I know the scheduled maintenance says change the spark plugs at 7500mi. Am I the only one who sees that interval as being a little short? I know these aren't platinum tipped or anything, but even crappy spark plugs in a car will go 30,000 easy. My bike is at 7800mi and still runs like the day I bought it. Unless someone here can give me a good reason, I'm not touching the plugs yet. Thoughts?
Yes, I know new ones only cost like $2. I am cheap.
man i would... I never reach the interval because I change them often. Nothing so cheap can hurt the bikes performance like a plug... and nothing is easier to change. You say it runs like new, but often, new plugs will surprize you.
I totally forgot about that, thanks for the reminder. I just rolled over 7700 miles so I am not that far. But that does seem short.
I change mine every other oil change (that would be every 8000 miles), but I check them every oil change, and sometimes change them then, too (4000 miles). They're cheap to replace.
At least check and clean them if they need it. I've ran mine longer than that and when I changed them at 11,000 miles I didn't notice a performance gain, but they are cheap so :dunno_white: you're probally fine but there isn't much reason not to change them.
So to change the topic slightly, has anyone tried platnum, irridium, splitfire, or any other fancy plug? If so could you please share your results? Thanks :thumb:
umm, no thats way to short on time.
i have got jsut over 18,000 only 04 stock plugs the gap is still as the right setting
how ever it is startinng to show wear. but i aint changing them any time soon.
i think they will last the life of the engine personly
Two little data points to compare the 7,500 change vs cars at 30,000 or whatever:
1) M/C timing is weird - some fire on both the compression and the exhaust stroke, or something strange like that.
2) M/C engines spin at much higher rpm's - I know I spend a lot of time in the 3,500-5,000rpm range on the GS vs. 2,500 or so in cars I've had.
Quick and dirty math: 7,500mi X 2 (2 sparks/cycle) X 2 (2x the rpm), ergo, something equiv to the same number of sparks in 7,500 on a bike as a car spark plug enjoys in +/- 30,000mi.
(All based on the questionable assumption that sparks = units of wear on a plug...)
i have 13k on mine bought it new have not changed them .. seems find to me .. i'v wondered about putting some new plugs in it .. buti was wonding if you put a splitfire,danso or any hotter plugs whats that gonna do to the bike .. with it being air cooled ?
I've run Splitfires for about 3,500mi in my GS. The bike is faster and rides better 'cause there's slightly less cash in my wallet slowing us down.
I used them in an old Lotus I used to have, and believe that Splitfires were a critical part of getting the richly-tuned beast through the CO vintage emmissions test after failing once. I was chatting with a service mngr at a Suz dealership today about a number of things today, he expressed the belief that Splitfires offer no gain for a stock GS500. His $0.02.
pricey plugs do not make more power unless there is a power adder.
stock nkg plugs is all it needs and will ever need. fyi. all New cars and trucks have at lease a 100k plug change my dads 02 dodge ram with 180k has the stock plugs and only shows little wear.
were not in the 60's any more guys, the only time a plug needs to be replaced is when one of the following happens
1. a crack head wants a cheap pipe
2. you wash the bike after you get off and crack the proslmen(spell) on the plug
3. it runs lean and burns it up.
4. you brake it removing it to check it
5. you drop it after checking it.
its like saying you injectors need cleaning on a car. no they dont and if it did the damn thing would start. there are two filters on each and every car truck that is efi
on the pump and in the line.
on cars the plug wires have more heat around them as they dont get near as much air flow as a mc (make sence right), the wires do break down (heat is the major killer of all wires, next to the current)
but each there own. personly i would worry about. replaceing parts just because you think its bad.going back can and will become pricey and you form a bad habit of doing it all the time, instead of trouble shooting.
Oh great i have a headache now cuz someone just had to put math on the board.
13.5k on stock plugs and she runs better than the day I bought her.
thats because she broken in
Quote from: CO_GS500 on September 26, 2006, 08:18:34 PM
The bike is faster and rides better 'cause there's slightly less cash in my wallet slowing us down.
:) Can't argue with that.
Sorry about the math-induced headache, thatguy1025. We unemployed Accountants are a dangerous lot and need to be kept working and off the boards. :icon_lol:
Good luck in Honduras, maybe get yourself an XL250 or similar to hack around on while you're down there.
Bought my bike with 6900 miles and AFAIK the plugs were not changed. I now have over 19000 miles with those same plugs. I'm thinking about changing them sometime soon, they're starting to look a bit worn. I keep an eye on them and make sure the gap is correct, but otherwise I figure if they're working I'll stay with them. I'm probably more concerned about buying new plugs and getting a bad one. I've seen that a couple times with NGK's.