Rate my spark plugs

[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?




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.

Originally Posted by DarrenSV650S

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.

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

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]

Originally Posted by injury_ian

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-

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]

Originally Posted by 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?

It's a K3 and has done about 20,000 miles.
Yeh it gets up to temperature pretty quick

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?