Hi All,
Just joined the forum.
Thanks to all for your welcome messages.
From my introduction you will see that I am about to help out a friend here in Ireland sort out an intermittent problem with his 1990 ELECTRA GLIDE CLASSIC (FLHTC). Before I get ''stuck in'' I want to have as much information such as schematics etc to hand before I start as he seems to think the problem is with the electrical system. Documents such as schematics seem to be plentyful for HD's so thats a big help to start with.The reported problem with is that it starts no problem when cold but when hot it may not start again, however this evening he reported that the bike would not start and that it flooded with petrol ( gasoline in the US ). I had him check for spark with a good plug outside the cylinder and he reported back that a spark was present. I want to investigate why it flooded this evening. Maybe the carb is over filling and this is the original fault. I only have experience on old British bikes as a hobby but the HD's cant be that much different, I hope.
Any suggestions or advise is appreciated.

 

I always shut the petcock to prevent possible overflow in the carb when I stop the bike for a break. Maybe something to try?

 

Stuck / Saturated float ?? What's the oil smell like ?

 

Thanks Uncle Larry for your reply.
I will be at my friends place tomorrow and do some checks. He admits that he is zero technical so the information I getting from him is all over the place.
When you refer to the ''smell of the oil'', I presume I am sniffing the engine oil for the presence of gasoline if flooding is taking place.

 

My suspicions were confirmed.
I called around to the bike today and was told that gasoline was all over the floor this morning so it is overfilling / flooding ok. I removed the float bowl to find some sort of debris in the bottom despite the owner being told by a chap that recently serviced it that the carb was cleaned out during a recent service. The float looks good but I think it would be wise to order a service kit ( if available ) which will include a float, float cutoff needle and rubber gasket which seals the bowl to thhe carb body. I found the remains of something like silicone on the rubber gasket, so I guess someone had tried to stop the petrol from leaking in the past.
I did not remove the carb at this point. Any advise or suggestions is appreciated.

 

Thanks glider.
I do the same on my old BSA. Just in case.

 

Remove the carburetor and rebuild it.
Replace all fuel hoses.
Remove the petcock and check/clean the screen.

 

Thanks Dan,
I see kits for sale on plenty of sites. I will order one up and fit . I also came across the setup procedure for the float level adjustment which I intend to follow.

Will post my results here.

 

Amazon have lots of kits.
Spare parts seem to be very reasonable price wise.

 

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Ok so if it starts cold but has issues hot check the nose cone... If not original rivets or wax melting out you may have bad ignition control module..... If backfiring check for intake leaks... This is the first for some other issues also... This year is the first after the spline shafts... it also can only have a starter from 1990 to 1994 do to the locations of the posts and wire location..... Also the 1989 and 1990 were know to be under rated on the wiring and charging system... I have mine taking care of now but these years are known to flicker on the lights especially when hitting turn signals.... I updated mine with fuses but eventually went back to breakers.... I used led as much as possible and am using a DB electrical for stator and voltage regulator.. I'm still running a 30 amp system and have removed flickering ........ By now you already realized the oil filter is directly Infront of the rear tire. Make sure when putting it on that if possible secure the bolt between starter and oil filter.... Also the brown wire by the main breaker and starter relay is underrated and I added in a better wire.... Also.. these are bottom breathers and not top. Make sure to clean out your metal screen in your oil line and make sure the check valve ball bearing is still in place. His seat is a two bolt and can be updated with a Newer seat if he is willing to drill his fender