Yes, even when engine off the accelerator pump nozzle should squirt gas. Unless your carb is completely run dry.

John

 

Good to know.
The carb shouldn't be dry, I opened the petcock for a while, but it doesn't squirt anything, so I suspect the diaphragm in the accelerator pump is bad.
Need to wait for a week to get that rebuild kit, hopefully next weekend to take care of this.
Thanks for the help, will post updates here.

 

it squirts when u twist the throttle if you dont wanna wait the dealer should have the diaphragm. when you get it all done to start bike cold pull the enricher (choke) all the way out twist the throttle 2-3 full turns hit the starter engine should fire right up instantly. with a full twist you should see a full squirt out of accelerator pump.

 

More trouble today. Went for a short ride and it suddenly started choking followed by a loud explosion and then it died. Wasn't able to start it again since the battery died after cranking a couple of times (charged it 3 weeks ago), so I am suspecting the rectifier might be bad and all that cranking drains the battery which is not charged.

Any idea what might be causing those explosions?

 

Fuel, compression, ignition. Let's get it started first. Assume compression is not the issue. Fuel or ignition. Charge the battery. You might have flooded it trying to restart.

I never twist the throttle to start. Cold start, pull the choke and hit the starter. Hot engine, just hit the starter. Don't twisty twist the throttle, it's completely unnecessary and you will likely flood it.

If you have a multimeter, once it starts check the voltage at the battery, should be 14V running. That's your rectifier and stator doing their job.

John

 

Battery charging now, it was down to 12.07V (last time after charging went up to 13 something). I do have a multimeter and will check the voltage once I get it running. Looking at the date on the battery, it's one year old (bought the bike 2 months ago, so it was installed by the previous owner), so it should be fine, but it's a little concerning that it died twice in the last month.

Regarding the throttle I usually twist it once or twice to start, being careful not to overdo it and flood it, otherwise it just cranks and nothing happens (when I twist it while cranking, it slowly reacts and fires up). Will try and just crank it next time without any throttle.
Didn't check the plugs today, but last week they looked fine (picture below), but I just ordered new Autolite 4164s to replace them since these are stock (19 years old with 5k miles).

 

Looks like it's running rich to me. That black "base ring" is where you should be looking. What jets do you have? How many turns out on your IMS? Those plugs look in great shape to me.

John

 

@John Harper should be labeled the HDF carb king!

 

I'm flattered, but hardly a king. Just a humble citizen of the realm.

John

 

Ha, I was looking at the tip of the spark plugs.

According to the seller, the carb should be all stock, but I can't be sure, never took it off. The bike was upgraded to 1200 at a Harley dealer some 18-19 years ago and they might have changed the jets, but who knows.
Will take it out next weekend and clean/rebuild it.
While I am there I am planning to remove the petcock and clean it as well, it must be dirty after so many years. I read online there is some vacuum line there, is there anything I need to do about it?