Topic: What the heck?

[XN]

I got 2 questions. There is a round thing with wires coming out of it laying on the lower tripple tree about 1.5" in diameter and about an inch thick with a mesh grill on one side. Looks almost like an old speaker or something. No its not the horn. What the heck is it?

Second I noticed a spark while driving tonight near the lower triple tree clamp on the right fork leg looked to change with engine RPM can't tell if its just a reflection or what. I see no bare wires near that area. Any ideas?

[Hush]

The FBI have bugged your bike, they are probably just trying to find out what model, year and make!

[javahut]

FBI are idiots, the round thing is the turn dignal "beeper" to remind you to shut the damn thing off, and the sparks are form some bare wire shorting itself and killing your battery.

[mattcb350f]

I got 2 questions. There is a round thing with wires coming out of it laying on the lower tripple tree about 1.5" in diameter and about an inch thick with a mesh grill on one side. Looks almost like an old speaker or something. No its not the horn. What the heck is it?

  Might help if we knew what bike, or a pic. Probably the beeper though.

Second I noticed a spark while driving tonight near the lower triple tree clamp on the right fork leg looked to change with engine RPM can't tell if its just a reflection or what. I see no bare wires near that area. Any ideas?

If it is a spark from the engine, it should do it while parked too. Try running the bike in the dark in neutral while watching that area and givin'er the revs.

Sometimes lights from other vehicles will 'glint' of the chome bits too.

 Matt.

[754]

Its a BEEPING part....

[XN]

Oops I hate it when I do that! Sorry its a 78 750K. 

The sparks happen with no other cars around... Yea I'll have to check more, but I'm still at a loss I don't see any wires around there that look bad at all.

Turn signal beeper huh... Thanks wonder if it works...

[bistromath]

Sometimes plug wires will jump to the frame if the insulation is old. Mine do it when wet.

[dustyc]

Acid flashback?

[XN]

Acid flashback?

Na I was in diapers most of the 70's

Sometimes plug wires will jump to the frame if the insulation is old. Mine do it when wet.

That could be... Ignition was my first thought being it went with the engine speed. Wonder why it would show up at that point?

[bradweingartner]

Ignition wires jumping through insulation usually happens first when the bike is under load. When the bike is light on load, the path of least resistance might still be accross the plug-gap. As you load up the engine a little more, the insulation starts to look more appealing. Over time, that arching will wear out the insulation even more and it will happen more frequently.

Not at all uncommon. Try re-routing your wires away from metal a little more, or wrap it with appropirately sized rubber hose, cut lengthwise as an interim solution. Ultimately though you'll want to replace the leads.

[XN]

probally some of the cause of my slow engine acceleration....

Whats the best route to go for new plug wires? Can I just go with some 7mm automotive wire and reuse the stock ends? 

[Jonesy]

You'll want to use copper-core wire. New plug ends probably wouldn't hurt, either and they are easy to get.

As for replacing the wires, that can be a bit of a trick. The wires are molded directly into the coils, so you have 3 options:

1) purchase 4 NGK ignition wire splicers and use them to attach the new lengths of wire,
2) Cut away some of the plastic on the coil body to dig out the old wire (there is a post with pictures on how to do this somewhere on this site)
3) Purchase a set of coils that have removable wires, I.E. from a GoldWing.

[dusterdude]

shoot guys,its a k8,only god knows what kind of crap they do.

[XN]

Man you guys are hard on the K8's  Guess they are kinda like the Mustang II's of the CB world huh?

Good news I found the source it was that darn turn signal speaker shorting out on the fork tube 

[fuzzybutt]

Man you guys are hard on the K8's  Guess they are kinda like the Mustang II's of the CB world huh?

Good news I found the source it was that darn turn signal speaker shorting out on the fork tube 

hey now, watch what you say about mustang II's i had one with an injected 351w and a 5 speed tremec.

[XN]

Man you guys are hard on the K8's  Guess they are kinda like the Mustang II's of the CB world huh?

Good news I found the source it was that darn turn signal speaker shorting out on the fork tube 

hey now, watch what you say about mustang II's i had one with an injected 351w and a 5 speed tremec.

We won't hold it against you. 

[dustyc]

Yeah, the K7 and K8 are different looking(and somewhat mechanically), so they catch some flak.  Lots of us cool people have them though.