Spark Plug Colour - Spark Plug Color

[funky]

balance those carbs dude

 

[Skubik]

Wow! Bike runs great! First actual ride since I bought it. I didn't realize how nice and quick these xs650's were when running good. No leaks, no pops, no fuel starvation, rode her a good 30 miles without issue. It's very satisfying . Now that it's running I found a small oil leak I'll need to fix, it's from the bottom gasket where the cooling fins meet the transmission. Maybe I can just torque those bolts down? I just got her running good and don't want to take her apart again so soon lol. Just a bit seeps through the gasket but annoying.

 

[xjwmx]

I don't see the oil in the picture. It's possible it's leaking from the joint at the front pipe and blowing back. If not, torque the bolts, but if it doesn't work after a couple times, quit before you kill the gasket and make matters worse. Tiny leaks can fix themselves sometimes.

 

[Skubik]

Thanks xjwmx that's exactly what I'll do, retorque the bolts since it hasn't been done I'm sure in for ever and just l leave it alone for a while at least and enjoy the bike. I'll eventually replace the gasket down the road a few months from now if I see it getting worse but hopefully like you said it might fix itself with more use.

I wiped the oil down in the pic but it app appeared to be coming from the gasket, just a weeping of oil not horrible. I'll keep my eye on it. Thanks again all for your help.

 

[Skubik]

Ooooh my baby is finally running great!
Torqued the head down, some bolts were slightly lose, no more oil leak for the time being. If you guys recall I was dealing with all kinds of small annoying issues ignition and fuel related.

now I'm gonna do something about my fork springs Lots of good info on how to stiffen them up, but I'll ride it and enjoy for a while first. Anyone near dallas TX!? Any meets coming up?

 

[Tom]

‘79 SF. Baffled pipes, foam filters running stock jets. Never ridden a XS650 before but it doesn’t seem to bog throughout the throttle range. Plugs shown from a 20 mins ride. Left is more sooty than the right.

Thoughts??

 

[gggGary]

Expect more questions than answers.
I'm no a plug reading maven But those pics scare me.
Are those from a plug chop or just removed after a ride? What plugs are those?
The insulators look eroded??
Just a wild guess; you have leaky float valves, (very rich idle) and seriously lean mains?
We hear and see plenty of guys who's bike ran "fine" right until the RH piston holed...........
By 79 stock jetting was pretty lean out the door, make any changes (intakes, exhaust) and you could be in trouble.
But it's so hard to do any long distance tuning. "baffled pipes" those could be more or less efficient than the stock mufflers.....Foam filters, hard to get an engine to make even stock power with non existent airboxes. I guess out of general caution I'd be bumping the mains and see what happens. do float bubble tests, are the float valves new? Have you set and checked float levels?

 

[peanut]

‘79 SF. Baffled pipes, foam filters running stock jets. Never ridden a XS650 before but it doesn’t seem to bog throughout the throttle range. Plugs shown from a 20 mins ride. Left is more sooty than the right.

Thoughts??

As gggGary says we need more info .

The insulators look bone white indicating a very lean condition at all throttle positions above idle but the plugs may be brand new and the image may have been lightened. Make sure that you are using the correct temperature spark plugs

 

[Tom]

Expect more questions than answers.
I'm no a plug reading maven But those pics scare me.
Are those from a plug chop or just removed after a ride? What plugs are those?
The insulators look eroded??
Just a wild guess; you have leaky float valves, (very rich idle) and seriously lean mains?
We hear and see plenty of guys who's bike ran "fine" right until the RH piston holed...........
By 79 stock jetting was pretty lean out the door, make any changes (intakes, exhaust) and you could be in trouble.
But it's so hard to do any long distance tuning. "baffled pipes" those could be more or less efficient than the stock mufflers.....Foam filters, hard to get an engine to make even stock power with non existent airboxes. I guess out of general caution I'd be bumping the mains and see what happens. do float bubble tests, are the float valves new? Have you set and checked float levels?

Cheers mate. The plugs are BP7ES and i've checked the float valves and diaphrams and all was ok. I'll be going up in mains and will report back. Both carbs are 3 turns out on the mixture screw. Pic is from a 20 min ride of varying throttle, some WOT and idling.

 

[peanut]

You will find the carb guide in the tech section helpful .