Call me a cheap-ass. Call me frugal. Call me whatever you'd like. Just don't call me for help if you screwed something up on your bike and are trying to blame me. Anything you do to YOUR own bike is YOUR own resposibility. duh.
Almost all my posts on the "tips and tricks" forum are low cost or free. This one happens to cost absolutely nuthin'! Most of you already know about this one, but I'd thought I'd drop some knowledge on those who didn't know.
If you have an intermittent spark or have inadvertently pulled the spark plug boot off of the sparkplug coil wire, here is a great way to fix it. This should almost be done as routine maintanence, but connot be done indefinetly. When I did this the first time, i definetly noticed that the bike seemed to idle MUCH smoother. My connections were in pretty bad shape though.
The sparkplug holder, or sparkplug boot, (the thing that you push on to the sparkplug,) is actually just screwed on to the wire. The clip that touches the tip of the sparkplug is connected to the sparkplug wire by what looks like a tapered tip of a screw. You can see it with a flashlight if you remove the wire from it and peer into it.
The wire is basically a single conductor, stranded cable. The copper wire is in the center of the insulation and when you screw it on to the wire, the screw "punctures" right into the center of the copper wire. It serves two functions: to complete the contact from wire to boot and to hold the boot on to the wire. Not the sturdiest design, but effective. Maybe a dab of silicone in the boot couldn't hurt.
What I have done is unscrew each boot one at a time, since 1 and 4 cylinder boots are different than 2 and 3. Then, take a sharp cutter of some sort, (dykes, scissors, wire cutters, cigar snipper, etc.,) and snip off about 1/4 of an inch. You'll see where the screw had penetrated into the wire and by snipping a little of it off, it will give you a fresh, snug and unoxidized new connection for the screw to seat itself in to. Then just push the boot back on to the wire and screw it back on. Don't over-tighten the boot because it will actually strip out the wire and you will probably be worse off than where you started.
That's it! Do it to the other boots and you should be ready to rock.
If you are uncertain that you have made a good connection on any of them, simply unscrew the boot off and look at the wire to see if you have made good penetration. If you have, just screw it back on. If not, try pushing on it a little harder while you screw it together.
Sometimes, there is a black sleeve that is over the sparkplug wire to help insulate the wire from heat or to prevent chafing. You may need to carefully remove some of that 2nd insulator as well since it may prevent the wire from fully seating into the boot. Be very careful not to nick the wire though. If there is a break in the insulation, you run the risk of the spark arcing on something thus reducing or eliminating spark on that cylinder.
