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How to change spark plugs

This is a good write up. The only things I will do differently when I do it are to first take some compressed air to the area before I start to try and dislodge any loose crap that could get into the cylinders. Second I would install the new plug immediately after removing the old one to again avoid getting anything down in that cylinder. This is especially urgent as you are shoving your arm in and out of there over the top of those holes a bunch of times in the process of removing the others. Maybe I'm a little paranoid but I hate the idea of a pebble or something falling into the head. That would pretty much ruin my day anyway. Just my 2c. That being said, I will be changing these over the weekend. Thanks for the write up
 
That's great link that took a lot of the mystery out of the whole procedure. I won't hesitate now to do my own plugs. And probably soon. I'm at 12K. Interestingly, my local shop guy (also an accomplished racer) says the plugs in my '07 shouldn't need a look before 20K.
 
That's the same guide I read prior to doing my plugs.

I washed my bike the day before and prior to working on the plugs the next day I cleaned and blew compressed air in the plug area to ensure no dirt was there. I also prefer to do one plug at a time to ensure nothing has a chance to enter the cylinders...
 
It's not a hard job, just a very cramped working space. You need to be patient and not force anything too much. Removing the rad would make it a lot easier but isn't necessary. I used the factory tool and crescent wrench from the tool kit, works fine again just have to be patient. My old plugs looked OK, no discoloration on the ceramic part and no visible deterioration of the sparker, but might as well change the out once in a while. Some have suggested every 8,000 km but that's excessive I think, every 16,000 is likely fine. Pretty cheap if you DIY.

(PS mine was a 2 beer job...)

:Sport:
 
I just checked with the service manual. It actually recommends that you unbolt the BOTTOM radiator bolt and the radiator hose clamp. I'm guessing this is to allow for a little bit of play in the system without having to fully disconnect the radiator etc. I might try this if it gets too tight in there.
 
Well, I rode today and have a new opinion about changing spark plugs...DO IT!! What a difference - smooth, powerful, like a new ride. Can't imagine what iridium plugs might be like, I just replaced standard NGK. For the cost and relative ease of it, I might put new plugs in more often!

:D
 
New to the forum (have been thread stalking for months) but this walkthrough helped me a ton last weekend. Put about 1000 miles on my bike in the last 2 months but noticed it was hicuping on steady throttle last time out. Changed all four plugs and it runs like new.


Definitley recommend taking out the two radiator bolts, helped a ton. Took me about 45 mins to an hour but was very pleased with the end result. Don't be afraid of doing this, even if you have big hands like me.
 
Glad it worked out for you and :welcome: to the forum. You'll love it here. There is tons of great advice that make life as a motorcycle owner much easier. Enjoy :thumbup:
 
dean2287 said:
Well, I rode today and have a new opinion about changing spark plugs...DO IT!! What a difference - smooth, powerful, like a new ride. Can't imagine what iridium plugs might be like, I just replaced standard NGK. For the cost and relative ease of it, I might put new plugs in more often!

:D
Click to expand...

Not sure how the Iridium plugs affect the bike. From my exp they are typically no better than copper unless you are looking at high heat applications. Most of the car folk I know use NGK in their big V8s.

Having said that, the higher RPM motors on our bike may benefit, I'm really not sure. So I guess my 2 cents here is only worth a penny :)
 
sxty8goats said:
Not sure how the Iridium plugs affect the bike. From my exp they are typically no better than copper unless you are looking at high heat applications. Most of the car folk I know use NGK in their big V8s.

Having said that, the higher RPM motors on our bike may benefit, I'm really not sure. So I guess my 2 cents here is only worth a penny :)
Click to expand...

I believe the Iridiums just last longer than the regular spark plugs.
 
21,000 miles...
IMG_0300.jpg

Unless I'm confused on how they should look... not too shabby! Then again from a cost and time perspective.. I see no reason to check them without changing them. Pain to get there, and they were 5 bucks a piece at checkers.
 
Thanks for the how to! Just swapped out my plugs for Iridiums. Haven't taken a ride yet but the idle and small blips on a cold engine were MUCH smoother. 8,000 to 8,500 miles on the old plugs. Like others have said take some time and don't get in a rush. I loosened the radiator which may have made the job easier.

A successful job - the bike runs and no blood from wrench slips!
 
Hi there fazer folks great details on how to change plugs I found another way while servicing my 2005 bike.I had to change the air fillter so I took out the whole of the air box together with the battery box, just the same as doing the twin head light conversion.Now under these is a black plastic cover, pull this up and guess what direct access to 2,3and 4 spark plugs. I took no longer then 30mins but the good thing was I could get good access to the plugs to tighten them to the right level them as well.

Happy riding
 
Iridium and Platinum, mathematically, do not conduct electricity as well as Copper, but they're MUCH harder and heat resistant. Any felt improvement is because an old set of plugs was just replaced with a new set.
 
Just adding on as another happy user of Jeep's 20 minute guide.

Attached the pics. Look pretty good but #1 might have some fouling. Don't know why though. FYI, #1 in this is clutch side, #4 is throttle side. My caps seem to differ in number versus the service manual.

Only have 6K on the bike, but was pulling the old for fogging the cylinders; figured I'd drop in the Iridiums I had purchased. I'll pull #1 again after I get the bike back out for a bit in spring and see what it looks like.

Unbolting the lower rad bracket and the hose clamp makes a huge difference for the job. Am I the only one who found #2 to be a bigger pain than #1? My hands look like they went through a meat grinder after reaching all the way in.


Scorp
 
Last edited:
Hi, I have managed to change sparks in my fz6 (after 20,000 km). Second spark was the hardest to change. Next time i will probably remove air filter, maybe it will be easier.
 
I changed mine, unbolting the radiator bolt.

It was no piece of cake, but I managed to complete the change in about 30 minutes.

I put 4 ngk-iridium plugs in, and they are much smoother than OEM. Also I get better fuel efficiency. I had about 20.000 km on mine, but I changed also my brothers fz6, with about 8000 km on the old ones and he too noticed a major difference. I recommend Iridium the iridium plugs ...
 
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