Sparkplugs:
Types
You may of noticed that there are hundreds of types, sizes and brands of spark plugs on the market. But out of that huge selection, only a handful will work with the motorcycle engine you own. Also different brands (NGK, Bosch, DENSO, Champion, Esc) will work better on different types of engines.

As a general rule of thumb, use the sparkplug your manufacturer recommends for your motorcycle (same brand and part number). Unfortunately some spark plugs are very specific to a type of engine and make only for that engine such as the NGK ME8 for $34.23 per sparkplug, compared to the "normal" price of $2-4 per sparkplug.

Reading a spark plug correctly: (clickable chart)
There are two different main ways to read a spark plug. #1. The first way is to just unscrew it out of the engine and take a look at the end of it, matching the chart below. #2. The second way is the same as #1 except you go for a really hard high revving ride on the bike, pull over and then unscrew each plug to read them. (Just make sure to use gloves as they will be very hot).

A spark plug can easily and quickly tell you the condition of an engine (good or poor), how it is running (rich or lean) and how much it will cost to fix it.


CARBON DEPOSITS
Symptoms: Dry sooty deposits indicate a rich mixture or weak ignition. Causes misfiring, hard shifting and hesitation.

Recommendations: Check for a clogged air element, high float level, sticky choke and worn ignition points. Use a spark plug with a longer core nose for greater anti-fouling protection.

OIL DEPOSITS
Symptoms: Oily coating caused by poor oil control. Oil is leaking past worn valve guides or piston rings into the combustion chamber. Causes hard starting, misfiring and hesitation.

Recommendations: Correct the mechanical condition with necessary repairs and install new plugs.

TOO HOT
Symptoms: Blistered, white insulator, eroded electrode and absence of deposits. Results in shortened plug life.

Recommendations: Check for the correct plug heat range, over-advanced ignition timing, lean fuel mixture, intake manifold vacuum leaks and sticking valves. Check the coolant level and make sure the radiator is not clogged.

PREIGNITION
Symptoms: Melted electrodes. Insulators are white, but may be dirty due to misfiring of flying debris in the combustion chamber. Can lead to engine damage.

Recommendation: Check for the correct plug heat range, over-advanced ignition timing, lean fuel mixture, clogged cooling system and lack of lubrication.

HIGH SPEED GLAZING
Symptoms: Insulator has yellowish, glazed appearance. Indicate that combustion chamber temperatures have risen suddenly during hard acceleration. Normal deposits melt to form a conductive coating. Causes misfiring at high speeds.

Recommendation: Install new plugs. Consider using a colder plug if driving habits warrant.

GAP BRIDGING
Symptoms: Combustion deposits lodge between the electrodes. Heavy deposits accumulate and bridge the electrode gap. The plug ceases to fire… resulting in a dead cylinder.

Recommendation: Locate the faulty plug and remove the deposits from between the electrodes.

NORMAL
Symptoms: Brown to grayish-tan color and slight electrode wear. Correct heat range for engine and operating conditions.

Recommendations: When new spark plugs are installed replace with plugs of the same heat range.

ASH DEPOSITS
Symptoms: Light brown deposits encrusted on the side or center electrodes or both. Derived from oil and/or fuel additives. Excessive amounts may mask the spark, causing misfiring and hesitation during acceleration.

Recommendation: If excessive deposits accumulate over a short time or low mileage, install new valve guide seals to prevent seepage or oil into the combustion chambers. Also try changing gasoline brands.

WORN
Symptoms: Rounded electrodes with a small amount of deposits on the firing end. Normal color. Causes hard starting in damp or cold weather and poor fuel economy.

Recommendation: Replace with new plugs of the same heat range.

DETONATION
Symptoms: Insulators may be cracked or chipped, improper gap setting techniques can also result in a fractured insulator tip. Can lead to piston damage.

Recommendation: Make sure the fuel antiknock values meet engine requirements. Use care when setting the gaps on new plugs. Avoid lugging the engine.

