#3 look crispy to you?!?!

[Motorhead]

Yup. IMO Thermostat opening should be highest point. Make sure to also use the turbo coolant tank plug too. Add coolant through thermostat opening until that tank is full to bottom of threads. Put plug back in. Continue to add coolant through thermostat opening. Front end above rear end by 2 feet. Really helps to take thermostat out and drill a tiny hole (3/32")in flat base part of it to allow air to escape prior to thermostat even opening. Hole won't affect running temp. Also tiny hole enusre there is always a little coolant circulation no matter what.

Mine overheated so many times during my first two seasons with it, even had the dealer check it out!

What a difference a proper bleed makes, haven’t seen that Limp mode(211 F) since I followed Turboflash’s directions for bleeding! It took twice for mine but that was before I knew about the turbo cooler bolt!

Once cooling system is working, this is what you will notice, even during summertime start ups.

Sled will take much longer to reach the 170 F mark. And by watching the temp gauge you will see it rise to 167 and then down to 162. That will happen more then once before finally getting to the 172 mark!

Prior to proper bleeding, it would just climb into the 200’s fast, never fluctuating by means of the thermostat.

60/40 mix, water wetter and proper bleeding fixed mine for good, but if I am ever in the thermostat area, I shall use that drilled hole trick also!!

 

[NYTurbo]

We simply push thermostat open with a screw driver, fill up with coolant , few heat cycles letting air out at reservoir plug and your golden.

 

[Doc Harley]

Mine overheated so many times during my first two seasons with it, even had the dealer check it out!

What a difference a proper bleed makes, haven’t seen that Limp mode(211 F) since I followed Turboflash’s directions for bleeding! It took twice for mine but that was before I knew about the turbo cooler bolt!

Once cooling system is working, this is what you will notice, even during summertime start ups.

Sled will take much longer to reach the 170 F mark. And by watching the temp gauge you will see it rise to 167 and then down to 162. That will happen more then once before finally getting to the 172 mark!

Prior to proper bleeding, it would just climb into the 200’s fast, never fluctuating by means of the thermostat.

60/40 mix, water wetter and proper bleeding fixed mine for good, but if I am ever in the thermostat area, I shall use that drilled hole trick also!!

I'm following turboflash's recipe right now. Now it's hard to climb past 170°. But to be honest I didn't see much trapped air as I thought I would

 

[Turboflash]

It doesn't take much air at all with these 998s to cause problems.
As Motorhead says, once system is free of air, it takes quite a while to reach 167 degF after starting up. Then once it gets there, often temp will sit there for several minutes. This is when thermostat is opening. Then often temp will actually go down a bit before coming back up.

 

[Doc Harley]

Final thoughts & something I forgot to mention.
After the lake races I needed to get some fuel. So we rode up to the Cisco bar where they have one pump. It didn't look promising but I put in 4 gallons. It's possible the moisture was introduced through the injector and possibly got some bad gas. And it was the following day that it went into limp mode.
Food for thought....

 

[Turboflash]

We never really know what we're getting do we?
Just because pump says 91 doesn't mean it is. Could be last summer's outboard gas mixed with water? It's tough because when we need gas, we have to put some in. I think all of us have gotten bad gas at one time or another.

 

[Mike Bennett]

But the topic of this post was the rusty spark plug? I guess throw in new plugs and ride it. I am still thinking there is a very small part of the head gasket that is bad or a small crack in the head somewhere. a spark plug cant get that way in a good combustion chamber can it?

 

[cannondale27]

I would look for a lean condition. Those plugs show something going on. I don’t have explanation as to why they are not consistent color all the way around. Would think coolant but could also be fuel washing them off. So lean which would cause your 20deg temp increase and then possibly rich enough to to was the plugs.

 

[SideHogger]

Since this started as plug thread, has anyone had problems with regapping plus from.028 to .018? I ask because this is what I did and sled started running bad. Popping and sputtering. Used the K.I.S.S method, back to.028 and wallah, sled ran fine again. Same gas, same day.

 

[KnappAttack]

Since this started as plug thread, has anyone had problems with regapping plus from.028 to .018? I ask because this is what I did and sled started running bad. Popping and sputtering. Used the K.I.S.S method, back to.028 and wallah, sled ran fine again. Same gas, same day.

At that small of a gap I'd imagine the flame kernel was getting snuffed out from the stock single ground strap and not firing the charge. Why gap it so small? The 998 is not like the old Suzuki where the spark doesn't jump the gap....


This is the exact reason I use the dual electrode EK series of plugs, because the ground strap does not get in the way of the charge. The tip of the plug is right in the flame kernel and is always exposed to the charge, it lights off for a full burn and makes a bit more power without indexing single ground strap spark plugs for max power.

 

[Doc Harley]

But the topic of this post was the rusty spark plug? I guess throw in new plugs and ride it. I am still thinking there is a very small part of the head gasket that is bad or a small crack in the head somewhere. a spark plug cant get that way in a good combustion chamber can it?

agree....the only test I haven't done is leak down. But, it will have to be.

I would look for a lean condition. Those plugs show something going on. I don’t have explanation as to why they are not consistent color all the way around. Would think coolant but could also be fuel washing them off. So lean which would cause your 20deg temp increase and then possibly rich enough to to was the plugs.

UGH.... lean or rich?!?! Lol. I'd like to figure something out before she gets hurt.

 

[stgdz]

Yup. IMO Thermostat opening should be highest point. Make sure to also use the turbo coolant tank plug too. Add coolant through thermostat opening until that tank is full to bottom of threads. Put plug back in. Continue to add coolant through thermostat opening. Front end above rear end by 2 feet. Really helps to take thermostat out and drill a tiny hole (3/32")in flat base part of it to allow air to escape prior to thermostat even opening. Hole won't affect running temp. Also tiny hole enusre there is always a little coolant circulation no matter what.

So I tried this on this hill but still have had some overheating issues on hard pack. Finally got scratchers.

When you say the bottom of the threada, do you mean the cold line on the surge tank?

 

[KnappAttack]

JT, It runs good right, and its stock, put new plugs in and ride it. You have one plug that is darker on the edge of the shell, but the ceramic all looks the same. I wouldn't worry about it in the least.

I know you were worried about coolant temps a bit but its not using coolant, maybe just warm to temp and burp the tank above the exhaust to get rid of any air.

New plugs and ride! I think your worried about nothing. They should get new plugs every season anyway. Sometimes the plugs go bad but dont miss, the RPM just goes away, but this is usually on tuned sleds where people run lots of booster in them.

 

[Turboflash]

So I tried this on this hill but still have had some overheating issues on hard pack. Finally got scratchers.

When you say the bottom of the threada, do you mean the cold line on the surge tank?

Bottom of threads in turbo surge tank. It's that little metal tank right above the turbo. Take out plug and make sure there's coolant up to bottom of threads. If not, add coolant. Put plug back in and continue filling through thermostat housing.

 

[NYTurbo]

I don’t use this method . I fill up by the thermostat pushing down on thermostat till it’s full. Make sure overflow reservoir has coolant in it. Close rad cap. Start motor run up to operating temperature which is 170. Shut down , wait a few minutes for system to build pressure. Open metal tank bleeder screw over by turbo to let air out. If only air comes out , pull rad cap top off and repeat above process till you get coolant only coming out of tank bleeder screw over by turbo. You only have to loosen metal tank bleeder slightly . More than one way to do this but the method I described is simple and effective and no need to raise front of sled .