Replacement spark plug type

Just signed up for this sight, and even did the "intro" lol. Wow, so much good info I've found already. Had a cheap Roketa 250 chinese scooter, and got our 09 swing on Monday. HUGE diff!!

Im going to have several questions in the upcoming months. I appreciate everyones help in advance.

So we bought this swing with 12000 miles on it. I want to replace the plugs and air filter. Ive read Iridium plugs are best, but does anyone have the part number for the iridium plug? Gap?

Also which air filter should I use?

Thanks in advance!

RnC

The iridium replacement is the NGK - CR8EHIX-9

You shouldn't re-gap an iridium plug. Just install them straight out of the box. In the dozen or so I've installed, their gap has always been right on.

I would use the stock OEM air filter. I have used K & N in the past, but no more. They just let too much crap through the porous element.

CnR, i put iridium plugs in ( Bigbird has given the type) at 8,000mls. At 40,000mls they are still doing their job and i still get 60+ mpg (that's imperial galls)  

The above Iridium plugs are great; changed my OEM ones a 8K and to be honest they really did not need replacing.

And for my money K&N are great. I have used dozens of them over the years and NEVER had a problem. My SWing has one.

"different strokes for different folks".

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies fellas. Picked up a pair of the NKG Iridium plugs at Advance Auto Parts and changed them. Literally, a 5-10 min job.

Thanks everyone!

CnR

I replaced the stock plugs at 8,000 miles with stock plugs, and with over 50,000 miles they look as good as when I replaced them. I guess it's like Glenn said "different strokes for different folks". 

model28a wrote:

I replaced the stock plugs at 8,000 miles with stock plugs, and with over 50,000 miles they look as good as when I replaced them. I guess it's like Glenn said "different strokes for different folks". 

You are correct!  Realistically I could have put the OEM plugs plugs back in and run them a LOT longer (looked almost new).  But since I already had the Iridium ones and an extended warranty from Honda; I put the new ones in...  Honda insists they be replaced at 8K, why?  Who knows most cars can go 100K on plugs nowadays.  Next time I will just pull, inspect, gap and reinstall the plugs. I already have nearly 6K on the Iridium ones and no problems.

" Realistically I could have put the OEM plugs back in and run them a LOT longer (looked almost new)."
The funny thing is my new wing is coming up to 8,000 miles and I will probably change the plugs.
Now I need to decide OEM plugs or Iridium plugs.     

Money---I have found stock plugs last at least 30-40,000 miles---scooter runs fine so why waste money on more expensive plugs.

However on my new SilverWing, did pull the plugs, look at them, use "Never Seize" on threads so they later may come out easy.

I've been wondering why I was led to using iridium spark plugs since I bought my SW seven years ago.

After doing some reading, and thinking, I'm going back to stock copper plugs. They are more efficient and cheaper. Copper is a better conductor. Iridiums last longer but are less efficient.

I think it was the guy in Halfords who is to blame.

Plugs lasted 7 years with no problems why switch? Iridium last twice as long so the price is about the same, less efficient, I doubt that. Fine wire has a larger gap more exposed spark to light mixture.

Stick with NGK or Denso buy from a good seller lots of Knock Off plugs out there.

Interesting. I wasn't looking at this to save money. I happened to be browsing the service manual and checked out the plug type; it just made more sense. I've always used NGK.

Just as an update I now have nearly 26K on my scoot and 18K on the iridium plugs. No complaints at all. the plugs are functioning as they are supposed to. Performance is great and fuel mileage is also great.

Less efficient? I think not. But use whatever YOU want.

I replaced the OE NGK spark plugs for a set of NGK Iridium spark plugs on a my Silver Wing about 3 years before I sold it. The only reason for doing so was I bought them over in Germany when the big motorcycle accessories store we’re having their summer sales for not much more that the price of the OE NGK's.

The Silver Wings twin plugs are deeper seated than on a normal easy to get a  single cylinder maxi scooter, so at the same time I bought a set of of Craft-Meyer spark pugs tools which made changing plugs very simple.

I'd say the Iridium plugs were slightly better than the OE ones which looked healthy when I replaced them, but it's not something I thought much about once they'd been fitted.

I have a compact 'T' handle plug tool as I found using the OE tool kit rather awkward.

I'm going to put copper plugs in and fill up with E0 petrol to test the results.

From what I can gather the iridium plugs were introduced to lengthen the life of plugs, which I'm sure they do.

You rarely get something for nothing in life and I suspect a slight reduction in the way the plug performs may be the price for a longer lasting plug. Just my own theory.

As part of my review of spark plugs I noticed that John grinsell wrote:

"However on my new SilverWing, did pull the plugs, look at them, use "Never Seize" on threads so they later may come out easy".

I've just read some articles and also found this video:

https://youtu.be/xZ-KOL4gZzw

More topic for debate

NGK has a new plug type that's been out a year or so Ruthenium tip. It's advertised as better than Platinum or Iridium but who knows. Haven't found a listing for SW but have a set yet to be installed for my bouncy little Honda Fit.  It's at 89K so will install them soon I doubt much improvement it runs fine.

Do you think NGK are working their way through the periodic table?

Loosemarbles wrote:

Do you think NGK are working their way through the periodic table?

While I was waiting for my NGK CR8EH-9 plugs to arrive I decided to see if Halfords had them in stock.

They didn't but they did have the Champion equivalent, CCH8698E. So I bought a couple.

I began to wonder why nobody mentions Champion anymore and I found this; it's worth a read. Make yourself comfortable. You may need to scroll to the top of the page:

https://carphrases.com/ngk-vs-champion-spark-plugs/#:~:text=The%20significant%20difference%20between%20the,used%20by%20many%20car%20manufacturers.

Are Champion getting a bad rap?

BTW, when I got back from Halfords my NGK ones were on my doormat!

Interesting article but not sure how valid it is. My observation is that Champion plugs were always CHEAPER than NGK not the other way around. In addition, as to reliability, I have used Champion in Hondas before and they never last as long as the NGK brand. Perhaps things have changed. But for my money I use Champion for my lawn mower and that is all. YMMV

Fitted the NGK Copper plugs and:

Quicker startup and more steady idle.
Smoother acceleration and less vibration around the 4000rpm band.
Faster acceleration and no popping on throttle shut off.

Allowing for the possible placebo effect and the fact that my Iridium plugs were low mileage anyway, I'd say I prefer these copper plugs as per Mr Honda.

Just sayin'

The matter of spark plugs has arisen recently and it made me think. My existing plugs have 'one' side- electrode. The Iridiums have 'two' side-electrodes. A previous car I owned had plugs with 'four' side-electrodes.

Having 'four' side-electrodes sounds like a better idea as the spark has four options in close proximity to make contact with, without having to look around to find it.

I did some googling and can't find 'four' side-electrode plugs for the SW.

Since there are only two input wires to the ignition coil each spark plug will fire on every revolution. If the engine turned 5,000 RPM at 60 MPH: 5,000 firings per mile X 8,000 miles to recommended replacement= 40,000,000 times that each plug fired.  Then you could add in all the time spent with the engine idling.  Maybe all that was a factor in the recommendation to replace.

Ah yes, but having four outside-electrodes must vary the wear on them each, depending on which one the central electrode decides to make contact with each time it is charged.

If we're talking about the life span of the central electrode, then the number of outside-electrodes is irrelevant. Depending on their life span.

Are we being conned?