Forum

[papasmurf]

I agree that using a sparking plug for diagnosis, means not letting the engine tick-over after a run, but stopping the engine quickly and taking the plug out straight away. (Be careful you don't burn your fingers.)

[Revband]

A spark plug can tell the story only if you know how to read it. You would not open a book and read the pages at random and expect to understand the story. Steve listen to tim he knows what he is talking about.

[Steve T]

Hi guys thanks for all your replies, Tim in truth the bike did tick over for about a minute, the spark plug is a NGK Iridium BR8EIX, the ride was 120 miles with no stops with speeds between 50/60 mph, and the bike is running great except for the oil leak around the head, also it seems leak around the nut by the spark plug, do they leak from here or is it case of porous head I've heard about thanks for the advice with regard to the piston and rings will check this out when I do the strip down. Thanks again all
Steve

[Presto]

Of course there is no doubt that Tim knows what he’s talking about. Others may also know what they are talking about too. But there are times when too much information doesn’t help if the question is simple and straightforward. In these cases information over-load can cause unnecessary confusion. The topic of sparkplugs - and oil! - are happy hunting grounds for an overflow of advice. Steve asked a fairly simple question – and the answer is that the picture he has given of his plug shows signs of an over-rich fuel mixture (it shows no obvious sign of oil fouling). No offense meant to anyone - least of all to Tim!

[Exile]

I have to admit, I'm with Presto here. If the bike "ran well" for 120 miles with no problem.. why worry? Hope you enjoyed the run..