Spark plugs 01 nomad

[Bamabrat]

Please help. New nomad owner here. po said it was well maintained, but having my doubts. you will see why. 42k miles. no records for maintenance. Prior po was a mechanic and took great care of bike (according to po):eek:

I asked AutoZone for the ngk plugs in the manual. They said they would have to order them, and when they came in they were different plug numbers. See pics. I asked them why and they said they were interchangeable. :what: fine. Took em home. Today pulled a plug off my bike. See pics. Several issues and questions.
1) Are the autolite plugs on my bike correct? These are off the rear. The one with the cap is from rear clutch side.
2) the plugs from AutoZone are obviously wrong. my 18 mm thin walled deep socket from ace Is way too big and the plug style is different. Does anyone have plug numbers that they know AutoZone carries. I plan on exchanging then replacing Saturday.
3) by looking at my current plugs, it looks like they are oil fouled to me. what does that tell me, beside I plan to seal my cam plug this weekend? Lean? Bike seems to run great. Get 38-40 mpg.
4) my boots on the rear are different. I checked all 4 boots. only the rear clutch plug boot allows the cap to stay on the plug when removed. What does that mean?
5) the rear two boots are loosely connected to the plugs. The front 2 are tight. I'm thinking this is bad. :confused: Anyone?

[ringadingh]

You can cross reference the different brands of plugs so you know the correct heat range. Myself I'd stick with NGK's. I use the Iridium plugs from NGK which are only available one heat range colder, but work just fine.
The plug caps unscrew from the cable and can be replaced if yours are bad.

[Bamabrat]

Thanks brother. I figured out the issue with the correct plugs and will pick up after work. The problem is that I don't know what the cap is supposed to look like. From my pics, which boot is "normal?" Is the cap supposed to stay on the plug, or the boot? I've never looked that closely at a boot before.

[macmac]

If I were you I would go to a bike dealer, any bike dealer that has a parts counter and sells Japanese bikes. I would buy all 4 NGK wire end resistors. I think 2 are straight and 2 are angled. These screw on and off the plug wires.

Then I would buy 4 NGK plugs with this number.
NGK DPR6EA-9 If you are handed NGK DPR7EA-9 it will be ok. I am not sure what's up with the 6's and the 7 is one heat range colder. Colder and hotter are ranges of how fast the plug gets rid of heat. This has nothing to do with hot or cold sparks.

I can't tell if the PO was a tech or not. What was done isn't really a sin, but it looks a little sloppy.

I was a tech once and I do all the service and i don't really keep paper myself. But i got a lot of pictures of the bike in pieces and everyone has seen them.


i don't see any oil soaked plugs, Nomads tend to be very lean if the set up is still all stock. What is it you see darkness in the threads?

It would be a good idea to coat the threads JUST the threads with a thin coat of silver colored anti seize, but do not get ANY on the electrodes.


For the external cam plug seal, good luck, and get that area clean and dry before you add anything.

[macmac]

I have a 2000 1500 book in paper. it shows the plug caps as 90 degrees but 2 are longer for the deep wells than the other 2.

The NGK caps have brass tips that receive the threads of the top plug, and no screw on adapter. The caps also have a snug fitting rubber seal.

The brass plug cap part inside also has a steel, not stainless steel hair pin that clips on the spark plug top threads. Do not anti seize the top threads.

Anti seize just the engine threads so the plugs never get stuck in the heads.

[Bamabrat]

If I were you I would go to a bike dealer, any bike dealer that has a parts counter and sells Japanese bikes. I would buy all 4 NGK wire end resistors. I think 2 are straight and 2 are angled. These screw on and off the plug wires.

Then I would buy 4 NGK plugs with this number.
NGK DPR6EA-9 If you are handed NGK DPR7EA-9 it will be ok. I am not sure what's up with the 6's and the 7 is one heat range colder. Colder and hotter are ranges of how fast the plug gets rid of heat. This has nothing to do with hot or cold sparks.

I can't tell if the PO was a tech or not. What was done isn't really a sin, but it looks a little sloppy.

I was a tech once and I do all the service and i don't really keep paper myself. But i got a lot of pictures of the bike in pieces and everyone has seen them.


i don't see any oil soaked plugs, Nomads tend to be very lean if the set up is still all stock. What is it you see darkness in the threads?

It would be a good idea to coat the threads JUST the threads with a thin coat of silver colored anti seize, but do not get ANY on the electrodes.


For the external cam plug seal, good luck, and get that area clean and dry before you add anything.

Thanks Mac. From what I can tell, the only mod is the Cobra pipes, so there is no goat bladder. I'm not sure if the carb has been rejetted. I plan on digging into the carb, but it won't be this weekend. Thanks for the info. I have anti-seize at home from my previous bikes and know to only put enough to fill the threads and not the ceramic. do i need dioelectric grease? I've seen that mentioned several times in other threads. I'm glad you mentioned that about not being oil fouled. I'm color blind which causes all kinds of issues. To clean the cam plug, I bought Gunk engine cleaner to remove the oil, and permatex black to seal it up.

The only thing I'm still confused on is what I call the boots. You mentioned buying new resistors. Ring mentioned them unscrewing. Does the whole rubber piece screw off? Is that the part that I should be replacing? I found the following on ebay. Its for a 1500 classic, but says it will fit a 1999 nomad. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NGK-spark-plug-cap-bent-elbow-8641-same-as-8072-/231005063161?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3AKawasaki%7CSubmodel%3A1500&hash=item35c8f987f9&vxp=mtr#ht_9272wt_1159

My dealer wants $43 to order all 4 boots from kaw. Said he can't get ngk.

[ringadingh]

The complete rubber cap unscrews from the plug cable, new ones can be purchased and screwed back on. They have a resistor inside them so buy the correct ones, as there are different types.

[Bamabrat]

Anyone know the NGK boot part number or have a picture that I can use to make sure I get the correct one? I found a local shop that keeps them in stock and they SAY that they have them for my bike. I want to remove my boot and take it with me tomorrow to be sure.

[ringadingh]

XD05F & L05ft are the numbers on my bike, made by Nichiwa. The shop should be able to cross reference them to the NGK pn.

[macmac]

The 2000 book has no part numbers. i think and hope what you are calling rubber boots is what Ring and i are calling resistor caps made of a plastic like bakalite. Terms vary in some areas.

The E bay picture is a resistor plug cap to me anyway but rated at 5k ohms. I am not sure what the 2001 carbed bike should have for that rating. I had the idea it was closer to 18k ohms bit don't know where i got that idea from, and am likely WRONG.

Maybe 5k is just fine for a carbed bike with No ECU. And maybe the plugs need a bit more resistance. I don't know.

I have never even worked on a carbed Nomad.

That doesn't mean I have worked on just about ever kind of carb there is. Once I worked on a carb that was the size of a mop bucket and it looked a lot like a mop bucket too. That one fit on a 28 cylinder radial WASP engine. A big boys toy..

On that carb all I know is there is a whiteish yellow with age plastic part in the shape of Y (I think) that leaks gas when it does anything wrong... That is hearsay...

[Bamabrat]

Thank you. Got my Idaho jack adapter in today, swapped plugs for correct ones, and found boots/resistors at wow motorsports for about $4 each. Will get those tomorrow. Spending family time tonight. Cheers:beer: