Changed the spark plugs

Chalky723

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Jan 27, 2017
Messages
689
Reaction score
1
Location
Huntingdonshire, England
On my 650 - what a faff!!

I'm trying hard to think how they could have made it more awkward.

At least I won't have to do it again for a while.....

D
 
In 25 years time, when everything has gone electric, you’ll be reminiscing about how much you enjoyed working on an internal combustion engine... those were the days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Well done, I chickened out , even my local bike shop man said it was tedious. The small “tool” being required to remove the plug caps.........bonkers. My KH and KR Kawasaki’s are seconds to access the plugs. The KH even comes with a spare set of three. Such was the oiling of these bikes in their day��
 
My British bike riding mates ridiculed my Yamaha XS500, you had to take the tank off to access the plugs. Just got much harder since, tiny plug diameters at the end of very long access tunnels makes me worry about cross threading the head.
We now have the valves checked at 18000m and have the plugs changed at the same time while the air box etc is off.
 
My British bike riding mates ridiculed my Yamaha XS500, you had to take the tank off to access the plugs. Just got much harder since, tiny plug diameters at the end of very long access tunnels makes me worry about cross threading the head.
We now have the valves checked at 18000m and have the plugs changed at the same time while the air box etc is off.


XS 500 that brings back memories. Had mine about 3 or 4 years 30’000 miles , 2 Euro tours. Only two problems I had was a failed rectifier, and due to position of pivot on the swing arm it ate chains.

Now all I read are people saying they are rubbish plastic cams self desruct engines!! I guess I was lucky and bought a gud un.
 
On my 650 - what a faff!!

I'm trying hard to think how they could have made it more awkward.

At least I won't have to do it again for a while.....

D

Are you talking about the 650 single? I haven't changed the plugs on my 700 twin, but I remember the hassle on my 650 single. Each time I did it I found a different way of getting round the access problem in part. But then couldn't remember what I'd done for the next time.
 
Just given my F8GS it's pre winter service and have changed the plugs on it - no idea of when they werre last changed - bike was my son's before I got it and he'd never done them.

Having had several F8's before plus a F658Gs (the 800cc one :D), I kinda know my way around the bikes bodywork, so I don't find getting the airbox off a faff. It's just part of the job.

Getting the plug coils out, on the other hand, is a right pain without the right tool. I got an alloy coil removal tool earlier this year and used it for the 1st time last week. Sooooo much easier.

Whilst the airbox was off I did a little modification I'd tried out on an earlier F8 - I re-routed the engine breather pipe into a small externally mounted can and blanked off the airbox hole it left behind.
I find that regular use in the winter months - I ride all year round - leads to a build up of condensation within the air box. Before I realised this was a problem on my 1st F8GS, I ended up having to get the idle stepper motor re-set by the BMW mothership computer, as the large amount of condensation in the airbox had turned into a pool of shitty, oil stained water, that buggered up the stepper motors position and left me with very lumpy and un-even idle.

Just my mutterings.

SteveT

:cool:
 
I don't find getting the airbox off a faff. It's just part of the job.

I'd managed to go 49 years without having done it & wasn't planning on starting!

I still think it makes what should be a 5 minute job a complete pain in the arse.

D
 


Back
Top Bottom