My 91 Sportster 1200 cuts out for a few seconds after about 5 -6 miles . It feels just like someone has turned the key off. I have checked the tank filter, fuel line , shut off and cleaned the carb but no difference. It usually dies for 5 to 30 seconds and restarts right away so I dont have any time to trouble shoot. Anyone out there have a common problem or any ideas??????? Thanks

 

Check you battery connections to see that they are tight.

 

yes battery terminals are tight

 

try doing it at night in a dark gagarge to look for blue spark around your coil, plugs and wires. Might have an intermittent mis fire.

 

I have a 2003 and have the same problem. Taken it in to two shops with no results. Items that I've replaced include the following: fuel petcock, screamin' eagle intake, battery, 42mm mikuni carb, spark plugs, drained gas, regularly serviced, and ignitiontimingplate. When I replaced the timing plate, I did have about two months of successful riding. However, I'm back to sqaure one, which leads me to believe that there is a related problem elsewhere.

 

I had the same problem with my old bike. I suspected it was dirt fouling up the carb. I put about half a bottle of Mystery Oil in the gas tank, ran it for about 10 min, and let it sit for a week. After that I started it up, let the engine get warm, reved it up a few times (red line) and went for a ride. It fixed the problem.

 

I rewired the bike this winter and found two possible causes. One was the tach wire had worn thur under the handlebar risers and the second more likely cause was the connector between the coil wire and the electronic ignition was in the connector but was not crimped, it pulled right out. I soldered all connections as I was replacing the stock bars with apes anyway. Ive put 2000 miles on it this spring and the problem is gone. Thanks for the help Dan

 

sometimes it the most simplest things that thwart our efforts.