Assessing my plugs
 

Basically, both have oil on them. Changed 10k ago. Not as severe as the pics ive seen around as examples of oil covered plugs ie. not thick and gloopy coated. Mine are a dark brown colour with a slight shine of oil.

Front plug tip is dry but there is a small bit of oil on the 2nd half of the threads.

Rear plug has oil from tip to end of thread, very thin but overall coating.

Bike runs absolutely fine but can be a bit funky to start sometimes, but only from stone cold. Have to hit start button, get on the choke quick and sometimes keep throttling around 3k for a few seconds untill she stops gurgling. Then slowly let off choke to bare minimum and shes fine from there, hop on and ride.

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

If your sure its oil then maybe the valve seals need renewing, you could do a cmpression test to rule out the bore/rings, aboit £15 for a the guage.

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

so they are totally perfect then....

better showing us a picture.

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

Pretty sure its oil. Very thin coating, almost as if you brushed it with oil and then gave it a real good wipe down so only a tiny layer remains in the threads. Rear is slightly wet at the tip, whereas the front tip wasn't only the latter half of the threads.

Hmm compression test :confused: more learning.

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

....

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

Ok heres a pic thats close enough. Front on left and rear on right..

http://forums.sv650.org/attachment.p...1&d=1264360933

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

they look perfectly normal to me. i cant see the insulator verry well but they look a bit rich, but if you havent thrashed it in a while or it has been running on choke for a bit then that is to be expected.

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

same, they look fine

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

Get the carbs balanced and the choke cleaned and lubricated first - it may well just be rich running because of a dodgy choke. If you are having all that trouble starting it, I'd go for this first. You should be able to start the bike from cold easily with full choke on then hitting the starter button. It might take a bit of cranking if you havnt used the bike for a few days, but you certainly shouldnt need to apply any throttle :-)

Re: Assessing my plugs
 

Cool, never had the plug out myself so wasn't sure what to expect :smt023
With regards the starting, i'll have a look at the choke. Gets used almost every day at the mo and once she's running there's not a bother on her. Might put the tank risers on? Would that ease back the richness a bit?