Your thoughts on When to change spark plugs?

[redrazor]

JW -morrow

My suggestion, If it isn't broke, Don't Fix It, sometimes you can end-up with more problems, when you need plugs and wires you will know by the way it starts & runs. JMHO...:thumbup:...Bill

You should be good to at least 80K miles.

:agree:

 

[redrazor]

Pauly1: Boy, that looks like a very large GAP!?! :yikes:

 

[Snoking1127]

Friends 2017 RT got new plugs the other day at under 4K on the clock. It developed a miss, so we trailered it to the Mesa dealer. They installed new plugs, and it has been running fine for her since. One plug looked bad as I understand it; she did not show them to me, but another friend saw them.

 

[BajaRon]

Friends 2017 RT got new plugs the other day at under 4K on the clock. It developed a miss, so we trailered it to the Mesa dealer. They installed new plugs, and it has been running fine for her since. One plug looked bad as I understand it; she did not show them to me, but another friend saw them.

Interesting. Our experience is that if 1 plug on a low mileage Spyder is not good, it's usually a coil or injector issue. If this is the case, it will come back. Bad spark plugs from the factory are extremely rare.

I would compare it to replacing a tire that has worn badly in a few miles as a cure for a bad alignment. I'm wondering if they should have looked a bit further for a cause. I hope it works out.

 

[BertRemington]

pauly1 -- excellent color, minimal deposits. Keep doing whatever you're doing and your grandkids will be riding that Spyder.

 

[Snoking1127]

Interesting. Our experience is that if 1 plug on a low mileage Spyder is not good. It's usually a coil or injector issue. If this is the case, it will come back. Bad spark plugs from the factory are extremely rare.

I would compare it to replacing a tire that has worn badly in a few miles as a cure for a bad alignment. I'm wondering if they should have looked a bit further for a cause. I hope it works out.

I have this same thought lurking in my head! With such low miles on a 2017 that she bought used last spring, seating around unused is not good either.

 

[Bfromla]

Agree with many- either side, to that note ; watch your MPG closely like graph chart close. There are some apps that can do the math **as long as YOU are consistent**. Plugs probably are good, plug wires, however have been know to fail more often. (& not even exposed to ethanol) With so many additives & seasonal blends. Really defeats a “Standard rating”. So aside from a known issue or failure, keep what’s working until causes problems, & by all means if you don’t pull the plugs yourself- request see the the removed parts. Take pics & milage notes: Feb/2019
52,362m not sure what one front or back other warranty issues at the time & getting ready for season

https://www.fuelly.com/

 

[BajaRon]

Agree with many- either side, to that note ; watch your MPG closely like graph chart close. There are some apps that can do the math **as long as YOU are consistent**. Plugs probably are good, plug wires, however have been know to fail more often. (& not even exposed to ethanol) With so many additives & seasonal blends. Really defeats a “Standard rating”. So aside from a known issue or failure, keep what’s working until causes problems, & by all means if you don’t pull the plugs yourself- request see the the removed parts. Take pics & milage notes: Feb/2019
52,362m not sure what one front or back View attachment 201624 other warranty issues at the time & getting ready for season

https://www.fuelly.com/

The 998 V-Twin is a different animal, of course. My guess would be that the top one is the rear and the bottom is the front. The rear cylinder tends to run hotter. Sometimes one cylinder runs leaner than the other and that would be the whiter plug.

The ignition wires on the 998 are definitely of very poor quality and do go bad quickly. I would say that it is a rare 998 that has not had the spark plug wires replaced at this point. Seeing that the last production was 7 years ago. Replacing with OEM wires simply guarantees that you will be doing it again. Not to mention the power and throttle response reduction that these extremely high resistance wires create.

However, the 1330 does not have ignition wires. Instead, BRP went with a much better system. The ignition coil is integrated into the spark plug connection. Small 12v wires connect to the top and the need for ignition wires is eliminated as the spark charge is delivered direction to the top of the spark plug. Now why didn't I think of that!



It has been suggested that you replace the coils when you do the spark plugs. Not a bad idea because of the time, effort and money spent just to get there. If you're changing your plugs every 25k I think you can safely skip replacing the coils on the 1st one. Though it's always a bit of a gamble.

The next thing I highly recommend is pulling the injectors and cleaning them. We do this on every spark plug change. We see a fair number of clogged injectors on the 1330. Many mistake a clogged or bad injector for a spark plug misfire.

