Very dirty valves... go with iridium plugs?

[stopwatch]

Hi  eveyone. Just pulled the valve cover off to check clearances for the 60,000 mile service. The valves and surrounding area is very black and crusty looking. I normally try to clean things up a bit with throttle body cleaner. Any tips on getting the crud off? I've even tried using some Seafoam to help loosen the junk. Seems worse than usual. Does this mean it's sucking oil past the guides/ seals? Could it just be this "wonderful" ethanol crap fuel we seem to be forced to use now? Should I use injector/ fuel system cleaner in the tank more often? I've even thought of drilling a small diameter access hole in the back of the airbox and fitting a plug so I can occasionly  spray throttle body cleaner in while the engine is running.

Also, what's the opinions on iridium verses standard plugs?

Thanks guys...

[cbxtc6]

You could see your valves after taking off just the valve cover?
 :shock:

[stopwatch]

Of course you've got to remove the air filter housing before you can take off the valve cover :roll: . You know that! I just don't remember the valves being so dirty and the crud not wanting to come off on the previous services I've done. I even took the crankcase breather tube out of the airbox and rigged it outside the box about 24,000 miles ago.

[metalguru]

What sort of engine oil have you been using?
Sounds like the 'heavy ends' left by old engine oil.
Should be fully synthetic from a reputable maker, cutting corners with oil will end in tears.

At that sort of milage some blowby past the rings should be expected which will give the crud aswell.

If alot of oil was found in the airbox/breather system then perhaps rings could do with a look and perhaps valve guide seals as these can go hard.

[Sasquatch]

Goofy plugs are not much more than snake oil.  The only people who seem to notice a difference are ones who remove worn out plugs and then replace with IR or other fancy plugs.  A spark is pretty much a spark.

Do you do a lot of commuting on your bike?  I bet stop and go traffic is more responsible for this than your plugs.  What fuel brand do you use.  I recommend using only one of the top tier brands of fuel.  Chevron, Texaco or Shell are the best in my location.  Will never buy from a cut rate station.  While the times I had no choice the bike ran fine on whatever I put in there, my Porsche is the queen of picky users when it comes to fuel.  I instantly notice cheap fuel in her, so I know there is a difference.

And as previously stated, good oil.

[delecti]

I have ir in my girl and runs the same they have done 43000kms but run about 1 degree cooler than standard plugs
quality oil and good fuel they dont like ethanol. 95 octane up. and give them a bit of a hard run loaded and two up if possible will do them a lot of good oh and balance the throttle body one may be lagging.
Mark

[Danny955i]

Not to thread jack...

But, I typically run Shell or Mobil gas in my bike... 93 octane or higher when possible... and I normally run Castrol or Mobil 1, 10w40 full synthetic 'race' motorcycle oil.

When I had my throttle bodies off for the TPS replacement, my valves were very dark... not crusted, or flakey, or anything of the sort like that... but they were reddish-brownish dark... smooth though... no build-up what-so-ever.

This is totally normal right?

[stopwatch]

Yeah sasquatch, I've been running Shell Rotella synthetic for the last 30,000 miles. I know it's not Mobil 1, but I've heard alot of folks use Rotella in their bikes and it seems to have worked fine so far. I usually run half Mobil 1 20w- 50 and half Rotella syn 5w- 40 in the hotter months to bring the viscosity up a bit. That guy's extensive info (some oil guru) who someone posted in the oil threads says it's okay to mix oils and he had nothing but good to say about Rotella. I've not ridden that much over the winter (bad weather, bad economy) but I did ride from Knoxville to Sturgis last August so that definitely was not "stop and go"!

The bike runs great. I sometimes have to hit the starter a second time in warmer weather. It nearly always stays running on the first attempt in colder temps. It's done this since day one.

I've finished the 60,000 mile service. One valve needed a different size shim, but all else was fine. I did remove the cams and retorque the head per the specs and sequence in the manual. It's seeped a bit of coolant for the last 20,000 miles as some 955s do. Mostly in cooler temps. I don't want to speak too soon, but so far no coolant has appeared in the usual spot after 300 miles (knock on wood)!