I have been able to find many answers here to questions regarding my 2005 Sportster XLC. many thanks to those that have contributed to resolving issues that many riders experience.

Now, I have a problem that has me baffled. I have a DK Custom High flow air cleaner on my bike. I washed the bike yesterday and paid careful attention when spraying around the air cleaner and breather bolts. This morning I warmed the bike up as usual (idled fine), about 15 minutes and went to leave the house. When I shifted into gear and gave it throttle, the bike started to choke out as if it weren't getting any fuel. No matter how much throttle I gave the bike, it sputtered out and died. I got it back into the garage and parked it for the day. After work, I started the bike and it idled fine. When I gave it hard throttle, in neutral, it started backfiring through the carb and then the exhaust (a couple of times flames came out of the exhaust).

The bike was running just fine prior to washing it. All I can guess is that water got into the carb and is causing problems. If water did get into the carb, would it cause this much of a problem and how would I go about repairing the problem?

 

Never mind the post. A little patience, fresh spark plugs, cleaned the K&N air filter and put fresh gas in the bike today. Runs fine now.