Spark plugs

Anyone here ever attemp changing them thar plugs? I did, very interesting to say the least. Photos later. But for now i'm just curious to see how many brave hearts are here that would attemp this.

 

I'm really interested in those photos. Have not changed plugs on this bike yet.

 

Changed the plugs on mine in September, took about an hour even though i had the plastics off (that includes gapping time). Not sure how it works on the 5g, but all i had to do to change the fronts was use the tool in the kit, remove the upper rad mounting bolts and tilt the rad out of the way.

Honda is awfully proud of those plugs; $35 for four...

 

I am not looking forward to it. The last owner did it before I bought my bike and he told me it's a pain in the ass.

I have a question though: How often should we be changin them thar things?

 

Just did my plugs - first time since getting the bike (5th Gen) - its a task not without some 'challenges'. The rear plugs were the easiest (hinge up the tank and away you go) but the front were a bit of a bitch. Managed to remove the oil cooler bolts without needing to pull the inner cowl completely off.

Once the oilcooler can be moved around its a bit of fiddling to remove the plugs. I'm just glad I chose to replace the plugs with NGK's Iridium - not a job I would be keen to repeat in another 10-15 thou (not even sure what the interval is for standard plugs!)

Chose to replace the plugs as my girl had clocked over 40K. When I checked them against the NGK Diagnosis of a used sparkplug photos for their condition they were just fine so I might have jumped the gun a little.

 

Did them on my '98 but not yet on my 2004. Was sort of a PITA, but I already had the bike apart to do a bunch of work on it. It was easier than my old Camry though, that was a major PITA.

 

I'm still needing to put the bike back together, In the dismantle found some broken plastic clip thingys so I need new ones. I'll be posting up photos later, is all good. just wasn't as bad as I thought, rear plugs where a snap, but figured might as well do the fronts while she apart beside thats the right thing to do. As Rev said its just a couple rad bolts tip it out of the way, ha ha cooling fan was the tricky sob though. more later

 

Okay as promiced a couple photos, other than forgeting to hook up a ground wire, was pretty striaght forward.

First was changing out the rear plugs, as you can see preyty easy to get to. Is that a pretty engine or what? Wow velocity stacks, cool... while I had the tank off decide to clean and reoil the KN filter.



Looking at the right side.. see how cozy that is?



Left side not any better. trick here is just to remove one bolt on the lower left bottom of the radiator then swing it out, thing is you need to take the chin faring off to do so, that in it's self was tricky, getting the plastic plugs out was harder than one would think, Damn plastic keeper pins.



Okay here's the plugs with 16K



And the one plug in question (lower plug) to why she wasn't running so well. upper plug is what it should have looked like.

 

So thats what a 97 with her gear off looks like - purdy!! I feel decidely guilty about my bikes motor being nowhere as clean as yours by the way!

Hmmm, your plugs are looking kinda black - not oily?
Dug the reference picture below out from my collection of crap. According to one of the plug makers the lower plug is suffering with carbon build up.
Symptoms being misfiring, poor starting and 'faulty acceleration'.
Cause of the problem stems either from over rich air/fuel mixture or delayed ignition timing, bad ignition leads or the plugs heat range is too low.

 

^ Yep. thinking more along the lines of it being to rich of a mixture. I have a K-N with a Staintune always have wondered how close the mixture is, but since she runs so great, never even a hint she's running rich unless this cold weather has something to do with it? Now that 32K is right around the corner i feel it time for a full blown check up, have it scheduled late January, to see the Dyno Doctor

 

The threads on a couple of those plugs look wet. I'm assuming it's oil. You sure the seals at the bottom of the spark tubes in the valve covers are still working?
In the picture of the plugs, do you member which plug came from where?
Dean

 

i did mine last christmas cus it just up and stopped wanting to start after i stalled it screwing around lol.....everything easy except putting all the short vacuum lines back when putting the box back on lol took me a while cuz i got gorilla hands...

 

Yep.



left to right #1 #2 #4 #3

Was more fuel than oil I believe as it was not slippery and smell like gas also, last time I ran her was just for a few minutes as I used a temp gun to figure out which one was not firing. 1, 2, 4 where at 265 Degrees where #3 was at 110.
2 and 4 looked pretty good for the miles on them, # 1 was darker than I'd like to see. hmm wondering if it has anything to do with the rears cylinders? #3 as I figure would be pretty black. Interesting find as I was going over the shop manual, found that it says they are to be replaced every 8K not 16K

Lousy weather today kept her grounded for a run up. Damn weather.. was so looking forward to a 1-1-07 ride to start the year off on a good note.

 

Judging by the look of the plugs I would probably look for something that could effect both the rear cylinders, coil, choke linkage,...? No idea how these are hooked up your bike, but that is where I would start. Of course, if you're taking it to a good dyno guy he will tell you all the compents that are week in fuel and ignition systems.
The only side effect of leaving the plugs in too long that might cause them to foul is if the center electrodes are worn. They should look like cylinders with sharp edges. If they are rounded they would not fire as strong. (They didn't look like platinum or iridium plugs in which case the above statement won't necessarily be true)

I apologize if I'm droning on about things you already know.

[/QUOTE]Lossy weather today kept her grounded for a run up. Damn weather.. was so looking forward to a 1-1-07 ride to start the year off on a good note.[/QUOTE]
Don't rub it in! At least you have hope! We had our first significant ice storm last night and today. The bike isn't going anywhere for some time.

 

The rear cylinders run hotter than the front ones; that is the (major) difference you are looking at. The heat gets trapped in that area which not only affects the engine temp itself but can affect the shock temp as well. Might be worth it to wrap the exhaust headers with heat tape, also known as 'header wrap'. Wrapping them keeps the heat in the pipe instead of radiating into the engine area.

 

Would have to agree with Rev. I did mine not so long ago and found the rear to burn better and the front to look a little rich due to better cooling. Think I still have the plugs if you were wanting a pic.

 

One thing that I did to make this procedure a little easier was to remove the lower left habd bolt, and replace it with a ball-lock push pin. The grip length is one inch. It makes for pulling the radiator a little easier. You still need theextension/uni-wiggle socket combination to do the trick. I came of this by way of the stock bolt not being there in the first place, and also having a nice supply of ball-lock push pins available. You should be able to purchase these at your local Home Depot/Lowe's/Hardware store. It's stilla pita to remove the plugs, but to me this little mod makes it easier.

 

Up date, since this thread was one where I thought the sparks plugs were going to be the cure. Not!

Guess what? it was, all take note now: Check your rubber plugs that are used for hooking up diagnostic equipment.. Haha or whew! #3 was missing, therefore making it run, well not so good, now she runs like the beast it is..:biggrin:

 

Ok so you know we need pics.... what/where is this diag plug and what was missing?, mines apart now so I may do the plugs if Tori the previous owner hasnt done them yet....

 

I also agree with Rev. I fogged the cylinders on my 2001 when winterizing last fall, which required removal of the plugs. After removing the plastic, and by using the honda tools and a bit of patience I was able to remove and reinsert the plugs with very little difficulty. I agree - give yourself about an hour for this task!