I am new to the motorcycle world and looking for some help. I just bought my first 1998 1200 XL Sportster about a month ago. It runs fine going too and from work about 10 to 15 miles both ways. I have taken it out two times just to go for a long ride and both times it has died on me. The first time it died was around the 25 mile mark. I was just starting from a stop light and it died going around the corner. I manged to get it started back up and got 2 blocks and it started to misfire and died again. This time I was unable to start it back up. After sitting for about 30 to 40 min I was able to get it started again and was able to drive it about a mile and it died.

I brought it into a Harley Dealer and they were unable to find anything wrong with it, after taking it out for a ride three different times. They thought it may have happened due to low gas or bad gas. I filled the bike up 2 gallons (it is a 3 gallon tank).

The next weekend I took it out again for another ride and at about 20 miles the engine lost power, then had a small surge of power and died again. This time i was unable to get the bike started. It still had power such as lights, blinkers, and horn. When I would try to start the bike it would turn and turn and turn but would never start. Same as last time I sat around waiting for my ride for about 45 min and when my ride showed I was able to get the bike started long enough to get it into the trailor. This time I had to give it some gas to get it started.

I dont know if this could be part of the problem but both days were hot and humid days.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Sounds as if you are loosing either fuel or spark.

Depending on the model year of your 1200 it's either a carbureted engine or it's an EFI. If it's a carbureted engine, could be a clogged gas cap or tank petcock strainer. Can you verify fuel supply to the carb when the problem is present. If fuel supply is good, might have to verify the ignition is working. I think the problem is going to be in one of these two areas.

If it's an EFI engine, look for stored DTC's (diagnostic trouble codes), which will point you to the problem area. Again, it could be a problem with the fuel pump (or other fuel supply issue) or loss of ignition. I understand there are a couple of relays that fail often and can cause the starter not to work or fuel pump I think. These relays are interchangeable, making it easy to pin down a bad relay if the problem appears to be in this area.

You could also have a bad (intermittent) crank position sensor or possibly an issue with the bank angle sensor. Something here ought to generate a DTC you could read from the speedometer unit.

Welcome. I know you will really enjoy your new scoot once you get it sorted out. These are some seriously fine motorcycles.

 

Also, check to see if your battery terminals are on tight and check to see if the grounds are good.

 

Mine did that and it was the ignition module even though it tested good replaced no problem anymore.

 

You know about the reserve switch on the fuel tank right?

 

i had this same problem about 2 weeks ago, IGNITION COIL was bad. 35 bucks and about a 5 minute fix.

 

+1 on it most likely being an issue at the coil. Mine had the exact same issue that the OP is describing a few years ago, and it turned out that the 90* connections going to the coil would heat up and wouldn't contact to the studs properly.......I pulled the connectors, gave them a good squeeze to tighten the connector up and re-attached them. It fired right back up, and good to go ever since.

 

yepp.... thinking you can rule that out.....

 

Yeah, but you might as well rule out the whole damn post.

 

Check all of your vacuum lines including the one to the VOES switch. You may also have a bad petcock diaphram, it works off of vacuum too. If there is no vacuum, you will get no fuel out of the tank.