Even My Old Beemer Doesn't Like Change!

[kris]

So here's a little story about whack...I was flipping out the 20W50 that I had put in for a summer oil. Low miles on it but I didn't like it for the, now, cold temperatures  (32F to 46F or 0 to 7 for us bilingual types). 10W40 it is. And I thought I would put in the new NGK D7EA plugs I had bought to replace the NGK D7EA plugs that Heinz is now sporting. Fresh plugs....why not? Don't know how old the current ones are. They don't look bad....whatever. Put the new plugs in, fresh oil....NO START. She sounded like I had played musical chairs with her spark leads. I check the book, check the leads....pretty hard to screw up. NO START. I decided to put the old plugs back in.....START!... and running nicely. Glad I didn't pitch those used plugs. And, yes, the new ones were gapped correctly, etc.. Anyone have any ideas on that one?


Moral of the story - if it ain't broke, don't fix it - leave well enough alone - don't f__k with things :2thumbup:

[Martin]

Try connecting your new plugs one at a time to one of your bricks leads. The plug must be earthed at all times otherwise the ECU can be damaged.
Observe the plugs for spark, if they don't spark take them back to your supplier. It is pretty rare these days to get one faulty plug let alone four.
I suppose it is possible to get a bad batch however unlikely. Test and report back.
Regards Martin.

[Laitch]

Anyone have any ideas on that one?

It's the slightly tardy Halloween surfacing of an ancient ancestral curse that has inconsistently imposed its bad juju on spark plugs.

[Chaos]

Plugs could be a red herring.  put em back in again and see if it starts. There was a full moon recently....

[bizzaro]

Just a thought.  The new plugs that you got don't come with the screw on ball terminal cap.  Did you unscrew the caps from your old plugs and fit them to the new plugs? Without the right connection(ball end, and not the screw type end, I can see problems with good ignition as your connection is compromised. And the proper plug for your bike, ( the reference books are wrong) is a D7EB in NGK.  These come with the proper terminal end and no fussing with screwing them on.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Just a thought.  The new plugs that you got don't come with the screw on ball terminal cap.  Did you unscrew the caps from your old plugs and fit them to the new plugs? Without the right connection(ball end, and not the screw type end, I can see problems with good ignition as your connection is compromised. And the proper plug for your bike, ( the reference books are wrong) is a D7EB in NGK.  These come with the proper terminal end and no fussing with screwing them on.

+1 on the terminal nuts.

Regarding plug numbers, I don't think NGK makes a D7EB.  That is why all their application charts show the D7EA.  For the 4 valve bikes the correct number is DR7EB which is available. 

I had an NGK tech rep tell me that The DR7EB could be used with the resistor wires of the Jetronic bikes with no problem. 

[F14CRAZY]

You can contact NGK and they'll send those for free, if you're not able to reuse the old ones or feel like replacing them at some point.

I'll pull the plugs a time or two and regap before replacing as the electrodes will look fine otherwise

[kris]

God bless the lot of ya' for your replies. Martin, I thought I might do a one-at-a-time replacement to see which one(s) is faulty....if any. Laitch and Chaos could be mining closer to the truth. I may have pissed off Helga, the goddess of Spandau bike production.  Too much attention given to her Italian and Japanese cousins! You know how sensitive bikes can get.  And, yes, I put the little caps on the new plugs. Thanks gents.


Last thought...maybe Heinz would have welcomed a nice new set of Bosch plugs instead! You know....keep it in the family  :Rabia:


When time and temps permit, I will give it a go and let you know what happens. In the meantime, we are happily zipping around town happy to be alive! Nothing like two-wheeled transport.

[bizzaro]

+1 on the terminal nuts.

Regarding plug numbers, I don't think NGK makes a D7EB.  That is why all their application charts show the D7EA.  For the 4 valve bikes the correct number is DR7EB which is available. 

I had an NGK tech rep tell me that The DR7EB could be used with the resistor wires of the Jetronic bikes with no problem.

Gryph, you are correct.  I searched high and low for NGK D7EB.  I had no luck.  But the DR7EB's are listed all over the interweb!  When I spoke with the rep at NGK earlier this Summer requesting the terminal nuts, he stated that I really wanted the DR7EB and that the R just designated resistor type plug.  I wrongly assumed that a "D7EB" would be available. 

Not quite sure why The DR7EB's are not in the Library alternate plug thread.  I see it is posted separately under it, but it really should be added to the alternate plug post? :dunno