britman
Nitrous
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,391
- Location
- Fredericksburg, Virginia
- Ride
- 2005 Rocket 3/2014 Moto Guzzi Touring
I did a little research among all of the R3 sites before doing a spark plug change on my bike while doing the Eastern Beaver headlight relay install. Since the cold months are upon us here in the US and the winter maintenance fairy will be calling, here is a combination of what I found and tried to make the process a breeze.
1. You can rotate the gas tank completely out of the way without disconnecting the fuel lines. Simply remove the tank bolt and turn it sideways across the frame where the battery is located. There is plenty slack in the hoses, but make sure you put down a towel to prevent paint damage or contact with the battery terminals.
2. If possible blow out the spark plug hole with compressed air before removing the plug. I keep a clean motorcycle but there still was quite a bit of crap in the wells on my bike.
3. The stock plug socket works fine, just use a 17mm or 5/8th socket on the top to loosen the plugs.
4. When installing the new plugs use just a touch of anti seize on the treads and they will go in smooth and come out 30 or 40 thousand miles later with no problem.
5. Use a piece of 5/16" fuel line about 3 or 4 inches long pushed on the top of the plug to set it in place and hand tighten prior to using the socket. With this, the risk of cross threading is all but eliminated.
6. Do not over tighten the plugs. A good final tug on the socket is all that is needed to seat the new ones.
My bike had the original plugs still in after 30k and what a difference a change made. I know allot of these tips well known to the real wrench spinners on this site, but maybe they can assist someone doing this procedure for the first time.
1. You can rotate the gas tank completely out of the way without disconnecting the fuel lines. Simply remove the tank bolt and turn it sideways across the frame where the battery is located. There is plenty slack in the hoses, but make sure you put down a towel to prevent paint damage or contact with the battery terminals.
2. If possible blow out the spark plug hole with compressed air before removing the plug. I keep a clean motorcycle but there still was quite a bit of crap in the wells on my bike.
3. The stock plug socket works fine, just use a 17mm or 5/8th socket on the top to loosen the plugs.
4. When installing the new plugs use just a touch of anti seize on the treads and they will go in smooth and come out 30 or 40 thousand miles later with no problem.
5. Use a piece of 5/16" fuel line about 3 or 4 inches long pushed on the top of the plug to set it in place and hand tighten prior to using the socket. With this, the risk of cross threading is all but eliminated.
6. Do not over tighten the plugs. A good final tug on the socket is all that is needed to seat the new ones.
My bike had the original plugs still in after 30k and what a difference a change made. I know allot of these tips well known to the real wrench spinners on this site, but maybe they can assist someone doing this procedure for the first time.