Spark plugs

alhope34

alhope34

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I have a hard time believing that spark plugs on my bike really need to be changed every 12k kms. What are everybody's thoughts on waiting til 24k?

I'm not too hard on the bike, rarely go above 14k rpm and even more rarely in any other gear but first. Most of the extra 12k kms will be straight highway riding, anyway as I'm heading to Cape Breton in June then a two night trip to PEI then back to Sydney. Going to do a lot of camping on the Cabot. :) I'm estimating 7-8000 kms in the three weeks based on passed Cape Breton trips I've made in the car. I'm at 10,400 kms now.
 
Spark plugs are cheap but you can pull them and check the gap just like a car. You don't have to change them if they can be re-gapped to the correct distance.
 
I have new plugs, but upon lifting my gas tank I got confused (wasn't as easy as my fz6r was at all) so I referred to a youtube video and put things back together infear of breaking something important. I need to get a bunch of other things done to the bike that are a higher priority before my vacation so I was hoping getting the plugs changed by someone who knows what they are doing can wait. Cash is kinda tight now too. In the last three weeks I spent close to $3k in camping and bike stuff. I'm working a lot of 12 hour shifts trying to catch back up before I have to leave, hah.
 
Ahh. Yeah I can see how that would be annoying if you have to lift the tank. Mine is a naked so the wire is right there on the outside. Wait till you have time and are relaxed.
 
I already broke and had to replace my upper fairing cause I took a chunk out putting my new wind screen in so I've decided I'm just not doing this. I just wanted to know if plugs could wait, which it seems like they can safely. 12k kms is an incredibly frequent change time anyway.
 
Copper plugs wear much faster than platinum. Not saying that to alarm you, I'm sure you have platinum, but I did notice copper intervals are much more frequent.
 
Sunspark said:
Copper plugs wear much faster than platinum. Not saying that to alarm you, I'm sure you have platinum, but I did notice copper intervals are much more frequent.
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Personal experience with worn plugs?How much wear did you measure with which plugs over what period of time and mileage?


edit:moved to technical forum.
 
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Haha no, double that. No need to replace unless its fouled but it's a good time to check around maintenance cycles just to be sure none of them are fouling.
 
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Wingboy said:
Personal experience with worn plugs?How much wear did you measure with which plugs over what period of time and mileage?


edit:moved to technical forum.
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I uh.. ran NGKs in a car almost 200k.

Platinum. But damn. They sure didn't look new coming out.
 
The plugs I have are just basic OEM NGKs and thats what I got from the dealer too. I asked for iridiums, but the guy said unless you're tuned specifically to use them the bike will probably run better on the OEM type. I just said ok, sure, cause I really didn't care all that much.
 
The job of a sparkplug is to ignite the fuel-air mixture. The coating is to prevent wearing of the electrode as it is a wear process over time. Race cars still use copper I think.

Held up pretty good. The ignition coils went before the plugs did.

(Yes I know the plugs were overdue.)

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Sunspark said:
The job of a sparkplug is to ignite the fuel-air mixture. The coating is to prevent wearing of the electrode as it is a wear process over time. Race cars still use copper I think.

Held up pretty good. The ignition coils went before the plugs did.

(Yes I know the plugs were overdue.)
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It's not a coating. The electrode is made entirely out of platinum, copper, or iridium. It ablates over time.

On that note, wtf am I looking at? Is that ice crystals?
 
What bike is it?

Copper plugs don't last as long as iridiums. They have a much more drastic decline in performance .

Coppers also don't burn improper fuel mixtures as well as iridiums.

What bike is this that you are trying to change the plugs on?
 
Won't hurt anything. Mileage might be a tad worse at the most. Fresh plugs are never a bad thing though and they're very easy to change. Just take an hour and do them yourself.
 
your manual or service guide doesn't recommend 12k intervals because they are trying to get rich selling new plugs. Yes you can usually run many miles past the interval, you may find fuel mileage drop, harder to cold start and not idling well, stuttering at highway speeds. Or you may not. As an aside, never trust the gap out of the box on a new plug, 90% are fine, then you get the one the parts guy dropped.
 
frekeyguy said:
Signatures are not visible on mobile. If you are looking for help - you'll need to be a bit more co operative.
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Oh ok didnt know some phones are different cause I can see them. 2012 zx6r.
 
Also again, im not doing them myself. Too many other things in the way and I dont want to break anything.
 
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