Horrible gas mileage after spark plug change?
#1
Horrible gas mileage after spark plug change?
Hi everybody,
I changed out my spark plugs about two weeks ago and my gas mileage is a lot lower normal. I would usually get up to 250km before the reserve light would come on but now I keep barely hitting 220. That's 30km per tank less!
I've also noticed a power loss. It felt a bit ball-less but I thought it might have been due to some brake drag (which I got after removing the front wheel to change the fork oil). I cleaned it up and it helped a bit but was still missing some power. I main reason I noticed it was because I kept hitting the rev limiter when going for it. I only hit the limiter once before in a year. This basically comes down to me giving it more gas to compensate for a loss of power...
I did some Googling and mostly got car related results. The consensus was people using spark plugs with either a different sized gap or heat range..
The ****ty thing is that a friend and I both changed our spark plugs (my F4 and his Gixxer) and although I put my old ones back in a box, he had apparently tossed all the plugs in the garbage.. I can't compare the plugs now so I'm wondering which plugs I should use. I'm going to call the dealership who sold me the plugs to see if they gave me the wrong ones but I haven't had a problem with them before... Has anyone of you experienced a similar problem? (The plugs were made by NKG btw. Not the more expensive iridium plugs though.)
I changed out my spark plugs about two weeks ago and my gas mileage is a lot lower normal. I would usually get up to 250km before the reserve light would come on but now I keep barely hitting 220. That's 30km per tank less!
I've also noticed a power loss. It felt a bit ball-less but I thought it might have been due to some brake drag (which I got after removing the front wheel to change the fork oil). I cleaned it up and it helped a bit but was still missing some power. I main reason I noticed it was because I kept hitting the rev limiter when going for it. I only hit the limiter once before in a year. This basically comes down to me giving it more gas to compensate for a loss of power...
I did some Googling and mostly got car related results. The consensus was people using spark plugs with either a different sized gap or heat range..
The ****ty thing is that a friend and I both changed our spark plugs (my F4 and his Gixxer) and although I put my old ones back in a box, he had apparently tossed all the plugs in the garbage.. I can't compare the plugs now so I'm wondering which plugs I should use. I'm going to call the dealership who sold me the plugs to see if they gave me the wrong ones but I haven't had a problem with them before... Has anyone of you experienced a similar problem? (The plugs were made by NKG btw. Not the more expensive iridium plugs though.)
#2
Assuming that they are the correct plugs did you verify the correct gap before you installed them? Does it seem like it idles rough or anything? I once installed a new set of plugs and accidently cracked an insolator. Although it ran it just seemed like it was idling a tad rough. When I pulled the plugs back out I discovered the problem.
#3
Assuming that they are the correct plugs did you verify the correct gap before you installed them? Does it seem like it idles rough or anything? I once installed a new set of plugs and accidently cracked an insolator. Although it ran it just seemed like it was idling a tad rough. When I pulled the plugs back out I discovered the problem.
I've been able to feel the loss of power but just today I felt the bike idle a bit weirdly..
We'll find out tomorrow what is up, I really miss the power.
#5
I didn't cross wires but I just finished up the job (and air filter) and plug #4 was loose enough that I didn't need the wrench to loosen it... Perhaps I was just lacking compressing. I also tested the plugs for spark and everything else was fine!
I'm about to go on a ride so I hope to be back to normal again.
(PS: Didn't expect that much sand and flies in the old air filter .)
I'm about to go on a ride so I hope to be back to normal again.
(PS: Didn't expect that much sand and flies in the old air filter .)
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#10
Hi. Read somewhere recently whislt researching the F4 like yours that you should only use iridium spark plugs. Might be relevant, as you say you didn't replace the old ones with iridium ones? Worth a try if your consumption is still higher than it was before the spark plug swap.
Everything is back to normal though, the loose plug was the culprit!