Ummmm don't think anybody said that's what it was, just that there was a similar thread with other trouble shooting suggestions. Whatever it is, hope he's back on the road soon.

 

Been sitting for 3 years ?
Clear out the tank and fuel system . Drain everything , pour a can of Sea Foam into a full tank of fresh fuel , restart , let run to clean .

 

I'm with him. If it slowly died it sure sounds like piston rings giving up the ghost.

 

Rings generally don't "give up the ghost". If the compression is low and (or) it is smoking when he gets it running, then I could see them being stuck in the grooves. Bike sits forever, Dude's riding, piston grows, rings stick in the freshly loosend muck living in the grooves, compression peters out...... 4 hrs sounds about right.The re-cleaning of fuel system is also good info.... that schmeg in the tank has a sneaky way of reurfacing if he only drained the tank and refilled with fresh fuel! And yes, I know it won't run with ether! Even with spark "inconsistent" and yellow, it should pop ant fart with ether.
CHECK COMPRESSION if low: put about 1/4 cup kerosene in each cylinder and let soak 24 hrs. Crank starter to blow out holes... use an old towel over the jugs so you don't blow it all over the place. Then blow out cylinders with compressed air. Get bike running and warmed up and take it out @ 4000 rpm and "blow the cobs out of it". Then change the oil.

 

Harley engines are no different than radial engines in aircraft, just less cylinders. Rings don't catastrophically fail most of the time, and the symptom is loss of compression over time, not overnight.

 

I totally agree FlyBD5. And it would be very uncommon for both cylinders to go at the same time. I cannot believe that an engine that was running would quit from loss of compression on both cylinders at the same time.

 

Actually loss of compression can happen in an instant from rings

 

Only if they break and then you are in no doubt as to what happened.....I agree that if it was running then the rings are unlikely to be the issue.

 

You can pinch a ring land, burn a ring, etc... It usually doesn't happen instantly but is happening for some time before you'd know it with loss of compression

 

check compression and it is the same in both cylinders about 110. which i heard thats ok. had the local shop test my voes switch and it is working as well. The old guy at the shop told me all i have left is my ignition mod. soooo i yanked it off and bought a points conversion for 45.00. an ignition mod plus wiring would be about 300+. But, i have never worked w points so im in another bump in the road.... trying to set static timing now..
Matt