If this has been covered please point me in that direction. I am new to this site, 50 something year old women that is getting frustrated with my ride. Last fall had a little issue of what appeared to be carb loading up ? When I would slow to an idle bike would die unless I kept on the throttle a bit. Carb adjusted, finished the season. Started riding more and more this season, problem returned :-( took bike to mechanic. Completely gone over. New air filter, new plugs, cleaned gas completely out , new gas new intake manifold gaskets, carb off, carb cleaned, carb on, new fuel, carb off, get the picture??, new float, new needle, new slide, adj. air screw, carb on. Checked for any vacuum leaks ( none found) Thought the problem was fixed (mech rode it, let it idle forever, seemed to be ok) I have ridden 40-75 miles several times no problem. This past weekend rode over 100 miles from home and it all started again but worse. Still wanting to die at idle but now sounding bad and felt like a bucking bronc at pretty much any speed. Had to restart more than once in intersections and the last time blew out a large puff black smoke with no odor and rode with NO signs of any issue the last 30 miles home. From 15 mph to 70 mph. I am not able to do the work myself but do understand the workings of an engine and am looking for info to help guide my mechanic. HD dealership over 70 miles away and I would rather not take it there. Although parts are bought there. Ugly weather here so would like to get it in to shop asap. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

Gas tank/cap vent maybe building up pressure in tank after awhile riding.......that's all I got,hope you figure it out.

Best wishes,
Glock Man

 

Considered this, but since it did it at one point after filling up and didn't even make it 100 yards and it died again. Soooo beyond frustrated !

 

What year? Maybe crankshaft position sensor?

 

vacuum operated petcock sticking and starving it of fuel?

 

does this only happen when the bike is hot / running temp ???

if it only happens when warmd up or hot - i would check the ignition module
one way to check is , from cold start it let it run then use hairdryer to heat up the ignition module, if it stalls then thats ur prob

 

Thank you for your suggestion. Definitely something I can do on my own to eliminate. Mechanics too often want to guess at owners expense. Not all. I don't mean to be negative. Not hating on mechanics just speaking from experience and still have a problem.

 

+1
The crank position sensor makes a bike do really weird things when it goes bad. You wouldn't be the first one to tear a perfectly good carb apart, when the culprit is the sensor. Been there, done that. Cleaning the sensor didn't help. I had to replace it with a new one. In my case, I had another sensor in a different Sportster to use as a diagnostic tool (swapping the suspected bad sensor for a known good unit). Once I discovered what to check, it took about 20 minutes and the bike was good to go.
Crank Position Sensor part # 32804-04A.

 

Seen that more than a few times.

 

any update on your issue ?