Should I replace my plugs if there's nothing wrong?

[Beemer]

17 minutes ago, norcal616 said:

that small hole I circled is a drain/vent from the spark plug boot area: you can shoot a nice blast of compressed air up there to help break the boot loose...

Wow, really?! That's a new one on me, never heard of that but if it works I'll try it. (this isn't a joke is it???) It has to be easier on the fingers than squeezing and pulling on the coils. Thanks!

[norcal616]

8 minutes ago, Beemer said:

Wow, really?! That's a new one on me, never heard of that but if it works I'll try it. (this isn't a joke is it???) It has to be easier on the fingers than squeezing and pulling on the coils. Thanks!

no joke- its only been mentioned maybe 2-3 times on the forum from what I can recall

[Beemer]

8 minutes ago, norcal616 said:

no joke- its only been mentioned maybe 2-3 times on the forum from what I can recall

I vaguely remember something about it now. So foggy, the mind isn't what it used to be … maybe I just need better coffee, idk. Thanks anyway!

[fzar]

On 10/17/2018 at 10:26 AM, Beemer said:

Thanks to Rick, I myself just found out that those plugs are rated for 30k miles by the plug manufacturer. Look at the specs at the bottom. Someone needs to make a thread about this so people don't waste so much time and money on plugs.

https://www.ngk.com/product.aspx?zpid=41476

The LMAR8A-9S in your link are the wrong plugs. 

[rick]

I know that's not the number listed in the manual. I'm kinda thinking that NGK has just renamed the -9 as -9S to be more specific about the gasket. 

 

So I fired off an email to customer service. Hopefully, the'll answer back at some point

 

"Hello, 

I would like to have help with specifications for 2 of your spark plugs. The recommended plug for my 2015 Yamaha FZ07 (also known as the MT07) is your LMAR8A-9. This spark plug seems to be on indefinite back-order, or maybe even discontinued? 

 

  you sell another plug that appears to have the same specifications but adds an S suffix to the number LMAR8A-9S. There’s a lot of confusion over these 2 numbers. Dealers (both aftermarket and authorized Yamaha)  are now selling the -9S as the -9 is becoming harder to find. 

 

Is this 2nd plug just an updated part number and a replacement for the plain -9?  or is a completely different plug and not acceptable for use in the FZ07.

 

Thank you"

 

 

[DewMan]

I've not had to attempt sparkplug removal on mine yet but way back when I used to wrench in a shop I had success many times using a boot puller very similar to this. which allowed me to grab the boot from the very bottom instead of the top so it didn't stretch out the rubber boot that would make it act like a Chinese finger puzzle and get even tighter on the plug.

 

Has anyone attempted to use a similar tool on the MT/FZ-07?

 

[mjh937]

45 minutes ago, DewMan said:

I've not had to attempt sparkplug removal on mine yet but way back when I used to wrench in a shop I had success many times using a boot puller very similar to this. which allowed me to grab the boot from the very bottom instead of the top so it didn't stretch out the rubber boot that would make it act like a Chinese finger puzzle and get even tighter on the plug.

 

Has anyone attempted to use a similar tool on the MT/FZ-07?

 

The coil is attached to the plug, so it is quite a large diameter part you are trying to remove.  That tool is not going to work on our bikes. 

[mjh937]

Part #3 are the coils and they seal to the head where the "S"  is pointing in the diagram. 

[shinyribs]

7 hours ago, norcal616 said:

that small hole I circled is a drain/vent from the spark plug boot area: you can shoot a nice blast of compressed air up there to help break the boot loose...

Man, now that's a handy bit of info. 

 

I used a pair of fuse pullers to grasp the body of the coil thingy and levered against that with a tire tool. Easy, but the vent trick sounds golden. 

[Cruizin]

8 hours ago, rick said:

With the reality that pistons come to a complete stop at both the top and bottoms of their strokes, it's inertia (flywheel) that helps keep the motor spinning. If you put a high load (tall gear, slow speed) on any motor at a low rpm (aka lugging) you are injuring to the crank bearings as well as wrist pins. When accelerating, it's always better to have the motor exerting torque on the driven wheels, instead of the other way round

 

The smaller the motor, the worse this becomes. With today's cars getting heavier and heavier and motors nowhere near the displacement of the old V8s that I grew up with, this is why modern car motors are spinning far faster than an old 400 cu in V8 pushing similar weight

 

Same goes for bike motors - maybe even more so. 

 

Don't know the spark plugs would know one way or the other in a modern FI motor

Older engines did not have tight tolerances, therefore blow by was much more prevalent in older engines and that is why those older engines did not last as long as today's engines.  Also why sparkplugs last a lot longer now. 

[fzar]

5 hours ago, rick said:

I know that's not the number listed in the manual. I'm kinda thinking that NGK has just renamed the -9 as -9S to be more specific about the gasket. 

 

So I fired off an email to customer service. Hopefully, the'll answer back at some point

 

"Hello, 

I would like to have help with specifications for 2 of your spark plugs. The recommended plug for my 2015 Yamaha FZ07 (also known as the MT07) is your LMAR8A-9. This spark plug seems to be on indefinite back-order, or maybe even discontinued? 

 

  you sell another plug that appears to have the same specifications but adds an S suffix to the number LMAR8A-9S. There’s a lot of confusion over these 2 numbers. Dealers (both aftermarket and authorized Yamaha)  are now selling the -9S as the -9 is becoming harder to find. 

 

Is this 2nd plug just an updated part number and a replacement for the plain -9?  or is a completely different plug and not acceptable for use in the FZ07.

 

Thank you"

 

 

Thanks for shooting that e-mail to NGK, @rick, as far as I can remember when I researched it the first time the (9S)   is for a Honda quad or side by side, I maybe wrong. I'm sure we'll find out 1 way or another.

Anyway in the mean time I'm going to order the 9 as I'm closinging in on 16k and after doing it once before it'll be a lot easier. I don't know why anyone would wait until there's an issue to do it, their cheap, and for me it's a good idea to proceed with preventative measure's where possible. I also like getting intimate with my bike and checking for other issues that are not visible without taking the panels, air temp sensor, fuel lines, overflow, getting the tank off and having a good nose in there. My idea of fun once a year or so!!!! Along with the other maintenance things that have to be dealt with. 

[rick]

This is from Dennis Kirk https://www.denniskirk.com/ngk/spark-plug-lmar8a9s.pLMAR8A9.prd/LMAR8A9S.sku

 

They also show the -9 also for the FZ7

 

 

[cornerslider]

Spark plugs are one of the cheapest, as well as one of the easiest things you can replace on your bike... Since we only have two of them, my advice is just do it. For $8.96 (X2), I'd say pull-the-trigger.... Seems like a small price to pay for "peace-of-mind"-

[rick]

OK, I got a reply back from NGK - we all were wrong about the S suffix. It signifies that the gasket is stainless - something Honda specified. Other than tat it's the same plug