What do these spark plugs say to you?

[62 bugzilla]

same

My plugs look almost exactly like these so I'm interested to hear what you do to solve it. I searched around and thought it might just be that the inside 2 and 3 cyl. run hotter than the outside since they don't have the same amount of cooling fins? My bike runs great but still allittle cold blooded so I thought it might be on the lean side because of that. I have done all the normal repairs like carb dip, rebuilt carbs, orings, plugs, valve adjust and so on.

[FlyingSteve]

2 and 3 look fine... I really don't get why you guys keep saying they look lean. There is some flaky white crap on the ground strap but that is more than likely from fuel additives... The base ring looks good and the ceramic doesn't appear to be glazed over or melted and at least from that picture, I don't see any metal flecking or specks on the ceramic, but that can be tough to see from a picture like that.

Are you guys basing the A/F from the color of the ceramic insulator? If so, that is NOT the proper way to read a spark plug! If you want to learn the proper way to read a plug then read the links I posted, especially the one on the BMW forum.

[don]

Thanks for all the great replies and links. I guess the answer you get depends on the way the question is asked.

I know how to read plugs pretty good. I did it for over 20 years while racing everything from small single cylinder cars to v-8's. I also know to get a TRUE plug read, what you guys call chopps is a must. I'm not racing it, I'm riding it to work and around the countryside.

I can change any one of the four plugs to look anyway I want them. I just don't know how mutch combustion heat or overfueling these little high-revers can handle without damaging the valves as a daily driver. From what (combined average) all of you have suggested, I'm thinking I should fatten the center two up a smidge and lean the outer to out a half a smidge.

Hows that sound............

[BassCliff]

Thank you Mr. Flying Steve,

I have seen those pages before and probably should have included them in my list. But since most of us don't race or need intricately technical details about spark plugs, I chose not to overwhelm the original poster. I appreciate your thoroughness.

http://www.4strokes.com/tech/sparkplg.asp

http://www.4secondsflat.com/Spark_plug_reading.html

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1282968

Bass, those links you posted have lots of nice pictures with little "one size fits all" explanations, but they do not tell or rather teach you how to actually read all the different parts of a spark plug. That would be like sizing a book up by it's cover.

Enjoy!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[FlyingSteve]

It wasn't really thoroughness, it's just the right way to read a plug... Which is far from staring at an old grainy picture with a generic description next to it.