SHOCKED

I'm not sure why I did this, but on my way home from work today I decided to touch the spark plug wire for cylinder 4 which has been giving me problems. I was idling at a stop light, touched the wire and got zapped. The current traveled through me (giant resistor) all the way to my pinkie on my left hand where it was making contact with my clutch lever and completing the circuit.

Is it safe to say my ignition wires are no good if this happens?

 

well, if there is wire exposed through the rubber.... yeah, thy're bad...

 

there is no wire exposed. visually they look just fine.

 

Perhaps a bad connection at the wire-to-plug cap interface........check the "boots" where the cap accepts the wire.

 

Why don't you see if the Wires are breaking-down.
Run the Bike in the dark and see if there's a light show of current seeking a Ground.

Use a wooden Yard or Meter Stick to move the wires close to the Frame or Head.

I wouldn't risk grabbing one of those 30-year old wires, again, unless you want smoke to come pouring-out of your ears, again!

 

if you got zapped on a plug wire, it's no good, period

 

Are XJ plug wires off the shelf or obsolete or get from LEN?

I remember reading about ripping apart old wires and partially making new ones...

 

I think so too.

Rickcomatic reminded me of a method to check for bad ignition wires.

In a dark environment, use a spray bottle to spray a mist of water onto the wires while the bike is running. If you can see arcing you have bad ignition wires.

 

It looks like I have two options for wires.

Should I get the already semi fabricated ones or start from scratch?

Also, it looks like the semi fabricated ones are 0 ohm, so would that mean I would have to run resistor plugs?

 

You simply want to maintain the TOTAL system resistance at whatever the factory rating is. You can't do much about what the coils themselves are rated at, so outside of the coils, you have three choices of where the resistance can be added:

a) the plug wires
b) the plug caps
c) the plugs


The 550's require 10K (10,000) ohms of resistance in each wire/cap/plug circuit (outside of the coils themselves). You can achieve this 10K of resistance thru any combination of component pieces; however, it may be simpler to use zero-restance wires, and then use either:

1) 10K plug caps and 0-ohm (non-resistor) plugs (this is the method that was originally used). This is achieved by using new factory plug caps (which are 10K ohms) or rebuilding the stock plug caps (if you have the originals) with new 10K ohm resistors.

2) 5K aftermarket NGK plug caps and 5K aftermarket resistor plugs.

 

purchased resistor plugs, zero resistance wires and plug cap combo and NGK wire splicers from xj4ever.

Easy install, I was a little worried about using plug wire splicers but my concerns were relinquished when I saw the high quality of the NGK units.

Bike runs good. Butt dyno says plus 10 hp. Real dyno would say "its all in your head"

 

Well, I'm not sure if the problem was my wires anymore.

I was just doing a color tune. Grabbed one of my wires while the bike was running to move it out of the way.

Ended up on my back laying in the driveway.

Ive been shocked from plenty of ignition systems while i was a mechanic.

And even electrical outlets.

But this was the most intense electrical experience I have ever had.

 

could be cracked porcelein on the plug. you could buy a new plug and see if that fixes it (turn out all the lights and look for sparks) if that doesn't do it then get wires and a spare plug is always a good thing. I'm off to the store right now for some plugs, I keep smacking the wrench handle into the 1 and 4 plugs while removing the 2 and 3 ones. maybe I'll pick up a socket driver extension while I'm there =)

 

to avoid being knocked on your buttocks while playing with wires, maybe making a ground bracelet would be a good idea. wrap a piece of bare wire around your wrist and clamp it to a good ground. the 1.21 gigawatts (back to the future) will only travel through your hand versus half your body. also, another good practice is to put one hand in your pocket while playing with the wires. these 2 methods are common practice for me when i have to play with high energy injection systems, or with 220 3phase. i DO NOT like being zapped.

 

I really thought that the new wires and plugs would be safe to touch. I am nervous I might touch a wire accidently and get hurt.

Ignition system seems to be working fine. Plugs and wires are brand new. If a plug were cracked as suggested wouldn't I be experiencing some serious misfire conditions?

 

One thing for sure, i wouldn't be messing around with getting shocked. It only takes something like 15uA MICROamps to stop yer heart. This is why most car mechanics will tell you to NEVER work on electrical with your right hand and use your left hand as support on the car body.

Current flowing through your chest is bad.

 

get your longest screwdriver and wrap one end of a wire around the shank, tape it, put the other end under a handy screw thats grounded
now poke around and you'll find your sparks