out as Breeze3at mentioned i'd start looking at the carb, float ect..
 
Pest889 said:
good, thanx for the confirmation of the oil :0) could it be cause the sitting, and the oil leaking that the bike was running stupid, and will clear up? I think ill check the seat... its an iteresting idea.
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The flooding of the crankcase with oil is not a good thing, but it happens when the check ball in the oil pump sticks open, That said I would still have a look at that carb:s
 
jsklari said:
Sure sounds like a carb issue to me. If it turns out not to be shorting out as Breeze3at mentioned i'd start looking at the carb, float ect..
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I agree with you there.
Old fuel,varnish buildup can cause this.
It did last year on the FXRS.I took the float bowl off and it was full of sediment and varnish.
At that point I pulled the carb and cleaned it properly.
I also drained and washed the tank out,then blew it out with compressed air,added a bit of laquer thinner to it swished it around then drained it and let it air dry before putting it back on.
The bike has run flawleessly ever since.
 
Also you might want to pick up a can of deep creek made by seafoam or even a can of seafoam and runner through the carb. Maybe put some seafoam in a spray bottle and start the bike and spay a mist directly into carb until it starts to die, do that a few time and see if it frees up any junk. sure can't hurt!
 
Pest889 said:
good, thanx for the confirmation of the oil :0) could it be cause the sitting, and the oil leaking that the bike was running stupid, and will clear up? I think ill check the seat... its an iteresting idea.
Click to expand...

What carb do you have?
 
hey Jack looks like a S&S Super. The bowl gasket looks homeade sealed, and kinda old looking in general. I has a pump on it, looks like to the one side of it, but I havnt seen where it gets the vacuum from yet...

you guys should check out the picture on my profile, shes a beaut at 30 yrs old! been bored out to 89ci
 
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