Hi I have a 1990 sportster 883. My bike has a tendency to randomly shut off during rides. It starts to spit and spudder with power loss then shuts off. I have to wait quite a while before it will restart. It happens randomly. One day after riding over 100 miles, and a different day after about 30 miles. Anybody have any ideas? Please help!!

 

Does it have spark when it will not start back up? That way you will know if you are chasing fuel or spark.

 

Overheating issue?...not a lot of info to go off of...

 

First do the most basic thing and check your battery cables, especially the ground cable. Make sure they are free of dirt and corrosion and tight. I've seen a loose ground on Sporty's causing the kind of problem you have.

 

I'm with Ed, next time it does it, check for spark. That will help diagnose what is failing.

No spark is ignition system, if it has spark, think fuel (lack of). YD

 

Your symptoms point to an overheating issue. You see this a lot with electronics and it is pretty common with desktop computers that are not properly vented. Basicall what happens is when the circuit board heats up the copper connections expand. If they expand too far they break causing the device to stop working properly. As soon as the circuit board cools back down the connection contracts and comes back together.

On your 1990 sportster I would look at your coil. That circuit most likely is what got damaged by heat. If it turns out that is the issue, replace the coil, but also figure out why it's getting hot and try to alleviate that issue as well.

 

check the battery cables for tightness, if that doesn't help then replace the main circuit breaker. it's cheep and easy to do.

 

replace the battery cables especially the smaller one off the positive terminal. Sounds like it could be a broken wire. Sometimes the break at the eye loop.