So I offered to store my friend's 99 FLHR custom here in Florida when he got called up for a tour. Long story short --- his battery was way undersized and finally got a full sized one for it today. It hasn't start for the past 5 months. It had stabilize in the gas but the gas is probably a year old now, having started it monthly until the battery died.

The bike will NOT idle unless the choke is all the way out, even when warm.

Once the choke is OFF the bike dies UNLESS I'm giving it at least 1/2 throttle. Runs very strong at 1/2 to whole throttle. dies below that.

The bike ran and idled perfectly fine before the battery died and it sat for 5 months. So, from you all who store over the winter -- can you please help me debug this situation:

1. should I drain off the gas and refill with fresh? Can this happen entirely from stale gas?
2. should I remove the carb, disassemble and soak/clean the jets? Is this a good idea? do I need new gaskets or are the factory carb gaskets re-usable?

We had a used dirtbike that had racing gas dry/completely block the primary idle tube and we had to replace the jet because the opening was so small. Are FLHR carb idle jets small as well?

Thanks,
Tony

 

I would take apart the carb and completely clean it out. It's probably just a bit gummed up from having gas sitting that long.