Unfortunately my bike is subject to on street parking, all year round and is exposed to weather. I leave her on the sidestand as she periodically gets knocked over regardless of which stand I use and at least on the sidestand she has less distance to fall, and gets less damage.
As a result of being on the side stand, the rain inevitably sits around spark plug number 3. Brown rust emerges from around the ceramic/white bit, the shiny metal bit gets all corroded and pitted and my bike then misfires at high revs and runs lumpy as hell.
I now replace spark plug 3 every six months!! This time with a liberal coating of red rubber grease. She now runs right as rain (bad pun :rollin).
What can I do to improve the life of spark plug 3? I've used a bike cover through winter but these don't last very long.
Drain hole blocked or not blocked it's still going to collect water from being leaned to one side on the stand. The only way around it is to cover the bike or maybe a make some sort of small shield to deflect the rain away from that area.
(12-04-16, 07:11 PM)His Dudeness link Wrote: Drain hole blocked or not blocked it's still going to collect water from being leaned to one side on the stand. The only way around it is to cover the bike or maybe a make some sort of small shield to deflect the rain away from that area.
You mean like a cover? :lol
More people are born because of alcohol than will ever die from it.
(12-04-16, 09:16 PM)His Dudeness link Wrote: Maybe some sort of rain deflecting anti gravitational force field around spark plug three :lol
In fairness it's not always practical to put a full cover over a bike so a small guard to deflect water away from the spark plugs is a good idea
I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned much more often to be honest, as there are plenty of people that don't garage their bikes overnight.
Mine's left out in the elements on a daily basis, but not 24/7.
I used to use a cover at work but taking it off and storing it when it's chucking it down became a bit of a chore so i haven't used it in ages.
In Bretty's case i would make sure the drain hole is clear, give the area around the plugs a blast of air occasionally then just cover it with WD40 every now and then.
Changing a plug every 6 months sounds very excessive to me.
Or the more expensive way is to consider an extension of the fairing.
More people are born because of alcohol than will ever die from it.
There seems to be a rubber flap under the tank that flops / drapes down on top of the spark plugs. I've no idea what it does but was thinking of making something similar, zip tied to the frame and flapped over the right hand side of the engine to prevent it collecting rain.
Would that be a good idea, or would it affect the cooling of the engine?
(13-04-16, 09:03 AM)Bretty link Wrote: There seems to be a rubber flap under the tank that flops / drapes down on top of the spark plugs. I've no idea what it does but was thinking of making something similar, zip tied to the frame and flapped over the right hand side of the engine to prevent it collecting rain.
Would that be a good idea, or would it affect the cooling of the engine?
Flaps should be lower down, they're in place to guide water to the drainage holes.
More people are born because of alcohol than will ever die from it.
(13-04-16, 11:47 AM)darrsi link Wrote: [quote author=Bretty link=topic=19841.msg229179#msg229179 date=1460534639]
There seems to be a rubber flap under the tank that flops / drapes down on top of the spark plugs. I've no idea what it does but was thinking of making something similar, zip tied to the frame and flapped over the right hand side of the engine to prevent it collecting rain.
Would that be a good idea, or would it affect the cooling of the engine?
Flaps should be lower down, they're in place to guide water to the drainage holes.
[/quote]
This debate was had many moons ago probably on the yuku site. As to whether that flap should be pointing down towards the spark plugs or down the front of the engine. I think down the front of the engine. Surely that's better than guiding water down at the spark plugs.
(13-04-16, 02:58 PM)His Dudeness link Wrote: [quote author=darrsi link=topic=19841.msg229195#msg229195 date=1460544438]
[quote author=Bretty link=topic=19841.msg229179#msg229179 date=1460534639]
There seems to be a rubber flap under the tank that flops / drapes down on top of the spark plugs. I've no idea what it does but was thinking of making something similar, zip tied to the frame and flapped over the right hand side of the engine to prevent it collecting rain.
Would that be a good idea, or would it affect the cooling of the engine?
Flaps should be lower down, they're in place to guide water to the drainage holes.
[/quote]
This debate was had many moons ago probably on the yuku site. As to whether that flap should be pointing down towards the spark plugs or down the front of the engine. I think down the front of the engine. Surely that's better than guiding water down at the spark plugs.
[/quote]
I suspect that with the flap forward, airflow will have more effect than gravity and the rain will stream off the sides and spray over the plug caps more than with the flap down. The manual shows the flap positioned down.
Not that either position will have much effect when the bike's on the sidestand.
