Rate my spark plugs

[DarrenSV650S]

What do you think, running too rich?
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k164/DarrenStewartTait/DSCF0004-4.jpg

[Baph]

Yup, since it's dry/powedery, I'd suspect air intake is reduced somehow. Is your air filter in need of changing/cleaning?

Wouldn't be supprised if you were having a bit of black smoke out of the exhaust too.

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah dry carbon fouled. Check temp sensor as it could have the pointy equivalent of a stuck choke!

[Bibio]

or possibly starting bike up and just letting it tick over to much without actually taking it for a run...

[DarrenSV650S]

The air filter looked fine, just a couple of flys in there. Haven't noticed any smoke out the exhaust but you do get a wee flame when it backfires sometimes (it has a stubby on it).
Check the temp sensor for what? (where is it)

[DarrenSV650S]

or possibly starting bike up and just letting it tick over to much without actually taking it for a run...
I never do that usually. But I just did it today to allow the fuel stabiliser to get through the system. I let it get to about 70C

[Bibio]

I never do that usually. But I just did it today to allow the fuel stabiliser to get through the system.


what u been putting in your tank???

check the plugs again after a run.. if they are still the same then sommits up

[Baph]

Dry powedery carbon is a sign of over fueling due to impared air intake (more often than not), so that's prime candidate.

As YC says though, check that it's not constantly "cold idling" - on the K7/K8 this is easy, not so previous to that. Easiest way I can think of is to fire it up with the air filter removed, and watch for the butterflies rotating when it's warmed enough.

Or you could use the temp sensor (look for the wires leading to the rad (top right corner IIRC)). Check it's working properly by testing resistance. But I'd just watch for the butterflies opening a little more & the revs dropping. That'll tell you the "choke" aint stuck.

[DarrenSV650S]

what u been putting in your tank???

check the plugs again after a run.. if they are still the same then sommits up
Its briggs and stratton's fuel fit. I've just put new plugs in but I won't be going for a run this year. That's the bike away for the winter
Dry powedery carbon is a sign of over fueling due to impared air intake (more often than not), so that's prime candidate.

As YC says though, check that it's not constantly "cold idling" - on the K7/K8 this is easy, not so previous to that. Easiest way I can think of is to fire it up with the air filter removed, and watch for the butterflies rotating when it's warmed enough.

Or you could use the temp sensor (look for the wires leading to the rad (top right corner IIRC)). Check it's working properly by testing resistance. But I'd just watch for the butterflies opening a little more & the revs dropping. That'll tell you the "choke" aint stuck.It's a K3. Could it not be the can that is messing up the fueling then?
I'll have a look for the butterflys moving. Any idea what temperature they should start moving at?


Filter:
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k164/DarrenStewartTait/DSCF0002-8.jpg

[Baph]

The butterflies should open a little (I think it's the secondary butterflies but not sure) at around 20-30C... roughly when the "cold idle" stops.

If you don't notice anything major, or you're not sure if you blinked & missed it, resistance test on the temp sensor. That'll go either from infinate to practically zero, or the other way around.

As for the can, typically if they're going to affect fueling/spark, then its the same symptoms as overheating (chalky white, not powdery black) - caused by restricting airflow out of the exhaust.

[DarrenSV650S]

I could see the butterflys moving about as the bike was warming up. They're constant now and only move as I open the throttle.
Is this where you mean?
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k164/DarrenStewartTait/DSCF0001-3.jpg



Another thing. When I raise the tank the overflow keeps dripping. I brimmed the tank earlier so is that why?

[DarrenSV650S]

That temp sensor reads infinate from cold up to at least 50C.

[Baph]

That temp sensor reads infinate from cold up to at least 50C.
That there be the cause then. IIRC, they just unscrew, but then I think you need to drain the coolant too.

[injury_ian]

Thats not the ECU temp sensor.... That is the rad temp sensor. (for the fan)

Usually ECU temp sensors are on the thermostat housing, and has a green connector.

(if not on thermostat housing it will be somewhere on the engine.)

[DarrenSV650S]

Looking through my manual...... is it the engine coolant temperature sensor I need to check or the thermostat ?
Whichever it is, it says I'll need to drain the coolant to test it :(

[injury_ian]

the engine coolant sensor is the one with the ECU uses to calculate the fueling.
The rad sensor tells the fan to turn on.

coolant change isnt much of a headache, but then new sensors aren't massivly expensive either... can you not test as shown above (on the right sensor?)

[DarrenSV650S]

can you not test as shown above (on the right sensor?)
I'm not sure. It says in the manual that it should be certain resistances at certain temperatures. So if I was doing it with the sensor still in the bike I would need to know what temperature the bike was at. But if the sensor was disconnected, wouldn't that kill the temp reading on the clocks?

Manual-
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k164/DarrenStewartTait/enginecoolant.jpg

[injury_ian]

mmm faffing-ness,

what year is your bike, I wouldnt expect the temp sensor to fail that soon. does your bike reach 70+C with in about a mile?

Could be a lazy thermostat keeping the bike cooler (hence mixture richer) than it should?

[DarrenSV650S]

mmm faffing-ness,

what year is your bike, I wouldnt expect the temp sensor to fail that soon. does your bike reach 70+C with in about a mile?

Could be a lazy thermostat keeping the bike cooler (hence mixture richer) than it should?It's a K3 and has done about 20,000 miles.
Yeh it gets up to temperature pretty quick

[Ol Boc]

Excuse me for intruding on your (increasing) grief, but being asked to comment on one spark plug's condition, without knowing a whole host of other info, is a really good road to fixing all sorts of problems that don't really exist! A plug can look sooty-black from a whole host of quite normal running conditions - not least from that suggested by Bibio in the first place. If you took that plug out on a cold day, when the engine had been ticking over for three or four minutes - even if you had revved it up a few times, then that's pretty much how a normal plug can look.
So ask yourself: was it running badly when you took the plug out, or quite normally? Was there something going on that made you suspect a problem?

[DarrenSV650S]

Seemed to be running fine to me but I'm no expert

[injury_ian]

tbh, I was thinking on similar lines, mine have always looks about that colour, but i'm quite happy as my bike has been custom mapped on a dyno.

definitely runs rich on overrun, as I get complaints that it stinks of fuel! but I still get 120-140 miles per tank. which Im happy with.

on 20K too.

[DarrenSV650S]

So you guys have got me running around in circles for nothing!:p

[injury_ian]

I blame Baph!