Cleaning plugs

Champion grades go up a number in heat ratings - the next one up would
be an S10 or S11 if they make them.

The equivalent NGK (whatever number it is) would go down a number for a
hotter plug.

 

Blimey. Ta for that. I never knew. I just assumed higher number =
harder/colder plug and lower number = softer/hotter.

I thought it was a universal.

 

This is the one.

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

You're right for NGKs, and the vast majority of bikes use 'em anyway.
Champion have always been the other way round. Or rather, NGK have
always been the other way round from Champion, iyswim.

I grew up using Champion, but I found their failure rate to be
unacceptable compared to NGK.

 

Ahh.. A renault, explains the situation.

You can usually change pistons and rings without taking the engine out..
in a normal car, a renault would be a little different.

Have you tried Holts piston seal, would that be a solution?

 

Maybe it's running rich on one pot? Is that pot near a cole start
injector or something that could be leaking? Or is one injector a bit
fucked? Or is it a carb based system?

 

and a 130,000 mile on, at that..

NO, I haven't. It might, might it?

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

It's injection.

Diagnosis is beyond me on this one, but the garage I use, who do seem
to be quite good, say it's a worn ring allowing a bit of oil to pass
through. If that doesn't sound quite right, it's becasue it's a while
since they told be so my memory has gone a bit blurred on the matter.

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

Hooligan wrote :

A black and oily plug would be consistant with a badly worn or cracked
oil control ring. Does it make a ticking noise? That would be a cracked
ring.

I've never needed to try it, but the Holts Piston seal someone
mentioned might work for a while.

 

John said it was a carboned up plug, which may mean a fueling problem?

If it's not a concave top piston.

 

Which cylinder is having the problems? If it's bad enough to knacker a
plug, I'd expect it to be burning oil so you can see blue smoke when the
engine is hot. Winging Courier haf a car that used more oil than petrol,
and that didn't stop through choked up plugs, from what I can gather.

 

The plugs are black. Not sticky or damp, but hard dry black.

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

A quick google for spark plug cleaners

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9104

Frost do a lot of odd little home restorer tools.

--
Martin:
"For a minute there, you bored me to death."
VTR1000 Firestorm
TDR250 http://ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/tdr250.html
martin dot smith nine zero three at ntlworld dot com

 

This used to be a fairly common problem on old cars of the 60s/70s. A
cylinder with a broken ring or slightly worn bore/piston (as has been
mentioned) can foul the plug through oil useage without much in the blue
smoke department. It's just using a bit more oil in that cyl than
normal.

A hotter plug was the time-honoured method of living with it.

Probably hottish plugs to start with.

 

I put mine in the shot blaster at work

 

Well it still looks like a steel electrode encased in ceramic to me

 

raden says...

I buy new ones

 

'Coz you don't have a shot blaster ...

 

If only I had a standard airline.

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

raden says...

Cos I'm not pikey enough