Spark Plug Evaluation

[yegg]

OK, here is the deal. I am not sure if this post belongs here or not but I figured it was worth a start. I serviced my bike today and decided to swap out the plugs. Don't ask me why, I just did. I read the service manual and am still unsure as to what my old plugs are telling me. I am attaching pictures of one of them as they both look the same. I am color blind and have a hard time with colors. Neither was oily.

The reason I posted it here is that if they indicate that the tune is off, can I manually tune using the FP3 to compensate for the indication on the plugs? If so, how?

Thanks.

 

[OldMike]

Post a pic of both, looking at the electrode end.
How many miles on your bike?

 

[yegg]

Post a pic of both, looking at the electrode end.
How many miles on your bike?

These are the stock plugs and the bike has 25k on it.

Are these a better angle of what I need to show?

 

[NGOT8R]

Here's a spark plug chart and a pic that might be of help to you in reading your spark plugs. Reverting back to my drag racing days, I was always told that the best way to read the plugs is to shut the motor down right after a full throttle pass (do not let the engine idle), remove the plugs and then read them. I'm no expert on this, but it makes sense to me. The problem here is, it would be difficult to do this on the road unless you take your tools with you and can shut the engine down and immediately pull over and remove the plugs for inspection. Most of us will just pull them in the garage and read them.

 

[yegg]

Thanks for the guide. That was a huge help. If I am looking at it correctly, I think I running a bit lean. So, now back to the original question. How can I correct a lean tune on an FP3 without going through an auto tune process?

Thanks.

 

[NGOT8R]

The rust on your plugs and head is not something you see very often. Do you park your bike outside in the elements without a cover? Here are some pics of my plugs with about 6800 miles on them. I switched to SE plugs about 5000 miles ago, but haven't removed them for inspection yet.

 

[yegg]

The rust on your plugs and head is not something you see very often. Do you park your bike outside in the elements without a cover?

Nope. The bike is parked inside in a garage all year. I do tend to wash my bike a lot.

 

[NGOT8R]

Thanks for the guide. That was a huge help. If I am looking at it correctly, I think I running a bit lean. So, now back to the original question. How can I correct a lean tune on an FP3 without going through an auto tune process?

Thanks.

Run premium fuel only if you don't already. You can also try running plugs one heat range colder. It doesn't sound like you want to run the bike in auto tune mode, but you should consider it because that would help straighten out your air fuel ratio. My brother just installed an FP3 on his 2017 CVO SG and initially, the a/f was rich at 11.75. When he put the bike in auto tune mode it leaned out the a/f to 13.09, which IMO is pretty good for a twin cooled motor. My target a/f is set at 12.8 via my T-Max which is about what I want for my air cooled motor.

 

[OldMike]

Thanks for the guide. That was a huge help. If I am looking at it correctly, I think I running a bit lean. So, now back to the original question. How can I correct a lean tune on an FP3 without going through an auto tune process?

Thanks.

Looking at the porcelain, your plugs look OK.
Plug reading is not exact on 25k plugs, but you get a general idea. I use the auto tune on my Power Vision, my bike runs very nice, have not even looked at a plug, won't bother till 20k then change the plugs with another set of stock plugs.

 

[danoday]

Your corrosion issue looks to be more like galvanic corrosion. Typical in some environments where the metal is exposed to moisture with the right Ph levels and an electrical source. Some cleaning agents are good for paint but bad for bare metals exposed to an electrical source.
Make sure your plug wires are properly seated and not cut any where, use some antioxidant paste on the plug. Avoid using cleaners in that area such as chemical sprays. Dry it when done washing. This will reduce spreading corrosion into the threaded area of the head.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[JokerToker]

The plug electrode ends look fine. Reading plugs is old fashioned and unreliable due to too many modern day fuel additives. The rust is from water pooling after you washed it. Buy yourself a inexpensive electric leaf blower and dry your bike off after washing.

 

[jchambers]

what he said... same applies to any automotive application. with ecm controlling fuel and spark, unless you have a bad lean or rich or oil control issue(of course these are going to be obvious) you really can't tell much reading a plug that looks like those.