On-going issues

I have a '98 Dyna. I bought it used from a local dealer in 2001, with about 9K miles on it. I have a 3.9 gallon gas tank and can get about 120 miles to the tank. I have just put a Stage 1 kit in it w/ a S&S Air Cleaner. I have white to tan color on my plugs, but the base of the electrode,threads, of both plugs are black and dry soot. The insides of my Slash-cut muffler pipes always get the same black soot at the ends. The manual says how to set the timing, but I have discovered that my timing is just about at the full advance position. The manual says running at too advanced can damage the motor. The bike seems to run fine on the road, except for the occasional backfire through the carb. No knocking,pinging. I thought rejetting would help. Any ideas?

Well, your mileage really sucks for one. My 04 Dyna gets a shade over 150 per 3.5 gallons, and I have a heavy hand. Something sounds strange, although I apologize cuz you already know that. Have you checked out what size jets you have vs what is supposed to be in there? Have you set the timing back to where it should be and tried that? I know that running it too far advanced produces alot of excess heat. What kind of plugs are you running? These are just some things that popped into my mind when I read your thread. Please give some more info and I'm sure somebody else will chime in with some other suggestions.

Thanks for the reply V,

I just put the new stage 1 kit. The paperwork said to use the #46 idle and #185 Main. This is one up from stock, or what was in it. Unless it is at almost full advance, the bike runs like crap. I have one of those LCD oil caps that tell me the oil temp. On a hot day iit is around 185 degrees. I run screaming eagle plugs EVS13P. I have tried champion and the stock plugs. All about the same. I was told to put in 93 octane too, when I bought it from the dealer.

I am by no means an expert on these things, but something just ain't right... Did you try setting the timing to where it belongs first and see how it runs? Any intake leaks? How about the air/fuel screw on the carb? After looking at all of these, I'd try a re-jet, starting with the stock jets and going from there. It may help to set everything back to stock and move on from there. Hope this helps. And I hope you can get your bike running normally again...

I am with mwelych....you need to get back to square one I think. I am no expert by any means either but you need to start somewhere. If it only runs at full advance, something is definitely wrong. I am wondering if something inside the motor is out of whack. I had a car once that had the same problem, it turned out that the distributor was off by a tooth or something. I don't know if bikes can have that situation though. Hopefully Reese, Ken, or one of the other guys will chime in soon. (sorry dudes, I couldn't list all the guys who know their sh*t, there's alot of them hanging around here) Does anybody know if the cam chain could jump? Sorry I can't be of more help......

Thanks for the replys guys. I am starting from scratch. Will let you know how it turns out.

The stock idle jet is a #45 and the main is usually a #185. With the stage 1 air cleaner and a less restrictive exhaust I usually put in a #48 jet with 2 1/2 turns on the mixture screw and a 190 main although the #185 can work without leaning out on the top end. reset your timing, full advanced is not a good thing on a relatively stock EVO. You should be seeing around 42-45 MPG.

Glad you chimed in on this one VYBR8ER, I was hoping you would.