spark plug change

[yamamarc]

I am doing maintenance, worked on wife's sled today and almost done! I
m going to start on my viper tomorrow. My viper has more kms than wife's zr and figure I am due for a plug change
does fuel tank have to come off?
You guys have any tips to make it easier?
What plugs are you guys using?
thanks in advance for any info

 

[cannondale27]

I think you could do without but just pull the tank much easier to access then. There will be dirt under tank that should be cleaned off anyhow. I put the two electrode ek's in mine but don't waste your money on them. Just run stock. I had some extras laying around and they made no difference at all. It's pretty straightforward. Remove batwing and plastic around fuel fill. The big nut may be a bugger. I use a flat jawed adjustable wrench. Remove spars disconnect battery,unplug all connectors,remove vent line at front,disconnect fuel line at tank by removing the small clip in connector carefully. Then put a rag over and wiggle the connector off. Take hoses and wires and hang them out of way over the handlebars,lift off tank.

 

[Joe ltx-le]

It's funny you bring this up. Last weekend I was at the season opener at our club, the reps where there with a sidewinder. I mentioned how there was more room then the viper to get at the coils. This guy pipes up "I can change my coils with the tank on" (viper). He then showed me his knuckles all beat up from reaching in.

He didn't believe me that it only takes 20 minutes to romove the tank. Then you can check your heat shield and get a good look at the engine.
I didn't remove the battery I just slipped the tank out. Take note of how the wires lay in the tank.

 

[yamamarc]

thanks for the tips guys!!! I will remove tank as mentioned!

 

[yamahabuyer]

When are plugs due on the vipers?

 

[TestMaster]

When are plugs due on the vipers?

You can extend plug life by doing one thing every time. The Viper does not like to be started and run for short periods of time and a few summer starts without warming the engine to operating temperature will have you changing fouled plugs.

Whenever I start my sled for a short move like loading a trailer or unloading at the destination I always heat the engine to 170+ degrees minimum and running the engine till the fan comes on which is about 200 degrees Fahrenheit is not a problem.

I asked about spare plugs when I bought our first Viper, and the owner of the dealership laughed. He said you will never need to change a plug on the trail and if you do it's not something that you would want to do because it's a pain. That's when he told me about heating to operating temperature prior to shutting the engine down. So two 2014 Vipers with about 3,000 miles each and just changed plugs this year. We have never had an issue and they did not recommend or suggest the change but I'm pretty anal from a maintenance perspective. We can drive to the trails from our house and our average ride is about 60-70 miles with one or two stops along the way and we usually don't exceed 140 miles in a day. Longer rides are over nighters.

Hope this helps!

PS The plugs looked great when removed and I believe 6,000 miles would not have been a problem.

 

[yamahabuyer]

The owners manual says they are due every 2500 mi.

 

[Joe ltx-le]

3000 miles on my sled. I pulled one plug and it was perefect. I'll wait another season and change them.

 

[Yamadog]

I have changed them on both my vipers and never removed anything but the side panels. if you wear mechanics gloves you wont tear up your knuckles!