Hello All,
New forum member with question.

I have a 1996 Sportster 883 with roughly 17,000 miles (5,000 or so have been put on her be me since last June), pretty much stock besides SE Air Cleaner Kit and Progressive 412 Shocks and Fork Springs.

I purchased the 883 last May and did a basic oil change, checked spark plugs and rode lightly because this is my starter bike, putting maybe 2,000 miles it just over the summer.

This year, we (mechanic/riding buddy) did another light tune up. Oil Change, Primary Fluid change, new suspension, changed fork oil, installed SE Air Cleaner Kit.

This year, I keep getting backfiring and engine cutting out at random times. It usually happens when deaccelerating. About a month or so ago, me and my lady was going to meet up with her family for lunch, and when we were cornering, it backfired and stalled. Maybe a week later, when I was riding into work in the morning, it stalled (lost all power, all lights turned off like I hit the kill switch) but without backfiring. It has done this a few times, usually about once a week. Just this morning, I was riding down the road on a straight away going about 30 mph and she backfired, then all the power cut out and stalled. I pulled to the side of the road and restart immediately. It restarts immediately when it stalls like this. A guy riding by saw me pull to the side of the road and heard the backfire and said it might be a ignition control module.

ANy ideas?

 

bumping for help.

 

Bad fuel? maybe...Do you use 93 octane...

 

i use 87 octane. I was thinking bad fuel. I ran a few tanks of Sea Form. Still getting backfires. I'm thinking it's electrical related because all the power cuts out. Meaning, the headlight, speedo drop, mileage not displayed. I have to turn the key to off and back to ignition to restart and it restarts right up.

 

First, recommended fuel is 91 octane. I don't believe it has anything to do with your issue, but it might.
The SE filter will make any lean situation worse unless rejetted. Sportsters are already lean as hell, espe at idle.
The real culprit here could be vibration, plug the electrical plugs apart, check for water/ dirt and corroded connector pins. Clean with acohol or brake clean reinstal with dialectric grease. I'd do it with every connection I could find on the bike. Check battery connections, clean and reinstall all connections, a loose cable can cause what you describe.
I would only replace the ignition module after checking all this out. FWIW Fastrider124

 

Yeah, electrical... forgot about the cutting off part...Sometin shortin somewhere....

 

hmmmm. sounds like we have some hunting to do. maybe something is vibrating loose.

 

last year, my mechanic buddy took my bike to get inspected and he unfortunated hit some sand and dumped my bike. does a 1996 sportster have a bank angle sensor that might have crapped out causing my bike cutting out?

if so, where is the bank angle sensor located?

 

ok. had mechanic check this for me. He tried the battery ground cable and changed the spark plugs. he got it back to me friday but with the rain we have had, it was able to ride it again until yesterday evening.

about 15 miles into the ride, i was sitting at a red light with the clutch hand grip engaged. about 30 seconds into the red light, all the power cut out again. sooo frustrating.