Ok, my buddy has a 883 sportster he just bought (not real sure of the year but pretty new). The problem he is having is he can crank the bike and ride it for a few miles with no probs, then kill it and let it sit for 45 minutes or so, then when he cranks it back up itll spit and pop through the carb not the exhaust just the carb. Then if he lets it sit for another 45 minutes and crank it back up itll run fine again. Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

 

Only at start up the coughing happens or is it while riding? Off idle or at cruising speeds? I would be inclined to look for an intake leak or maybe on eof the fuel circuits is too lean. But it's odd that for sitting the same amount of time, it would revert back to normal. If it is only doing it once it's good and warm and running better once it's cooled, depending on the year, it could be the CPS or ICM as well. Probably need more info to be more help but these are the things that come to mind based on what you described.

 

Get a service manual and look in the trouble shooting section about this issue. It is more than likely in the electrical system. The service manual will give you a few things to weed out as you pinpoint the problem.

 

Ok it's an 02 883XL. I was thinking maybe the crank position sensor but wasn't sure. I know the 05 sportsters had problems with them after they got hot.

 

If it's the crank position sensor, it's likely stored a trouble code indicating such.
See the Sticky thread at the top of this section on reading Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC's).

 

START WITH CHANGING THE SPARK PLUGS,,,,if it has the champ. plugs in there and it has been flooded with gas one time before,,the plugs maybe bad,,,champ. plugs are bad for that,,,thats where I would start at,,,I would allso go to the NGK plug,,,,thats what I'm running an had no problems with them,,,,yet,,,