Ethanol fuel can take a great deal of credit for this. Also, the tips of the injectors get very hot, especially when you turn the engine off quickly after a hard run. This tends to bake the end of the injector and can create buildup over time. Using a good fuel injector cleaner every 4th of 5th tank can help remedy this. Seafoam is good for removing water from the tank. Berryman's B-12 is a good injector cleaner. Others have their favorites.

Always remember to apply a thin layer of thermal paste (Not Anti-Seize) to the new spark plug threads. This is important so that the plugs maintain proper heat transfer to the head.

 

[RangerRick]

I mam on my 3rd set of plugs. I changed from stock plugs at 25,000 and again at 75,000. The last 2 sets are the Iridium plugs. My Spyder is also the 998 V-twin. I can change the left side in 10-15 minutes. The right side takes 3-5 hours. Bruce

I also have the 998 twin, but after getting rid of the stock air box and installing the Air filter from JT's Spyder Store it's a cinch to do the right side as well as the left side.

 

[FrogmanDave]

I didn't want to quote the whole thing but very good advice from Ron. Especially the thermal paste.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Here's some pics from when I changed my plugs at about 28k miles. Don't know if these are all different plugs or if a couple of the pics are of the same one.

 

[pauly1]

pauly1 -- excellent color, minimal deposits. Keep doing whatever you're doing and your grandkids will be riding that Spyder.

Good gas....and ride like I stole it!

 

[BajaRon]

Here's some pics from when I changed my plugs at about 28k miles. Don't know if these are all different plugs or if a couple of the pics are of the same one.

View attachment 201651

View attachment 201652

View attachment 201653

View attachment 201654

You are the only one I know with a 4 cylinder Spyder! That could catch on, my friend! :joke:

 

[spyderwing57]

True New Plugs will show a difference in performance .

 

[PW2013STL]

Friends 2017 RT got new plugs the other day at under 4K on the clock. It developed a miss, so we trailered it to the Mesa dealer. They installed new plugs, and it has been running fine for her since. One plug looked bad as I understand it; she did not show them to me, but another friend saw them.

If it's the dealer I think it is, I took mine there once - never again!

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Maybe I've been lucky ..... but I have over 77,000 mi. on the OEM plugs and coils for my 14 RT .....ray:.....Mike :thumbup:

 

[PW2013STL]

I have changed them at 28,000 miles and found them to look like new. The last set I changed them after 40,000 miles and also found them to be in great shape, and gapped within specs. I found no improvement in performance. I will try again after 50,000 miles to see if that is the magical number.
I have been getting the spark plugs from BajaRon- best deal!

 

[shakin_jake]

Couple of observations reading this thread. I wonder, if so much of the cost endured when taking your machine to the dealers for service (regarding the servicing of the engine for the systems in this thread), if the high costs are for the time it takes to get to the task at hand, IOW is a lot of the billable labor for field stripping the Tupperware?

Secondly, the pics of the spark plugs, and judging the condition of the plug by looking at the colors of the insulator. #1, I wonder how accurate it is looking at these pics and not knowing how the engine was used prior to pulling the plugs. I ask because, I have a little bit of experience tuning engines based on the condition and color of the plug. IOW was the
Throttle chopped and the ignition turned off prior to removing the plugs or, was the engine just run normally and the plug(s) pulled and a pic was taken? What always begs the question is how do we know what we know? Others may have better and different ideas


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Couple of observations reading this thread. I wonder, if so much of the cost endured when taking your machine to the dealers for service (regarding the servicing of the engine for the systems in this thread), if the high costs are for the time it takes to get to the task at hand, IOW is a lot of the billable labor for field stripping the Tupperware?

Secondly, the pics of the spark plugs, and judging the condition of the plug by looking at the colors of the insulator. #1, I wonder how accurate it is looking at these pics and not knowing how the engine was used prior to pulling the plugs. I ask because, I have a little bit of experience tuning engines based on the condition and color of the plug. IOW was the
Throttle chopped and the ignition turned off prior to removing the plugs or, was the engine just run normally and the plug(s) pulled and a pic was taken? What always begs the question is how do we know what we know? Others may have better and different ideas


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood

IMHO & experience Dealers are going to go by the listed BOOK rate for the job. ..... Non dealers may give you a break if you do something to that saves them time ......good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[BoatFixx]

:clap: Who remembers using one of these? Spark plugs used to carbon up, and fouled up in various ways more often than not back in the days of inefficient carbureted engines, ignition points, condensers, bad coils, and hardly ever changed out spark plug wires. hyea: