I just acquired a 2000 Heritage Springer with a high compression 105 ci Screaming Eagle engine, Screaming Eagle six speed transmission, as well as a Screaming Eagle cone air cleaner. When I start it, I always press the two decompression *****, turn on the gas, pull in the clutch, and may, or may not have it in neutral. Every now and then I might get a back fire. I have been advised that I should not have the clutch in, and that I should pull the choke. Should I pull the choke even with a bike that has been running for a while? ..and would having the clutch in be a contributing factor on the back firing?

 

I am still trying to get my head around this issue. During a recent run, I was doing 70 mph on the freeway when I heard a couple of loud back fires. My wife, who was following behind, said that she saw flames coming out of my exhaust. The bike acted like it was out of gas and hesitated, but as I was about to pull to the side of the road, the engine gained power again. I kept on going but kept it at 60 mph and had no other problems. Later, during a fuel stop, it developed a loud clanking at shutdown, which appeared to be caused by the Compensator. Are these issues related? Could the back fire also involve the Stator. or both?

 

If the voltage is dropping low that could indeed cause ignition problems.