Posts
86
Joined
7/15/2014
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
7/19/2014 6:02am
so i replaced my crank breather hose today(that connects into the carby intake funnel), as the other 1 was worn/melted.
i went to put the little hose clamp onto the hose using pliers(the clamps that you squeeze to open)....then went to connect the breather hose w/ new clamp into the carb intake funnel.....so the pliers slipped off and subsequently touched the body of the carby briefly, and all of a sudden there were a couple light sparks. which i thought was really strange.
the other strange thing is that apart from 1 wire that runs to the rear of the bike for the brake light(runs along the frame above the carby to the rear of the bike through the airbox), apart from that, there wasn't any electrical's near there. the wire was well away from where i was connecting the hose.
no idea what caused the spark, it was only very brief. i tried to see if it would happen again and it hasn't sparked since that.
any ideas what could've caused it? im thinking a shorted wire but then again, if it was a shorted wire somewhere(perhaps the 1 that runs along the frame), wouldn't there be sparks where the actual short in the wire is touching the frame?
ive also checked the fuses and none of them are blown. all lights and electrical's are working also.
id like to try and figure out and get to the bottom of it as to why it sparked....very strange.
bike is a KTM 450 EXC 2004 model.
this is an urgent question. im not very good with the electrical side of things.
i went to put the little hose clamp onto the hose using pliers(the clamps that you squeeze to open)....then went to connect the breather hose w/ new clamp into the carb intake funnel.....so the pliers slipped off and subsequently touched the body of the carby briefly, and all of a sudden there were a couple light sparks. which i thought was really strange.
the other strange thing is that apart from 1 wire that runs to the rear of the bike for the brake light(runs along the frame above the carby to the rear of the bike through the airbox), apart from that, there wasn't any electrical's near there. the wire was well away from where i was connecting the hose.
no idea what caused the spark, it was only very brief. i tried to see if it would happen again and it hasn't sparked since that.
any ideas what could've caused it? im thinking a shorted wire but then again, if it was a shorted wire somewhere(perhaps the 1 that runs along the frame), wouldn't there be sparks where the actual short in the wire is touching the frame?
ive also checked the fuses and none of them are blown. all lights and electrical's are working also.
id like to try and figure out and get to the bottom of it as to why it sparked....very strange.
bike is a KTM 450 EXC 2004 model.
this is an urgent question. im not very good with the electrical side of things.
I'm not great with electricity either, but a spark means that there was ungrounded potential that found a ground. It could have been from your bike, or it could have been from your body and gone through the pliers to ground at the battery.
As long as your fuses are all good and the bike runs, you are 90% there. The only thing left to do is check for loose wires or corrosion at the battery terminals. If you have none of those problems, I'd say there's probably nothing to worry about.
Maybe a better mechanic than I can answer...
no corrosion at battery terminals(battery is fairly new) and from what i can tell, no wires are loose and none are exposed thus far.
i'll have a better look tomorrow though.
Going from you to the bike.
Was it on a metal stand?
Is the air dry where you live,low humidity?
it was not on a metal stand either.
The Shop
However, I believe your ktm uses the frame as the ground. It is also possible, however unlikely that you have a short. In either case, I wouldn't worry about it if you cannot repeat.
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