I got some help from Mac a little while back with my tune and he got my bike running the best it's been in the four years that I've owned it. My problem is that over the last few months my bike has gradually started running worse and worse. Sluggish, hard to start, poor throttle response etc. etc. Today I pulled the plugs and put in some new ones. Instantly went back to running awesome, just like it did after Mac's help. I have never had any vehicle, car or bike, that kills spark plugs in 1500 Kms, (which I believe is less than 1000 miles). So I guess my question is, what can I do to stop this? And also if my plugs are that bad, are my O2 sensors getting too much carbon on them making them ineffective also?


Any help or suggestions is very much appreciated!
Thanks, Matt.

 

Your spark plugs are not dead they are fouled. I cant see them real well but they Look like to rich, not oil, talk to your tuner.

 

Yeah probably not the best photo. The plug on the left is the rear, which I guess should be a little richer. I just didn't think I was running that rich that it would do that in under 1000 miles

 

^^^Yes^^^

You're runn'n hella rich on at least one cyl...need to get the tuner dialed-in.

 

Holy richness batman!

 

 

yeah bit rich on that rear plug,

what sort of riding have you done in last 1500km, lot of stop start, lot of freeway, country roads, latte run

Mac will have some adjustments, you could try decreasing the whole rear VE table by about 5pts or decrease the VE in specific areas to suit that last 1500kms of riding

 

Yeah those 1500 ks were a little bit of everything. Thanks guys for the responses.

 

Best bet is to find a tuner who can properly recalibrate your fueling as your buddy's best guess, while got the bike to run better, set the fueling to excessively rich in at least one area that's fouling plugs, especially the rear cylinder.
The days of tuning by the seat of the pants are long gone. We need to measure all throttle/rpm cells and correct each one based on precise exhaust AFR readings.
Guessing may get you to the tuner but will normally be far away from ideal.
If you think your bike runs awesome now with new spark plugs, before they foul, you'll be amazed at how much better it will run properly tuned.
If there are no qualified tuners in your area to do the job right, you may be strapped to a users manual for autotuning. While not ideal, much better than guessing.
Hope this helps,
Bob