FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

Took my plugs out today they have been in use for a year.

To me they look fine but I'm just comparing them to photos from the web. I've no real experience in reading plugs. I had thought the bike was running rich because of a smell of fuel/gas at idle but the plugs don't seem to show that.

Can any of the gurus here see any issues with these plugs:

Problem with year old plugs that are run in a wide range of speeds/throttle positions is that you are seeing an 'average' condition..

You could be close to fouling them rich at idle but if you zing redline a few times each pass through the gears, or hold 8k rpms down the freeway for half hours at a time, you mask any rich or lean spots in the carburetion.

This is why 'plug chops' used to be nearly mandatory...noiw if you have access to a sniffer you can save that hassle.


Yours look pretty nice..the reddish is from fuel additives (you running premium? -quit it), but nothing too drastic for a street bike..I wouldn't change much, cept maybe find out where you bump fat (or use less enrichment)


Nice electrode color, the carbon on the body ring says you are rich somewhere..the nice dry tan on the porcelain and electrodes says the plugs are getting hot enough.

Need a magnifying glass and a good light to look down into the plug to see where the porcelain gets darker (dark ring)

Thanks RR really appreciate that.

I am using premium so I'll try it without, save a few pennies at the same time.

Can't get a real good look down into the bottom of the porcelain but they seem to be a fairly even colour pretty much 3/4 or more down. Been Googling it since you brought it up and I didn't realise that you could read so much information from a plug.

I will budget for some new emulsion tubes and needles so that will be one less thing to suspect for any rich issues . Mine look ok but they're old so they will have some wear.

Cheers

The plug tips look fine to me, but the plug bodies are telling me that your bike does not want to be parked outside anymore.

pefrey wrote:The plug tips look fine to me, but the plug bodies are telling me that your bike does not want to be parked outside anymore.

Lol, that's great!! Do you remember poltergeist?

You're quite right Pefrey,

It lives outside on my forecourt huddled under a cover but not neglected. Garages are like rocking horse sh*t round here, almost as rare as a sunny day

Finally finished getting it ready for the MOT and it scubs up alright.

Very nice. That looks better than my bike and I keep mine in a garage.