Iridium Spark Plug

[vgrafx]

Replaced stock spark plug today at 7K miles. Installed NGK Iridium plug. Thanks to the directions found on this forum it was fairly simple. Small hands would come in handy as the space is tight.
Plug wires came of after moving it around a bit, used swivel head on ratchet and spark plug came out easy. Checked gap but was already set at factory.
There is a very noticeable difference in starting, and the power curve is much smoother, idling is about the same around 1700-1800...Starts up much faster now.
This was definitely worth doing.

[kneeslider]

er, would it be that the new spark plug feels better since it is replacing a worn out plug?

[Snorvey]

er, would it be that the new spark plug feels better since it is replacing a worn out plug?

On a similar note, UK motoring program 'Top Gear' took a 10+ year old Renault family car and added tons of aftermarket 'go faster' junk to it in an effort to make it go around a test track faster.

Curiously, the biggest gain in power (50 horsepower from memory) and time came from just giving the engine a good service at a Renault dealer.

Funny that eh?

[CROSSBOLT]

Not for a Renault!

Karl

[Snorvey]

Not for a Renault!

Now now Karl, I'll not hear anything bad said about our cheese eating friends (or their cars) across the channel :-)

Old joke:

Seen on Ebay....

For Sale: 1 x French WW2 infantry rifle. Never fired. Dropped only once.

[CROSSBOLT]

I heard in the 60s that the Renault Dauphine was called Posche's Revenge!

Karl

[Stig / Major Tom]

2 things:
I have not seen a Dauphine in 50 years....but passed a restored Dauphine  freshly painted in French blue the other day. In rural Ohio!

And, an Iridium spark plug is usually less that 10 bucks. You don't adjust the gap, but use as is.
If your plug is not a pain to get to...it is a worthwhile addition to your scooter.
If your plug IS a pain to get to - no new spark plug is going to seem like a worthwhile idea.
Funny that.....
Stig

[ole two wheels]

I've been told that a Iridium spark plug never wears out, but I find that hard to believe??

[mousejunks]

All spark plugs wear out, but platinum or iridium coated ones last much longer.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I've been told that a Iridium spark plug never wears out, but I find that hard to believe??

NGK says they're good for 50,000 miles in a scooter.
Longer than most will own that scooter.
(mentioned
to my father in law that I was thinking about new plugs for the truck he gave me.
"Why? Truck's only 10 yrs old!"
Gave me grief for changing the oil in it, too!
what do I  know.....!
Stig

[Redk]

I would agree w/Stig's FIL about the truck...
My F150 got 160k miles on 3 plug changes and maybe 4 or 5 oil changes ?
Just began the third set of tires, and it spent most of it's life with a mid sized load of construction materials and tools.
Worked fine until I got clobbered while on the hi-way... T-boned, driver's door !
A defective coil pack, or wimpy fuel pump causing a miss under heavy load was the only performance problem I ever had.
Fresh plugs never did fix the stumble it had, from time to time...
redk

[DiscoPotato]

I just replaced my stock plug with an NGK iridium plug today as well at 4k miles. Power band is vastly smoother at low speed operation, and it is not just my imagination!! Before, my DT300 would lug at low throttle opening... giving it any more gas would make the scooter lurch forward like flipping a switch. It would lug and lurch whenever operating at low speeds and I just learned to live with it. After changing the plug the problem is entirely gone. I highly recommend changing your plug to an NGK Iridium plug if you have the same issue I had, even if you barely have any miles on your stock plug. It's well worth the $8-$10 investment

[Tromper]

The sparkplug maintenance interval on my RAV4 with stock iridium plugs is 120k miles.
Per the forums most folks change them out at ~115 just to be safe.  Nobody has reported any plug issues, or even any coil issues.
I'm having no issues at ~95k.

Beyond that I put NGK Iridium in my burgmans since they're tough to get at.  No visible wear after 20k miles on the one.  The current one has about 8-9k on the set, but looked fine when I pulled 'em 1k or so miles ago while checking the valves.

Technically the spark is actually a hair weaker than a copper plug from what I've read, but no issues with that (ever), & the wear factor on hard to service plugs is notable.  Long term you even save a couple bucks since you don't need to replace 'em. 
(Ref: https://www.carsdirect.com/car-repair/copper-spark-plugs-vs-iridium-and-platinum-understand-for-top-performance)

That said I've been running copper in the SYM and did so in the S200 as well since they're relatively easy to service & the valve check interval is such that you're pulling it apart frequently anyway.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Just add one big reason that I like using Iridium spark plugs :
I do not like messing with removing and reinstalling these tiny plugs ....the risk of thread damage is always in the back of my mind. Sure, I'm  carefully threading them in with my fingers, and only reach for the wrench when they are bottomed out......still, they are so small and most are screwed into softer alloy engines.
The less I have to mess with the plug, the better I like it.
Small engines are still easy to rotate for valve checks....I leave the plug in.
Stig