Spark plug photos at 22,300 miles

[PeterD]

I replaced the Denso Iridium plugs in my 04 R1150RT with 22,300 miles on them. They were running fine but inspection at the 30K service showed their electrodes were fairly worn.

Here is a link to the photos.

 

The Denso part numbers are IK22 (5310) main and IXU24 (5309) secondary. Anyone interested in how long these iridium plugs last can inspect the photos.

[SWB]

Have you used the OEM or Autolite plugs previously? I'm wondering if there's any difference in performance between these and the Iridium plugs. I just put in the Autolites, they work fine, and since I replace my plugs every 6K miles at $3 a set (for my R1100RT), it seems that I can be money ahead, have great performance, and still save money just using the Autolite every 6K, versus the Iridiums.

 

Of course, the only topic that opens up more of a "can of worms" than spark plugs on this forum is synthetic motor oil. Everyone's got an opinion.

 

But since you been using the Iridiums, I was interested in your experience with various plugs.

[Clive Liddell]

I have only used Bosch OEM plugs on my bikes. They have all lasted between 30 to 40000 km before "wearing" to the specified limit of 1 mm. Never had any problems

[ShovelStrokeEd]

You could have just adjusted the gaps and kept on keepin' on.

 

I use 4417's in my 1100S and I plan on changing them at th 50K point. Coming up soon. There is no reason to change spark plugs on a healthy engine anymore. Oil fouling being an exception. Seems the center two plugs in picture 1 are in a colder area of the combustion chamber than the outer two, are they the lower plugs perchance? Looks like they might benefit from one heat range hotter. I know that the top of the insulator color is not the proper way to "read" the plug but those appear to be a bit brown.

[jacko]

Purchased a 1150rtp 2 years ago with 28000 km on speedo,now has 78000km, where are the spark plugs?

Just kidding,but have never even looked at em.

regards Jacko

[harpoon47]

I just replaced the Denso IK22 primary plugs in my '04 RT this morning and had very much the same wear after ~14k miles as you did with the same beveled wear on the ground electrode of your secondary plugs (center smaller diameter plugs)in the center of your 1st photo. The IK22s (primary) seemed to have burned cleaner than the NGKs that always had some oily deposits.

[Ken H.]

The center two are the lower ones, right? Pretty common pattern on the dual-sparkers.

[Art..]

I have 43,000 on my original plugs. Runs fine.