July 24, 200719 yr Like many others I have had a number of plugs fail. You know the usual missing and banging,stalling and refusing to rev out. I had tried ringing its neck down the road, contact cleaner etc without ever getting a plug to run ok once it had failed. In the shed the other night looking at a pile of seven failed plugs I thought I would try the oxy acetylene torch on one. Used a small gas welding nozzle with a very oxygen rich flame and concentrating on the central electrode and insulator (very carefully). The insulator wound up white and clean in a few seconds, thread clean up an in the bike and found it runs perfectly. Did all of the others the same and tested each one with the same result. Now have a box of spare plugs!
July 24, 200719 yr Great idea. Will keep that in mind although, have to say haven't fouled a plug yet (idle for at least two minutes when cold before riding). Andrew
July 24, 200719 yr I also haven't dropped a plug yet and have had 4rt for a year and ride regularly . Recently fiitted a 280 kit and thought I would shout it a new plug but as I have had a good run out of this one I was scared I would throw out the lucky plug ! 3 Times I have just felt it run rough and straight away I have shut the throttle off and let it idle , it seemed to recompose its self after a minute then rolled the throttle on slowly and away we went . My tip would be to instantly put it back to idle , don't try to rev it clean as I have never heard of that working.
July 24, 200719 yr start your bike from cold, leave the throttle alone and let bike tickover for a couple of minutes and your plug will be fine
July 24, 200719 yr I wanted to ask.... if it all works do you need to replace plugs? Isn't it a case of replace when you have an issue? Jza
July 24, 200719 yr i also had to replace the plug on my Honda 4 stroke last week - it was the same one that it had from new - 16 years old! and its done a few miles as well - admittedly only backwards and forwards over the lawn I suppose i should also change the oil - 16 years might be pushing it a bit?
July 25, 200719 yr Author I wanted to ask.... if it all works do you need to replace plugs? Isn't it a case of replace when you have an issue?Jza I agree it would require hundereds of hours of running before wear became an issue, i.e electrode erosion. My plugs were simply very sooty and presumably shorting out on the insulator.
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