I have just picked up a 91 heritage and had filled the tank up. Today riding it started to sputter a bit so I reached down and put it on reserve.bat that it ran fine. Pulled in and filled her up and it took a little over 2 gallons to fill it. Is it normal to need reserve with that much gas left in it or is something a miss?

 

If you did actually start with a full tank, something other than fuel level probably caused the sputtering.

 

I filled it myself. No sputtering after fill up set back to the on setting. Weird!

 

If it happens again try to identify the conditions present:
Steady speed
Accelerating
High/low RPM
Engine hot/cold
Straight
Turn
...


It could be numerous things:
Trash in the fuel tank/carb float bowl
Bad coil
Loose coil wire
Loose plug wire
Bad spark plug
Dirty fuel filter
...

 

I think mdm may be correct that I'm not getting the tank fill. Will fill up again tomorrow as it looks like more will fit with the bike up right. Maybe I need some training on the dual filler caps!

 

Just fill both tanks until visually full

 

Just put the bike on the jiffy stand, it does not need to be vertical to fuel it up.

I always fuel the low side tank first (left tank), put the cap on and then fuel the right side tank.

Is there an external fuel filter in the fuel line?

If so, get rid of it.

 

if it keeps doing it you may need to clean the screen on the fuel valve and or drop the carb bowl an check for debris.

you may also need to change the fuel line if it looks old.

 

I just assumed that the tank was one open space I didn't realize it was separated? I filled from the high side and I guess it balanced out and the tank was not completely full?

 

tank lift installed? Just thought I'd add.