Popping on decel... possible remedy.

[Jeff Tate]

I've read several posts in the past dealing with popping and banging from the exhaust while decelerating. I've also had this problem in the past and just wanted to let everyone know what I came across by accident the other day. I recently thought I'd put in a fresh set of spark plugs, so I just thought I'd go with the standard NGKs (The other plugs were Splitfires that I'd put in a couple of years ago but didn't really have many miles on them, but what the hey!) Well ever since then I noticed more popping and such while decelerating and cruising steady felt ok but sounded kind of surgy. I checked everything I could think of , so the other night I put the Splitfires back in on a whim and... Wow! instant smooth again and barely any popping. Just so you know i used the same gap on both sets of plugs. I know most people don't believe in some of these "magic" gimmicks and I'm pretty skeptical when trying something new also but spark plugs are relatively cheap so I gave them a try. I'm not saying it's a miracle cure for this problem or will work everytime for everyone. But it seems to work for me. I just thiught I'd let you all know it might work as a last resort. Also the Splitfires were colored just about as perfect as I've seen and the NGKs looked lean...??? Anyone have an explanation for this?

[Motorcyclemodeller]

Spark plugs have different heat ranges, which vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Sounds like the bike was set up for the splitfires, seeing as you got a perfect colour reading. When the plugs where changed, the carburetors where not ajusted for the new plugs and ran lean causing backfire. I always use the same plugs for replacement, it the spitfires work well...........continue to use them. Try a new set of splitfires to make sure the colour readings are the same. Double check the spark gap, that can also cause problems.

Cheers!

Dr. Dre

[Jeff Tate]

Although the Splitfires are a direct cross reference to the NGKs the tips of the Splitfires do protrude out a little farther. Thanks for the reply. I just thought this was kind of odd.

[Anonymous]

Use platinum plugs.

Spark plugs with a smaller electrode fire more intensely and tend to fire more reliably.

This is because the "electromagnetic field" is more concentrated on a sharper electrode.

There are different Platinum plugs. Get the brand that has the smallest center electrode.