SPLASHED DEPOSITS
Symptoms: After long periods of misfiring, deposits can loosen when normal combustion temperature is restored by an overdue tune-up. At high speeds, deposits flake off the piston and are thrown against the hot insulator, causing misfiring.

Recommendations: Replace the plugs with new ones or clean and reinstall the originals.

MECHANICAL DAMAGE
Symptoms: May be caused by a foreign object in the combustion chamber or the piston striking an incorrect reach (too long) plug. Causes a dead cylinder and could result in piston damage.

Recommendation: remove the foreign object from the engine and/or install the correct reach plug.

Sparkplug Caps:

Tip: Don't use decorative or spark arching type sparkplugs.

There are many different styles and types of sparkplug caps. Try to use the sparkplug cap that best matches the angle between the spark plug wire and spark plug itself. No matter what shape the spark plug cap is, is will perform the same.

Try to avoid "decorate" or spark arching type spark plug caps as they will LOWER the power to the sparkplug and you will have a weaker spark on stock systems.


Sparkplug Gap
Tip: If you use the exact same sparkplug as your motorcycle manufacturer recommends the sparkplug should be (99%) properly gapped to the correct size. Checking a gap only takes seconds to do.

Always check that the spark plug gap is compatible with the engine manufacturers specification. A gap that is too small means that the spark duration will be very quick and the spark will be thin and weak. The consequences of this may be bad starting and high exhaust emission levels. This will result in an increase in fuel consumption. If the gap is set too large, the ignition system will not be able to cope with the demands and a misfire situation will occur. Some wide gap spark plugs have a longer ground electrode to accommodate a wide gap setting. These must be used where specified, as opening up a standard plug to a wider gap setting may result in the electrodes not running parallel to each other. This could result in abnormal and premature electrode wear.

Hot and Cold Sparkplugs
Tip: It is better to fix the problem than to change the sparkplug to patch it up.

Why Hot and Cold Sparkplugs? Using a hotter or colder sparkplug can be just the fix to an engine problem. Very basely, if your motorcycle engine
is running hot then try using a colder plug, if it is running hot try a colder plug.

NGK diagram showing insulator and heat range

Hot Plug
- has a longer insulator nose length
- less heat is absorbed by the plug and transferred to the cooling system
- the plug runs at a higher temperature
- the plug is more prone to pre-ignition (if greater than 850 degrees C)
- NGK BP5ES is hotter than a BP7ES plug.
- An overheated plug will be white with brown spots.

Cold Plug
- has a shorter insulator nose length
- more heat is absorbed by the plug and transferred to the cooling system
- the plug runs at a lower temperature
- the plug is more prone to fouling (if less than 500 degrees C)
- NGK BP7ES is cooler than a BP5ES plug.
- A fouled plug will be black and sooty.

Influences to spark plug temperature
Any of the following situations can increase spark plug temperature:
-Lean air/fuel mixtures
-Increasing compression
-Forced induction (Supercharging, turbocharging or Nitrous)
-Camshaft change
-Advancing ignition timing
-Higher engine speed
-Higher engine load
-Lower air temperature (more dense air resulting in leaner air/fuel mixture)
-Lower humidity (more dense air resulting in leaner air/fuel mixture)

» Read More...

There are many potential causes of a flat tire. The most common is a nail or other sharp object lying in the road which punctures the tread as you drive over it. However, damage to the valve stem, vandalism, and even a traffic collision can also cause your wheel to lose most of its air. If your treads are severely worn, even relatively blunt objects can puncture them.

If you’re fortunate enough to have run-flat tires installed on your vehicle, you’ll be able to drive to an auto repair shop to have the damaged tire replaced. Otherwise, you may be forced to do the work yourself. Below, I’ll take you through the process of changing a flat tire.

First Step: The Jack

Your car should have a spare and a jack in the trunk. Many pick-up trucks and SUVs have them installed underneath the frame. Once you have retrieved them, make sure your vehicle is in “Park” and the emergency brake has been set. Before raising your car, loosen each of the lugs on the offending wheel (turn them counterclockwise). Don’t remove them; simply loosen them.

