Hey all!

Want to start off by saying sorry if this is in the wrong section, I'm new to this forum.
This is my first Harley let alone my first bike and I have no knowledge when it motorcycle mechanics.
I've tried to look and search for threads on this issue but I just wanted to confirm and get some more insight before I dump money into my bike.

A little back story, I got my bike (1996 Harley Davidson Sportster XL883) maybe a month ago bone stock from a used dealer. They sold it to me certified and it ran well when I rode it home.
It was obviously used and had 19k miles on it. One thing that I thought was weird was that the bike would sometimes die or feel like it would die at redlights. For a temporary remedy I would pull out my choke maybe halfway and it would shoot back up to regular idle rpm. So the ride from dealership to my house I rode with the choke a little bit out. I also smelled a strong smell of gas while riding or idling. When I got home I read threads that said it might be a carb issue? From here on out I only rode short rides and didn't push my engine.

Fast forward to this past weekend. A friend of mine, really want to see my new bike and I thought it would be ok to drive up north for a quick visit. (He lives around 30 miles away). I stopped for food, started the bike up and everything was fine but when I was stopped at a light I noticed SLIGHT whitish bluish smoke. It was night time and the only reason I think I was able to see it was because from the cars headlights behind me, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed it. I got to his place hung out for a bit and went to start up my bike again to go home, but it rev'd up to 4000 rpms. Yikes. It was really cold that night so I thought maybe if I just let it warm up a bit, it would idle back down to normal. It didn't, so I pushed the choke back in halfway and the idle rpm went down so I tried to get back home so I could resolve this issue. As I was on my way home I noticed while I was riding that on deceleration I would almost hear what I think was a "popping sound". It happened whenever I let off of the throttle, even if it was a little bit. The bike would also stutter and I would feel lose of power for a second. At this point I was just around the corner from getting home when I noticed that my bike sounded like a sewing machine and I started to freak out. (I later googled this and some people said it was normal for sportsters and some said its not?) The bike would also rev up to 3-4k rpms whenever I pulled my clutch in and changed gears. Thank god I got home, I parked my bike. I couldn't work on it or check for anything since it was late. The next morning I set an appointment with the local bike shop and they said they could only take me Wednesday, which is today. So I said to myself ok thats fine, I just won't ride my bike until then. The next day I go to check on my bike and see if it would run. It did turn over and fire but it sounded like it was running like crap so I turned it off.

So today being the day I have to bring it in, I go to start it again and now it won't start at all. I turn the fuel petcock to on, pull out my choke, turn the ignition, push the killswitch it on and try to start it but it won't turn over.
I can hear the engine trying to start but it won't fire.
I took out my spark plugs and cleaned them a bit then went to start it again and it fired up for a second then died again.
I let the mechanic know I wouldn't be able to make it today as my shift started soon and I couldn't wait for a tow.
So now I'm at work worrying that I messed up my bike.

I know I shouldn't have rode my bike anymore after that I suspected it was my carb and it might be running lean but I figured I could ride a bit before I brought it in as long as I didn't push it. Stupid mistake by me.
So my question is, what do you guys think is the issue? Do you think its a gunked up carb? What damage could have I caused?
Again, sorry if this post is in the wrong section and sorry for writing a novel for my diagnostic. I'm just freaking out because I hope I didn't damage my first bike in the first 3-4 weeks of owning it and I having to to do a rebuild or something.

I've included a video of me trying to start it up after cleaning the plugs
and photos of the Spark Plugs after I took them out and before I cleaned them.

Spark Plugs

TLDR;
-Bought used bike from dealer
-Ran well but died idling at redlights
-Had to run most of the time with choke slightly out
-Bike started to rev to 4k rpm on cold start up idle
-Sewing machine sound, gas smell, slight whitish bluish smoke noticeable at night
-Bike will no longer start
-Cleaned plugs and got little signs of life

 

 

hummm sounds like a sewing machine?? mated with a honda and never will go back!!!


a real good place to post would be the XLFORUM specific for sportsters.
are you planning on doing some trouble shooting, a set of inline spark testers are handy and known good battery are a start. if you have solid spark, make sure you have fuel, vacuum petcock is functioning and you have good fuel flow. if the machine will run with fuel spritzed into the carb, check internal trash in carb. manifold leak can cause high rev's. sometimes, the ign if in the cam case will fail with heat, spark tester.
bad wiring especially grounds and fuse boxes are notoriuos culprits.