Hi all,

I have read many things in this forum quite useful about the sporster start up procedure and the use of the enricher **** and how bad it is for your engine (plugs?) if you run your engine "too rich".

I have a question I would like to ask to you:
The weather is cold, about 35 F, so you have to start up your bike with the enricher fully pulled out. The trips you are doing are short, around 2 miles, on and going, let's say everyday. At the end of the trip, if you follow strictly the warm up procedure you would still have the enricher **** pulled out , about a half when you stop the engine, right? As a result, you end up using the bike ONLY with the enricher on.
Are those small trips during cold weather harmfull for the sporster?
Thanks

 

Too much enricher is not a good thing for any bike/motor. It can cause fouled plugs, oil dilution , some cylinder wash down to an extent and poor mileage too. It's best if you can warm it up without the enricher using the throttle lock but if you have to ride right away , the enricher can't be avoided to reduce drivability issues. Only use as much as you need. If you push it in and it runs OK, leave it in.

 

Even though you are on a short hop, within a minute or so, you should be able to move the enricher to the half position and within another couple of minutes, you can move the enricher all the way in. The bike may cough a little at times but that's OK.

 

My trip are long 5-10 minutes, and with such temperatures, when I try to put the EK all the way in when I almost arrive, my bike coughs as hell and nearly shuts down in the middle of the traffic javascript:void(AddText('[:@]')). I have to end my trips with EK half and I have to throttle up!
Maybe I should idle more than 2 minutes after the start up, before I leave?? Or maybe should I have the minimum adjusted by the dealer (Sportster 2006, and 200 miles).

 

Sounds like you could use a little fuel enrichment, being it's an 06 they run very lean. The idle mixture screw would help a big bunch if it were richened up or even one size bigger on the low jet.

 

Hello lucospock

In the beginning a had this problem too..

but since I turned up a little bit the turnarounds per minutes i never had the proplem so often..

Here in Centralswitzerland its at the Moment around -5° Celsius. and the motor still works when you start slowly..

Ralph

Zug, Switzerland

 

This is a good point. And running lean can be caused by recent mods (like air cleaner and/or pipes) that weren't compensated for with a carburetor rejet. I also see that you're (lucospock) from Geneva, where the altitude is about 1200' above sea level, and the altitude combined with the cold weather would cause you to run leaner. If you are running lean, you need to consider adjusting using the idle mixture screw (turn out to run richer) and/or going to bigger slow speed jet. In any event, as has been said, you should be able to get started with the enrichener **** full out and only having to leave it that way for a couple of minutes before pushing it back in halfway, waiting a bit, and then full in. Hope this helps!

 

I don't understand how the enrichner stays out. When I ride in cold weather, I start it up with the EK all the way out, as it warms up, I push it in some, after I begin to ride , about a half mile or so down the road I check and the EK is all the way in/open. If it is real cold I always reach down and pull it out some so bike will idle at my next stop?

 

In regard to high altitude making bike run leaner im confused.Just read an article on tuning 101 on xlforum an it said just like a person has trouble breathing in high altitude so does your bike.At sea level you have higher barometric pressure which means more oxygen in a given amont of air so bike will run leaner as altitude increases less oxygen an bike runs richer.The person who wrote this is the main author on tuning,is he right on his assumptions.

 

I'm not sure I understand all I know about this subject.