The first project was to take off the plastic body panels around the engine. With a nearly naked bike it was time to pull the spark plugs. It wasn't a real difficult job, but I was wishing I had a very small handed helper. The in-line 4 cylinder engine used a stick coil instead of regular spark plug boots and wires. It was a tight squeeze trying to reach between the top of the engine and the frame. There is JUST enough room to pull the coils out of the holes and get the Kawasaki tool kit spark plug wrench in the holes.
Panels off...
Three spark plugs come out from the right side of the engine. It's tight!
One comes out from the left side.
Here are 3 of the 4 stick coils.
The color of the plugs that came out was pretty good. The gap had widened a bit though.
After torquing the plugs, a little dielectric grease around the sealing area of the stick coils to ensure easy removal in another 30,000 miles and help seal out and dirt or moisture.
While I had everything apart, I replaced the air filter too. I had it out a week ago and knocked the bugs and grasshopper parts off of it, but I had to wait for the replacement to get here. I was looking inside the dirty side of the air box. I could see all kinds of bugs and stuff in there. I put a clean bag in the little Oreck vacuum and slipped on the small hose. It took a while but I got all the crap out. I cut open the bag to see just how much stuff was in there!!!
All the air enters through the hole in the front center of the fairing, and runs down 2 plastic tubes into the air box...
All that's left to do before I head out for Oregon is clean and lube the chain, check the air pressure and change the oil.
