Title: motorcycle shocking me
Description: electric shocks
Lusso5 - September 20, 2005 07:02 PM (GMT)
My XJ700 started giving me an electric shock to my left knee. Nothing really bad. I can't replicate it when I need to, and it happens when accelerating, decelerating, and cruising. Happens about once every 5 min., or so.
A new one for me - anyone ever heard of this?
woot - September 20, 2005 07:16 PM (GMT)
nope - that is a strange one.
Strange - is that a point of contact with the bike? What does your left knee touch? I assume the gas tank.
what about the spark plug wire on the left side - it comes near the tank - perhaps it is grounding on the side of the tank? That'd be way more frequent you'd think.
I can't think of anything of a high enough voltage other than that to give a shock - although putting a something accidentally across the posts can be pretty exciting.
Are the rubber grommets on the battery and it's termals, and mount wires?
Please tell us what you find - this one is a new one to me!
Jim W - September 20, 2005 09:07 PM (GMT)
I think it has to be the high voltage side of the coil (spark plug wires). 12 volts won't give you a shock, and I don't think there's anything else besides plug wires at more than 12 volts. Even if the regulator went...you usually can't feel much below about 40 volts (unless you have a cut, in which case a band-aid is what you need next).
Jim
Lusso5 - September 20, 2005 09:20 PM (GMT)
Feels like it is coming off the left-rear edge of the valve/head cover.
Checked under the seat when I got home, and there were no exposed connections/wires.
woot - September 20, 2005 09:45 PM (GMT)
The starter/etc is in that area - and so are the spark plug cables... the thing with a spark plug wire is that if it really shorted hard then you'd feel the bike miss... so the starter area is a possibility... the charging system is there as well.
winterhawk - September 22, 2005 05:48 AM (GMT)
Replace your spark plug caps with NGK ones sold in most bike shops. They look really cool also.
TaZMaNiaK - September 25, 2005 07:43 AM (GMT)
You probably have cracked insulation on one of the plug wires. Cracked insulation causes voltage leakage, which is what'll zap you. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to replace the wire, you have to replace the entire coil pack. The coils are under the gas tank, so pull that off and check the plug wires carefully. Also make sure the coil packs themselves are not damaged..
Jim W - September 27, 2005 03:18 AM (GMT)
Take a look at the lower right corner on this page; there are two articles on replacing the ignition wires:
http://www.surenet.net/~verhey/Jim