Hi All,
Just thought I would share some recent experience with my RSX's Spark Plug Leads. I had just done an oil change and was removing the spark plugs to allow the engine to crank over without too much load while I was re-priming the oil system.
When removing the plug leads I noticed that 2 out of the 4 had rubbed on the valve cover (and probably been arcing?) while 1 was broken - see pics.
... this one was broken
I went and got the brand new spares I had "in stock".. what I found was interesting
Has anyone had a similar experience with the older plug leads? Maybe this is why they changed the design?
I haven't checked my new XX yet... but I suspect that will have the same new plug leads too. I seem to remember something being noted in the new Owners Manual for the XXR...
Hi Rod,
On my SR3 XX, I had one bad wire after just 25 hours run time. The metal circular conductor that attaches to the coil or the plug (cannot remember which) had broken in half, so it did not make good contact and was robbing power. I replaced the one wire, however I don't know whether it was the new boot as you indicated. My wires are all labeled with a cylinder number.
Based on our experience, I would add coil wire inspection to the preparation checklist, and probably have a spare set of coil wires in hand.
Hi All,
For anyone interested, I've had a follow up discussion with Magnecor in the UK who are the suppliers of these plug lead sets. What I learned, and thought I should share is that the #1 cylinder plug lead is modified at the factory to look like the photo attached in my original post above.
Here's what it looks like...
So that isn't actually 'broken' as I had originally posted... it is indeed machined in the factory to look that way. Apparently the reason for this is the the valve train cover on the Hyabusa engines has a different 'pocket' shape around the #1 cylinder plug area. They machine the underside of the plug lead cap to prevent it fouling, which in turn would mean it's harder to get a good connection on the spark plug ferrule.
I agree with David, when he suggests that a good inspection of these spark plug leads/caps should be made whenever removing spark plugs for inspection (or when removing plugs to prime an engine after each oil change)
