Best Spark-Plugs for VTR1000F

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Anyone got a recomendation on the best spark-plugs for the storm? How often should the plugs be changed in a storm? Once a year?

[VTRDark]

Hello mate long time no see. Stick with the NGK's is your best bet. There's others out there but it's like what's the best oil to use I used Brisk plugs last time around which I'm still running. Not worth the extra expence in my opinion. When I first installed them, yes they where great and there was a noticeable improvement with the bike starting and maybe, but this more likely placebo, a little seat of the pants increase in power. It soon wore off though. What's more important than brand is to make sure you use the right heat range, dont just go an but any NGK plugs. I cant remeber the complete NGK plug number of the top of my head but it's the 9s. It's in the manual.

As for changing plugs, yeh one a year is good, whenever you do your yearly service.

(:-})

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Thanks Carl. Yeah, my storm is struggling to start each morning. Voltage and ampage look fine. I think a good place to start will be to replace the spark plugs and maybe fit another starter motor. The current starter motor is off a Honda Hornet 600.

Plugs have been in for over a year so not a bad thing to replace them anyway.

[VTRDark]

I wouldn't just go changing the starter motor IIRC you not long ago changed it, also didn't you get one from Seb not long before that. There could be something else going on here, there's no point in taking a guess and changing things otherwise you could be throwing money down the pan. No harm in changing the plugs being a service item and helps. What's your DC battery voltage at with no engine running and what's at with the engine running and lights on.

By struggling to start I take it you mean it's either slow turning over or cranking over more times than usual before it fires. What about the wiring from the battery to the starter relay and between the relay and motor or even the wire from the starter switch to the starter relay. Engine earth is worth checking too. Have you tried pulling the clutch in when pushing the starter button to see if it spins up easier.

If you have starter motors burning out all the time then there is underlying cause to this, so I'm thinking wiring which could put the motor under too much load if faulty which would eventually kill the motor

(:-})

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Yeah, sluggish and doesn't do it for long before it dies, despite the battery being full. It has always needed the clutch in to start. I've noticed that the lead to the starter is hot when I try and start it so that backs up what you say about it being under load. Could it be the R/R?
Ref the starter it's a Honda Hornet 600 starter motor so it could be a tad small.

[VTRDark]

Honda Hornet 600 starter motor so it could be a tad small

No I wouldn't think that's a problem. Starter motors are all pretty much the same. It's the same design as ours as it fits so unless it looks physically smaller then the windings inside the motor will be the pretty much the same. I think you may have a wiring issue, break in a wire of bad connection which will put extra load on the motor and over time is burning them out.

The clutch lever is a bit of a clue as the clutch switch feeds into the starter relay. May be a dodgy switch connection or the wire between it and the relay. Try bypassing it, either disconnect the switch at the lever and joining the wires together to bypass the switch and/or disconnecting/eliminating it completely from the circuit at the relay to bypass the wire between a and b. See if this makes a difference. The stop switch is linked into it so this would be another one to investigate. Maybe worth taking that apart, cleaning and re grease the connections. Also the wire between the stop switch and ignition stater fuse. These have been know to go bad so check that and the fuse/connection. A jumper lead between a and b would work well here.

Unfortunately electrical issues can be tedious to track down so you have to go about things in a methodical order one at a time. Use the wiring diagram to help. Bypass what you can or use a jumper wire between a and b to eliminate wiring.

http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic ... am#p309540

My worry is that you will fit another starter motor only for the same thing to happen again a couple of months down the road.

(:-})

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Wiring, oh boy, what a nightmare. I have a mate who is an electrician so might get him round. Each starter motor seems to last about a year so I'm wondering whether to bang a new one in then I've bought some time to inspect the wiring..
Bike bump-starts easily so maybe not the spark plugs.

[AMCQ46]

hot starter cable says that the high resistance losses are in the cable its self. try using a jump lead direct from the battery to the bolt on the starter and see if staring is easier. if yes then change teh cable

[Saintsman27]

NGK Iridium IX Spark Plug DPR9EIX-9 5545 ... About £7.65p per plug. on Ebay .. genuine part
autoperformanceonline ..

[tony.mon]

They're always cheaper on Amazon for some reason.
Buy a set of four for a few pence more and get your next change for .....change.

[BigVeeGrin]

reading about Carl's Brisk experience, seemed it didn't last long ...... anyway, Tony, didn't you go down the Brisk route too when there was a lot of talk about these plugs? If so what did you think of them???

looking at their site it seems the design has become a little more conventional from what I remember http://www.brisksparkplug.co.uk/index.p ... spark-plug

[Stephan]

Denso IX27B - iridium. Maybe you won´t see difference to standard NGK, I did :-) Runs a bit smoother in low revs.