My 91 was runnin like a champ then I took it in for a tune up and today ..... Broke down.

I rode around 40 miles and it started gasping for air like the gas was turned off. Then it died. I let it cool a bit and it went a miles and did it again. It did this about 4 times before I called a friend for a tow...... Any ideas? Good having a Harley better having friends!

I posted a picture of absolute depression

 

Couple of reasons I can come up with ... nothing serious I think.

Bad gas, clogged fuel filter, tank vent blocked (you can check by opening filler cap a bit and see if it stalls again), vacuum pet **** not working properly ...

 

Did it break down before this problem?? If not take it back to whom ever did the work and tell them to fix it!!! It could be 100 reasons from ECM to vapor lock. Give more details and we can go from there. What did they do for a tune up?

 

Yep, agreed. Could be anything, but I agree with Rakthi that you should check for vapor lock and a bad "petcock" , first. Mine did this a few months ago, and I drove myself crazy for a steady 14 hours, before I realized bad petcock. Mine was one of the stock petcocks that HD started using that uses the rubber diaphram for "vacuum operated" use. I took the back off, flipped the diaphram and put the spring on the opposite side. That did the trick and the bike fired right up. I felt really silly, because the simplest solution was seemingly the last thing that I checked. AIR, GAS, AND SPARK..got to have 'em...start looking for the easiest things that can go wrong, and work toward the harder stuff!

 

What the “mechanic” did:
• Put in oil
• Worked on the electrical to make the blinkers blink instead of staying solid. Didn’t fix it said without front directionals that it wasn’t pulling enough juice to blink
• Turned up the idle time (I wish it was the way it was if it’s easy to turn down….. It’s too fast now)
• Checked the air filter
That’s about it……

 

and also as far as taking it back to the guy and making him fix it. Even before this happened I was VERY uncomfortable with him messing with my bike just on visual inspection of his shop and his lack of knowledge without his manual. I won't be going back to him even for free.

 

Does a '91 have an ECM? (I don't think so...)

On your year of bike, I'm not sure that the bogus vacuum petcocks were installed by HD, but if they were, that is exactly what this sounds like. You can tell by looking at your petcock and if there is a 'compartment' on the back side of the petcock with a small hose running to it then Outlaw 1969 and Rathki are right on. And, like Rathki said, remove your gas cap to make sure your tank is getting vented... but there isn't much to mess that up unless the mechanic pinched it shut or someone melted the one way valve on the tail end of the vent hose.

I have also heard that the vacuum hoses get pin holes in them (or they dry rot). You may have to replace the hose... cheap enough to do just to be safe, anyway.

C#

 

it's an aftermarket petcock with flames on it. not sure of brand.