I mentioned in here a couple of weeks ago about my '98 883 XL cutting out strangely and suddenly on a mountain uphill grade when I had been giving it full throttle for an extended period of time (10 to 15seconds or so). At that time I had no explantion for the cause, because I had never brought those two factors together on my bike before at the same time, and I thefore had no experience in the matter. I had taken a guess that perhaps it was the rev limiter or something.

It has bothered me since then, especially when I thought what might had happened had I been passing someone.

By chance, I read an oldSportster article dated from 1998, that I believe mentions the cause of the problem. Other Sportster owners and riders might also want to read and beware:

"Other things to consider (or not)...

...Fuel petcocks... the stock petcock, if in the on or reserve position shuts fuel flow off when manifold vacuum is zero... like when the engine isn't running... or when the engine is under heavy throttle application, at which time the fuel in the float bowl is used until vacuum returns. The stock petcock is a blessing to those of us who have parked with the petcock on and had all the fuel drain out of the tank onto the ground. Despite claims of the aftermarket suppliers, the stock petcock certainly flows enough fuel and/or there's enough fuel in the float bowl for a dyno run or 1/4 mile run... no data I've seen supports the need for more. However, the stock petcock does have one failing... on really long uphill grades with heavy load (like our 300# Pingel evangelist on his 883 :-) and/or heavy throttle application, vacuum may not come back in time to replenish the fuel bowl before it runs out. You can back off the throttle to let vacuum come back and fuel start flowing, but that may not be a good idea if an 18-wheeler's right behind you trying to maintain speed on the grade. So a non-vacuum, aftermarket has at least some merit. The overpriced Pingel is the most popular, and while it doesn't have the no-brainer shut-off and is rumored to be less reliable than the stock unit, it's very common and easy to get rebuild parts for. If you have a late model bike prior to mid/late-97, there may have been a recall on the stock petcock due to oxygenated gas damaging the rubber diaphragm. A dealer trying to use an aftermarket petcock to void the warranty would be on real thin ice..."

http://www.sportster.org/tech/basic-...rley-tax.shtml

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This is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago. I was on a long uphill grade while at the same time I was applying full throttle for awhile, and the next thing I knew my Sporty was 'dying' under me, like it wasn't getting any gas. I quickly reached for the petcock and checked to see if the gas was on properly (I had stopped about 5 miles back), and that wasn't the problem, and I was left to the mercy of having to pull off the side of the road while my bike burped and chattered and cut out, limping up to where my buddy had pulled over ahead of me to see what was wrong with me. When I got there, the bike soon regained its old self, and we rode away, and I backed off from giving it full throttle ever again the rest of that day and had no further problems and made it up the mountain just fine.

As I said, this could be very bad news for someone trying to pass on a mountain grade, and could have dangerous consequences. A definite fly in the oinment of Sportster petcocks, and Harley should send warnings out because of this, and a possible recall, IMO, if they haven't done so already (I never heard about one).

I'm going to be looking into taking care of this problem myself, in the near future, when I get the time, with possibly a Pingel kit as mentioned in the article, or a better one if they have one now for them. At least I know what the problem is now

 

Zeb,

Good stuff! - Great article! I remember your story and it looks like you nailed the cause. Thanks for sharing. It really gives one pause to think hard about an aftermarketnon-vacuum petcock, like I'm doing now.

Thanks again...

 

Hoped it helped. I thought it was definitely worth mentioning.

 

I can't locate the original post but someone here posted several months ago about this issue. They took the vacuum side of the petcock apart and reversed the diaphram inside the valve so that it free flowed and then plugged the vacuum line.

 

Thanks for the info on this; I'll look into it.

Anyone ever hear about any recall on this? I'd be surprised if there never was one, seeing the potential for litigation concerning this should some rider get hurt because of this.