My current riding pattern is riding 10 miles to work and back. Once or twice a week. Speeds under 60mph. The bike was not running for the last two weeks.
Here are pictures of rear left spark plug and front right spark plug:
The spark plugs look good to me. Have you noticed any loss of coolant? Just wondering if you have a slight leak in a head gasket that makes one cylinder burn differently then the other.
I am a little confused about the labeling of your pictures.
Are they front cylinder, right and left plug or 2 pictures of the left plug?
Also, how many miles on them?
The spark plugs look good to me. Have you noticed any loss of coolant? Just wondering if you have a slight leak in a head gasket that makes one cylinder burn differently then the other.
I am a little confused about the labeling of your pictures.
Are they front cylinder, right and left plug or 2 pictures of the left plug?
Also, how many miles on them?
I took only one plug out of each cylinder - left one from the rear and right one form the front.
For each plug I took two pictures to show both sides of the plug. First two pics belong to the plug from rear cylinder. Next two pics belongs to the plug from front cylinder.
That's likely the source of your problem and even if it's not it's something that will only get worse with time, so you might as well fix it. I know you're working outside so doing this job yourself might not be feasible. Can you get access to an indoor garage for a day or two? To pull off one of the heads, you'll need to remove the engine. Maybe someone has done it without removing it, but it would be easier to me to just pull the engine out.
Just thinking you've already got the swing arm and exhaust off already, so doing it now really makes sense unless you've got the rear end put back on. Even if you have I'd still try to find some indoor space for a couple days and knock this out.
Soot/carbon build up is normal in an engine with a few miles on it.
Your plugs are showing a lean mixture with the rear plug looking like that cylinder might be using a little oil. You might want to fatten up the jetting a little.
Actually, the port showing little to no carbon build up is of more concern than the other...could be a result of the lean condition.
Any driveability issues such as stumbling, backfiring, hard starting, etc.?
Usually a coolant leak into the cylinder will show up as an overheating problem.
No driveablity issues. Starts cold and hot, runs smoothly in 50-100F climate I have here. I've had an issue with bike not starting when SEMI-hot but it sort of phased out.
OK, so should I adjust my pilot screw X turns in/out to address leaning?
Currently the pilot jet is 5.5 turns out (i.e. if I fully screw it in, it would take 5 and half turns).
My air cleaner is stock and my pipes are S&M (no catalytic converter or anything).
The leak looks like oil, feels like oil and smells like oil.
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