clean plugs

[1100lt]

Hello to everyone I was out on my bike had a nice ride got home decided to check plugs and to my unhappy eyes no1,2,and 3 were clean as a whistle,no4 was black and sooty. Same old story k&n pods 4into1 v&h megaphone used a jet kit. But the thing that kills me is it ran dead on through the whole throttle range. Any ideas would be appreciated

[Dave8338]

Check the idle mixture screw...and or you may have a bad plug. Ive had that happen on "the cars", after a run or two, and for no real reason, you pull the plugs to have a look and "what the H3!!, this one is fouled". Unlike a bike, I run single carbs for a set up and there is little if any chance that it can be carb related in that particular situation. Throw a new plug in it and run it again, that will tell the story.

[Guest]

Unscrew the spark plug cap and make sure it has good wire to bite on. You can cut the wire just a little for good meat. Then try a new plug.

[chuckycheese]

Plug

With all the bikes and cars I've had in the last 40 years (I wish I could say 20 years), I've never, ever seen a bad plug...all I've ever seen were situations that caused a plug to go bad. Lean your mixture and take a good, hard spin...and see what happens. Let us know!!:?

[txironhead]

With all the bikes and cars I've had in the last 40 years (I wish I could say 20 years), I've never, ever seen a bad plug...all I've ever seen were situations that caused a plug to go bad. Lean your mixture and take a good, hard spin...and see what happens. Let us know!!:?

Obviously you've never tried Splitfires......I've had three that were bad out of the box. I even had a Champion lawnmower plug that was dead brand new, probably factory defect (like forgetting to put in the electrode). THAT was a fun thing to diagnose.....

Now I stick to Bosch or Denso for the cars, NGK for the bikes. Never had a problem with any of them.

[Guest]

I've had bad luck with Champion also. Haven't had a bad NGK yet. Knock on wood.:-D

[1100lt]

Clean Plugs

I'm more concerned with the three plugs that are almost white, I mean there is no color to them at all I don't want to turn the pistons into shop decorations! I read somewhere if you turn the screws in it richens the mixture true or false? Thanks again

[Mark whiz]

The idle adjusting screw for the pilot circuit richens the mixture when you turn it OUT, screwing it down closes off the pilot circuit or leans it.

[ozarkdrb]

Bad Plug

I have had plugs have problems if they were pretty old in that they would not restart bike after it was hot.
Re-gapped, nice tan color and all... Slip in a new one and all is well!
Vibrations loosen electrode after a while? Insulator gets tiny hair cracks? Who knows... It's cheap enough to change 'em!
Ozarkdrb

[1100lt]

clean plugs

I think the pilots are 170 what way do I go to richenit up, the screws are out 2.75 turns it seems I should change the pilots

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Try another plug as others said, because it's easy to do. Check for clean/solid electrical connections too.
Be sure the bike is ready to re-jet. That means valve clearances, ignition timing, clean/adjusted carbs, etc.
A good vacuum synch is necessary before checking performance and getting accurate plug reads. After a good bench synch (to make the final vacuum synch easier) you need to warm up fully and then adjust the mixture screws using the highest rpm method. If your pilot jet is the correct size and the pilot circuit is clean, the screws should effect the idle as expected. After the highest rpm method is complete, then you vacuum synch with a gauge. Then you can road test.
You need to test the pilot circuit, jet needle, and main jets at specific throttle positions to see how each circuit is mixing and for us to help you re-jet.
Test the main at full throttle and chop off and check the plugs.
Test the jet needles at solid 1/3 throttle.
Test the pilot circuit at minimal throttle, something like steady cruising in 4th/5th gear at about 35/40 mph will do. All tests on level or uphill ground is a little better, motor FULLY warmed up first.

[txironhead]

Another possibility is that you need a new plug socket. You can get them cheap, like $5. NGK is the best.

[1100lt]

clean plugs

I did let the bike sit awhile (5 months) so I put fresh gas in. Then I went through the carbs and jumped up to 165 mains, it was still a little lean on # 2 cylinder so I went to 170 mains and move clip down to the 4th notch.I also put in the air corrector plugs that come in the dyna jet kit?The Bike pulls real hard but now I hit a wall at 5000 rpms no matter what speed i'm at or throttle position. I have continued to sync the carbs just to make sure there on. Thanks again for all the help

[Guest]

You have a 1980 1100 with 170 main jets? Wow that's FAT!

[1100lt]

yea that's what came in the kit, the stage 2 setup said to use that main jet, the electrode on the plugs is real clean and the very top of the ceramic is clean. Futher in the plug the ceramic is black.