Spark plug apperance question

[dingy]

Below are a couple of pictures of a plug I pulled from bike.

 

Any comments on its appearance and related engine tweaks would be appreciated.

 

Plug was pulled after low speed ride & pulling into garage.

 

Iridium plug. About 1300 miles on it.

 

1300 engine

 

Vmax heads

 

Mains 150 jet

 

PAJ2 160 jet

 

Four 7/16" dia holes in air box lid

 

K&N air filter

 

 

Gary

 

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/PICT0288.jpg

 

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/PICT0289.jpg

[buddy]

Kinda hard for me to tell the color of the plug:think:? possible blackish color?

engine maybe just a hair rich?

Plug should have a brown to a grayish tan color

mine look more like the grayish tan color when I remove them

 

[camos]

Here are two links with useful info for reading spark plugs:

http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Plugs/Spark_Plugs_catalog.html

http://www.empirenet.com/pkelley2/sparkplugreading.html

 

The first one is a bunch of pix that probably relate to the time when we used to run real gasoline in our engines. The second link is probably for plugs burning more recent fuel types. Hope you find them helpful.

[MiCarl]

Gary,

 

I can never read them well in pictures but will give it my best shot.

 

It appears the insulators are the same color as the board the plugs are laying on. If so, it is lean but not real lean. If they're white you're very lean.

 

If it were mine, I'd turn the pilot screw out 1/2 turn and see if I could get it to darken up a bit.

[straycatt]

I'm going to qualify my opinion with this disclaimer.......it is extremely difficult to judge how a plug is burning by a picture, too many camera exposure variables.

 

That being said, they look good to me.

 

As long as the insulator isn't stark white and there are no signs of either, the electrodes deteriorating or big pieces of foreign material on the insulator......you should be good to go.

 

Assuming no other poor performance indicators, I'd run a mix like that without concern.

[Kirby]

Below are a couple of pictures of a plug I pulled from bike.

 

Any comments on its appearance and related engine tweaks would be appreciated.

 

Plug was pulled after low speed ride & pulling into garage.

 

Iridium plug. About 1300 miles on it.

 

1300 engine

 

Vmax heads

 

Mains 150 jet

 

PAJ2 160 jet

 

Four 7/16" dia holes in air box lid

 

K&N air filter

 

 

Gary

 

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/PICT0288.jpg

 

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/PICT0289.jpg

 

 

 

Gonna go out on a limb here and give my 2 cents worth. I'm assuming the insulator is a light tan, like others have said it's really hard to judge by pics. Since it was after a low speed ride and pulling into the garage, and there's no evidence of any kind of blistering, and the insulator isn't real white, and the electrode isn't burned back or fouled, I'd say you are pretty much good to go. I'd do a normal to brisk ride and check them again. If they come out the same you'll probably be OK.

[jrsc4excel]

Dingy: If you really want a true plug reading you should always drive the unit until it is at normal operating temps. Then instead of coming to a slow stop and shutting down the motor you will need to use the kill switch at a fair speed and then coast in to your garage. If you do it this way you will always get a true plug reading.

[Kirby]

Dingy: If you really want a true plug reading you should always drive the unit until it is at normal operating temps. Then instead of coming to a slow stop and shutting down the motor you will need to use the kill switch at a fair speed and then coast in to your garage. If you do it this way you will always get a true plug reading.

 

 

:sign yeah that:

[jasonm.]

one thing. spark plugs do not change color instantly. You need to run the same load and speed for miles to get a true indication. BUT if you are too rich at idle(like me) and you slow down, then kill the engine. You can get a misreading because you did not kill the engine prior to slowing. The reading won't be far off. But a bit of soot could show at the tip. Take it from me...I know.