| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
got gas last week on the way home. Halfway up the mountain the bike coughed bad. Lost power, when i got home it idled on one cylinder. It was a light-switch failure, so I knew it wasn't bad gas. Dove into it today and the front plug physically broke. The ceramic broke free of the housing, allowing it to slide up and down nearly a quarter inch. That's a MASSIVE change in gap - anywhere from 0.250 to 0.0! Swapped in a new plug...presto! Runs like a champ again. It has been nearly 15k miles since they were swapped anyway so it didn't hurt to put in a new set.... | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Glad the plug didn't break at the socket and leave half of the plug still in the head! Had that happen to me on a Dodge truck one time. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Spark plugs seem to be almost 100% reliable, but they do occasionally have weird failures. Many years ago I put a brand new set of Bosch plugs in a Ford Taurus with a V-6. I had to do all 3 of the rear plugs by feel; what a PITA. Fired it up and it was missing on one cylinder. After a couple of hours of swearing and troubleshooting, I finally figured out one of the brand new plugs was bad. I cannot recall if I ever figured out what was wrong with the plug- maybe a hidden crack in the porcelain? Glad you got yours diagnosed quickly. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I'm just glad the electrode didn't break. If that little "hook" wasn't there, there wouldn't have been anything keeping the ceramic and center electrode from dropping into the cylinder! Changing plugs on an XB is enough of an ordeal; I'm glad I didn't have to do a top end! | ||
| Smorris |
was it a NGK plug or HD? I too have experience bad new plugs but don"t remember straight out physical plug failure | ||
| Ourdee |
Running a single cylinder 411cc engine with a 6500 red line now. I run an E3 plug. It was better in testing at mpg. |
