Gauges?

[WayneDW]

Occasionally I see both fuel and temperature gauges for sale.  My '92 K75RT has neither.  If I buy one or both are they a "plug and play" situation or will they not work on my bike?
Thanks.

[Chaos]

Pretty much plug and play, the connections were all there on my 87.  But both were stupendously inaccurate to the point of just being pretty farkles.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I just put a temperature gauge on my '94 K75RT.  I didn't bother with the fuel gauge since the odometer keeps track of my fuel for me(225+ miles per full tank).

It is more than a simple plug and play.  First you need the sender for $42 and change.  No one ever has used for sale.  I think they just leave them in the water pump when they break the bike.

Next, you will need two harnesses that almost never show up on the used market.  The first is from the main harness to the gauges, and the second is the wire that brings the signal up from the sender to the gauge harness.  The wire is another hard to find item and is about $16 new.  The gauge harness can be found and goes for about $30-40.

You will have to remove the fairing and tank to run the wires, and the sender wire requires that you drain the cooling system and pull the pump and Hall Effect Sensor covers.   Other than that and putting a 2" hole in the fairing liner the installation is a piece of cake.

[louisvillebob]

Fuel gauge requires fuel level sender (located in fuel tank).  May already be there.  Look in fuel tank; look for arm with float on it.  Sender mechanism actually has 2 senders, one to low level light in speedo/tach cluster, and float mechanism which drives fuel gauge.  Check first to see if low  level light works.  If u need float mechanism and sender, they are occasionally seen used on ebay.  Bear in mind that if fuel pump/sender and associated parts are removed from fuel-tight connection, new gasket and probably fuel pump mounting damper (correct name escapes me right now-old guy disorder) are probably needed.  Connections are located right side, coming from bottom side of tank.  Search old postings for pinout colors. 

May be better to leave well enough alone and follow advice of one who uses odometer as fuel gauge.  Ride safely.

[HYPERR]

Pretty much plug and play, the connections were all there on my 87.  But both were stupendously inaccurate to the point of just being pretty farkles.

Chaos, where did you mount the gauges on your S-model? 

[Chaos]

best shot I got, they fit but it's a tight squeeze.  After I wrecked the bike I rebuilt it without the gauges. Seen them mounted with a spacer to raise the gauge 1/4" or so above the fairing.  All K's have the float in the tank, wiring harnesses are easy enough to fabricate.  Temp gauge on mine used the sensor for the idiot light. 

[HYPERR]

Thanks Chaos.  I don't think I want to cut the fairing so probably no gauges for my K75S.  On my first K75 (base model K75A/3) that I bought brand new back in 1995, the dealer installed the gauges on the handlebar.  BTW, cute engine polisher you have there. 

[Motorhobo]

I just put a temperature gauge on my '94 K75RT.  I didn't bother with the fuel gauge since the odometer keeps track of my fuel for me(225+ miles per full tank).

??? That's with a standard tank holding just over 4 US gallons? That's ca. 54mpg and you're running the tank bone dry...please tell me you have a large capacity tank and what kind.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I just put a temperature gauge on my '94 K75RT.  I didn't bother with the fuel gauge since the odometer keeps track of my fuel for me(225+ miles per full tank).

??? That's with a standard tank holding just over 4 US gallons? That's ca. 54mpg and you're running the tank bone dry...please tell me you have a large capacity tank and what kind.

It's a '94 K75RT.  The tank is spec'd to hold something like 21liters or about 5.3 U.S. gallons.  The flapper was removed by a previous owner so I can fill right to the bottom of the filler.  The bike has gotten a pretty consistent 46MPG in the 8,500 miles since I got it.  I usually fill it at 190-200 miles on the tripmeter.  The red low fuel light comes on between 205 and 213 miles.  When the red light comes on it will take 4.6U.S. gallons leaving approximately 3/4 U.S. gallon in the tank which might get me a conservative 25 additional miles, maybe more.

That's accurate enough for me. YMMV(literally)