Plug Foul on Left Rear

[Jinksy4]

Hey Folks,

 

Just changed what I think are the original plugs on my 2000 RSV with 12,000 miles. Bike ran great all last year since purchasing in 6-08 with 5,000 miles.

 

Question is the left rear plug is fouled. I don't know if it is a problem or not - so I took a few pictures and would like to have some experienced feedback.

 

Also, the left rear carb has some oil residue where the intake attaches to the carb. Cleaned out the air box - wasn't much oil but appeared to have pooled when the bike is on kick stand. Could that be the problem?

 

Thanks

[V7Goose]

You are right, that left rear plug is not looking too good. In addition, the other three don't all look the same. At a minimum you need to get a good sync on the carbs, but that left rear one may have other problems. Verify good spark (not just that it is there, but strong enough to cross the minimum required gap per the shop manual). If the spark is good, you may have one or more problems with that carb. Clean them good by using something like Seafoam in the fuel at max concentration for a couple of tanks and make sure you don't have any vacuum leaks at the caps and hoses on the intake manifold nipples. Hope that solves it without having to open the carbs. If it was me, just based on the look of the plugs and age of the bike, I'd pull the carb assembly and set the float levels anyway. That way you will know that is good and get a chance to see how much crud might be collected in there.

 

The oil residue is something completely different and harmless. The crank case vent tube runs into the air plenum above the carbs, so some oil mist up there is normal (over time it works its way out around the rubber boots). It seems to always be much heavier on the left rear, probably because that is the low point when the bike is sitting on side stand. Just spray some engine cleaner up around the area and hose it down good next time you wash the bike.

Goose

[rek58]

Had the same problem on my '01. Bike was running great, then one day started mifiring and one cylinder started fouling out. Ended up being the coil. I would bet there is a test in the downloadable repair manual here.

[Jinksy4]

Thanks for the info - will follow up on it and see what I got to deal with.