Next, place the jack under a sturdy portion of the frame and raise your car. If you’re not sure whether a particular area has enough strength, check your owner’s manual. One important note of caution: do not do this if you’re parked on an incline. Your automobile can easily move as you’re raising it.

Second Step: The Lugs

Once your car has been raised with sufficient room to take off the flat tire, you’ll need to remove the loosened lugs. Make sure that you place them in a secure area to avoid losing them. Even though each wheel has several lugs, it is unsafe to drive if even one of them is missing.

Third Step: The Replacement

Removing the offending wheel is easy with the lugs not holding it in place. Simply slide it off the supporting studs. The difficult part is aligning the replacement (the spare) on the studs. Wheels are heavy. You may find yourself struggling to lift the spare while trying to fit the studs through the right holes.

Once you have fit the studs through the holes in the spare, you’ll need to replace the lugs in order to secure the wheel. Turn each lug carefully to avoid threading issues. Also, consider replacing them in a star pattern. That is, replace the top lug first and then replace one of the bottom lugs.

After you have tightened the lugs by hand, lower your car and remove the jack. Then, tighten the lugs securely with your tire iron while your vehicle is resting on the ground. Again, follow a star pattern beginning with the topmost lug.

Keep in mind, most spares can only be driven for a limited number of miles at a reduced speed. But, even though they’re not true replacements, they’ll help you get your car back on the road to the nearest auto garage.

» Read More...

Auto Gas mileage is the miles your car will run for each gallon of gas. Let’s find your car’s gas mileage. Gas Mileage Tracker can print out MPG reports sorted by car or by date on the fill ups. A blank report can be printed to be used as a form to fill out any MPG fuel data by hand while you are at the gas station. Gas mileage depends on engine of vehicle i.e.

Gas mileage has gone up. Surging and then coasting conflicts with several laws of physics. Auto Gas Mileage Tracker is a MPG program designed to help you understand and track your gas mileage and gasoline usage. You can track your total miles and gas mileage, your total highway miles and highway gas mileage, as well as your city miles and city gas mileage.

Car pool to work. Try not to drive during rush hour to reduce idling in traffic. Carmakers do what we tell them to do with our money . If consumers choose auto gas mileage over size, carmakers will make cars with better gas mileage. Cars must average 27.5 miles per gallon. The government’s measure overstates actual fuel economy by 18 percent, experts say.

Fuel efficiency is a sound national energy policy, economic policy and foreign policy all wrapped into one. Every increase of one mile per gallon in auto fuel efficiency yields more oil than is in two Arctic National Wildlife Refuges. Fuel economy, however, dropped across the board. In highway driving, auto gas mileage decreased from 21 to 15 mpg; in city driving, it dropped from 9 to 7 mpg. FuelEconomy.gov gives some numbers on the 2007 Hybrid SUVs, showing us that the average mpg on these cars is around 30 mpg. What this means in terms of your own pocket is that it’ll currently cost you about $40 to fill up one of these babies and you’ll be able to drive over 400 miles before filling up again.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the all wheel drive Subaru Forester ranks nearly as high in fuel mileage as the front wheel drive only competition. This makes it a best buy and we highly recommend it if you need the traction. Perhaps with using higher octane on these so-called “high-performance” engines we can get better mileage? Perhaps you left the car idling a long time. Maybe you did a lot of stop-and-go driving.

Hybrid owners haven’t been exempt from feeling this pinch either. In our testing, we fell way short of EPA estimates of 60 mpg city and 51 mpg highway. Hybrids combine gas engines with electric motors. You don’t need to plug your car in at night, and you get terrific mileage, averaging from 40 to 60 miles per gallon for passenger cars, such as the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic hybrid.

You can get lot of informations about improving your auto gas mileage by visiting Auto Gas Mileage

» Read More...