spark plug under warranty

Hi ,

During the great downpours of the last week, my '04 bike started to suffer from the One Cylinder syndrome, not fun when trying to navigate London rush hour

I've seen various threads about this and it seems to be a common problem. I've also seen a couple of suggestions that I should take my bike back to the dealer as it is still under warranty. I guess my quesition is - is this worth it ? What are they going to do - will they re-seal the area around the spark plug , or just change the spark plug etc? Or is there nothing they can really do ? I guess I don't really know how much of a problem this is - I dont want to take a few hours off work and suffer the london underground just for them to change a £2 spark plug and nothing else!!

Thanks for any help / advice in advance

You'll be wanting a fender extender. If you're feeling cheeky, tell the dealer to fit it

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

You'll be wanting a fender extender. If you're feeling cheeky, tell the dealer to fit it

Worth a try but it's Suzuki themselves that should be providing this as otherwise the bike is "not fit for the purpose it was sold for"

Me personally ? I'd remove and clean plug, spray some wd around it, re-fit it and fit a Fenda Extenda and then moan about Suzuki to make myself feel better All in all about 15 mins work max

So I guess the answer is that there is nothing actually wrong with the bike so probably not worth pestering the dealer over it and wasting a day?

Originally Posted by enzyme

So I guess the answer is that there is nothing actually wrong with the bike so probably not worth pestering the dealer over it and wasting a day?

There is something wrong, the bike takes on water... its just its easy to resolve. I'd moan to suzuki.. I would have, but I've always had a extenda. So the problem never came up. If I'd have done it the other way I could have got suzuki to pay for it.

Hi All,

In the Suzuki owner's manual it lists an NGK CR7E spark plug (or a Denso U22ESR-N) as an alternative to the normal plug "If the standard plug is apt to get wet"

Has anyone tried one of these on the front cyclinder, and did it make any difference? I've not had any front cylinder trouble yet with the standard plug (NGK CR8E I think) though that's with a Fender extender plus the rubber flap that covers the spark plug on the K4 model...

[embee]

Originally Posted by SVeeedy Gonzales

.... Suzuki owner's manual it lists an NGK CR7E spark plug (or a Denso U22ESR-N) as an alternative to the normal plug "If the standard plug is apt to get wet"

what they're referring to is wet fouling (i.e. combination of carbon, fuel, and condensation in the cylinder just after a cold start).

The NGK numbering system is that the lower the number, the "hotter" the plug, which refers to the temperature that the central electrode runs at under any given condition.

Not all plug manufacturers use the same system, e.g. Champion is the other way round, low number = cold plug.

Plugs are most prone to wet fouling just after a cold start, which is another reason for not riding it hard straight from cold. Blipping the throttle will tend to foul the plugs when cold due to the rich mixture. Let the engine settle for 20sec or so from stone cold before riding off gently, avoid large or sudden throttle openings and you shouldn't ever get wet fouling (of the plug variety at least! ).

Plug centre electrodes need to reach 300-400C to "self-clean" and burn off carbon deposits. High speed and high ignition advance increase plug temp, but load per se doesn't affect it that much. They'll normally reach about 800C max, any higher and you're into pre-ignition territory.

CR8 grade plugs I've seen from SV650s look just right to me, I'd certainly not recommend going hotter, personally.