I bought my 02 F4I in December 09 and it had some of the same issues, ran like a turtle down low, problems taking off, would even die sometimes going up my driveway, sputtered and kicked at low speeds, get the rpms up and ran pretty good. Everyone behind me told me I was killing them with gas fumes so the bike was running very rich. It was hard to start, prolonged warm up times to move the bike and constant gas fumes were always present. Gas mileage was terrible, 25 mpg. I played around with all the quick fixes, putting in Sea foam in the tank and even pouring some in the intake (wow, did that create some white smoke) but nothing fixed it.

Last night I finally got around to putting in a new K&N air filter and putting in new spark plugs, NGK IMR 9A-9H. Test drove it today and it is much smoother down low, can drive off immediately, more power and doesn't smell like I spilled gas on my clothes. I am sure there are other things that could make it run even better but I am very happy. The down side is I caught a nail in my brand new rear tire, ouch.

The old plugs that came out were NGK IMR 9A-9C. Does anyone know what difference these plugs are? They were wet with carbon build up.
Tom

 

should i try and change the plugs?...it would just be the same process ad a car right?..Would u think that will help ny problem as well..

 

Wet plugs meaning fouling out meaning you have to much fuel in there. FPR is bad. You can do anything you want but your still not fixing the issue

 

Let em spend $100+ in 2 sets of plugs instead of $100+ for 1 set of plugs and a new FPR

 

wtf? i come here for help and problem solving issues. i totally respect every one here and would think id be treated the same..Thanks ill grab me a new fpr since seems to be the problem..and the "spark plugs" mentioned above are they the only ones for our bikes? Any other brands? part numbers? thanx..

 

Changing the spark plugs on my 02 was a royal pita much worse than my Honda Accord but still doable with the right basic tools. BTW, I went from the top instead of through the Radiator. I ordered my plugs NGK IMR 9A-9H from ebay. They are Iridium and they are about 50.00 for the set of 4.
I am not a mechanic so I don't know about the FPR. There are a bunch of guys here that know much more than I do.
Keep us posted and what the fix is.
Tom

 

The first 3 replies to this thread were to test the FPR. vangill pointed out that the FPR can't be cleaned (its not a dirt issue, it's a seals issue). Krux pointed out if the FPR is bad, changing the plugs will only work until they foul out from too much fuel.

What else can we say? Check the FPR

 

if you're looking for an fpr, i've got one for sale. no o-ring though.