Alright, here's the deal. (I searched and couldn't find any info that helped)

As mentioned in my intro thread, my father gave me his 1990 1200. It hasn't been run in about 1 1/2 years and he didn't really maintain it well. It has roughly 33K on it, and always ran well for being poorly maintained. I have-

Put in a new battery
new air filter
plugs and plug wires
drained the tank and filled with fresh 92 octane
new fuel lines

Now it turns over but won't start. I have verified that it has spark at both cylinders. Gas is reaching the carb. Gas squirts into the carb when turning the throttle. It has gas fire and air.

When checking the plugs, they are very very faintly covered in gas. It doesn't look like it is flooding, in fact it doesn't seem to be getting enough gas. I have put a little gas in each cylinder and even that doesn't fire.

Another note- when I checked the oil (first thing I did), it was almost 2 quarts low. I don't see any leaks so I presume he was running it like that, as he didn't know how to check it.

I would appreciate any help!

Also, what is this thing, I can't find any info on it-




Here she sits-

 

The thing is a crank case breather filter they go for about 12 to 14 bucks and you need to change it, try cleaning the jets.

 

+1 on cleaning the carb out. the Acclerator pump might be good but your jets / Pilot jet might be all pluged up. When I got my 2000 sporty I had a float that was all pluged up so I stripped the whole carb and sure enough a few holes in the Pilot tube were pluged. good luck and let us know when it fires up

 

This isn't going to help your starting problem, but before you go any further, you may have way overfilled the oil tank. When a Sportster sits for a period of time, it's very common for the oil to drain down out of the tank and into the motor sump. This is the reason that the Service and Owners manuals call for the oil level to be checked when it's hot/warm.

Are you sure the plug wires didn't get crossed?

And +1 on cleaning the carb.

 

I'll check the carb tomorrow. For the amount of cranking I've done, it doesn't seem to be flooding. The plugs are only very slightly wet after trying to start it. Plug wires are definately not crossed. And the fuel is on too, although I haven't tried to start it on Reserve, if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

 

You do have the enrichner (choke) pulled out, right?

 

Affirmative on that. Dumb question, but does the clutch have to be pulled in to start? Is there a safety switch or something that requires that?

 

If your plugs are wet then something else is going on. Like said are you "chokeing" it? another mistake I see is people. "pump" the throttle before cranking on it. Still wouldn't hurt to clean the carb out good. What did you gap your plugs at too? should be at .040 Ive seen HD plugs out of the box with the gap opened up to .060 enen though they tell you there pre gaped at .040. once those plugs are wet they won't fire no matter how long you crank on it.

 

No, just make it's in neutral......and yeah I've done that LOL

 

The plugs aren't really wet, just a very faint odor of gas on them, nothing even remotely visable. I didn't pump the gas trying to start it. I did not gap the plugs, I just threw them in. I'll check that first thing tomorrow, thanks. It's still sitting in his garage.

Can I the jets out with the carb still in the bike? I'm handy with a snowmobile carb, etc., but this one doesn't look like those!

Appreciate the help gents.