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Plugs dying?

My bike is a swine to start on occasion. If not used for a few weeks, it generally floods one cylinder (of 2 ), but does pick up once it warms up.

Occasionally, the other cyclinder does not run, so I have to take the plug out, and, on a number of occasions, the plug has been dead, giving no spark at all, even when dried out thoroughly.

The answer I was told was to use platinum plugs. So I fitted a pair before Christmas, used the bike for a week, then didnt use it for another 6 weeks. When trying to start it after this lay off, it ran on one cylinder for a few minutes. I took the errant plug out, and it was dead, less than 500 miles on it, so the flooding obviously (?) shortened its life considerably.

Could anyone give a reason why the plugs do this?

Ta Alan.

[And yes, I have found the cause of the fault, an oversized jet, and a choke that blocks all air, so there are vast amounts of petrol being sucked in when cold]
Reply to
A.Lee
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maybe it has a weak coil, faulty lead or cap. you haven't said what bike it is, so that would help, but maybe a bike forum/group would be even better. flooded plugs are sometimes recoverable by heating them through with a blowlamp.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

For a start Those platinum plugs - what type and grade.

Putting platinum plugs in something that there not recommended for, is a mistake - they don't last any time. Especially with unleaded petrol.

make sure the plugs are of the recommended grade, if you can read the plugs colour ie black too rich then maybe go a grade hotter to burn off the excess.

Have you checked the carburation to see why its flooding? I would also be looking at the leads and coil pack and get them tested.

Reply to
Rob

Platinum plugs are for reliable idle ignition on fuel injected engines fitted with catalytic converters. A cat will die if it frequently has raw fuel going though it such as will happen with idle misfires. They don't work on poor mixtures any better than a normal copper plug.

Did you try the dead plug on the other cylinder?

Were they the right grade plugs?

NGK? Anything else should go straight in the bin.

Is it a single coil wasted spark system (usual on parallel twin) or separate coils for each plug (180deg or V-twin)?

Does it have points or is it electronic?

Does it have CDI?

uk.rec.motorcycles is that way >>>>

Reply to
Peter Hill

.. it depends .. what bike etc but your following paragraph says that the plugs can't get to the correct temperature 'cos too much fuel in the mixture means they run colder than their optimal temperature.

Sort this first, get the mixture correct, get a new set of plugs, try it anew .. ;) No point blaming the plugs when they're trying to work too cold and knowing there are underlying issues.

Reply to
Paul - xxx

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