Red sparkplugs???

[scooper77515]

Was riding the XP in pre-Gustav surf, and after about an hour of jumping waves, it stalled on me. It usually does this when the plugs are fouled. So I got it started back up, gunned it back to shore, and pulled the plugs, and they were RED!!!

The strap was almost totally red-oxide (like primer) colored. These were new plugs with only an hour of use on them.

Anyone ever seen this and what causes it?

 

[seadoosnipe]

Red tint....

Scott, a red tint in the plugs is good. It may be that your just a bit rich, but for the most part, the reddish color should be fine. Look at my signature at the bottom of my post and you'll see the link I put in for the page I posted on reading your spark plugs.

You'll be able to see the color of your plug, get the picture number, then read what it says or what you need to do to correct it.

The season is winding down and I"m having a couple problems with my boat too. Mostly in the carbs......

If your out jumping wakes and coming down on hard landings, losing the motor.....don't be surprised if it's not the DESS post, vibrations causing it to lose communication with the mpem, momentarily. If it starts right back up, I'll bet that's the problem.

 

[scooper77515]

The stalling is definitely electrical. Not sure if it is spark or loose DESS, but it has done it since I got it. It will run fine all day if you don't jump, but after 15-20 hard landings, it starts to stall every now and then. It ran fine after it started, but I have had bad experiences with plugs fouling up and figured I would take it in and swap them.

Gustav's rip current and chop got too rough for me, so I put it up early only one more run after swapping the plugs. It got so I was jumping off of one wave and landing on the top (or into) the next wave. Almost went over the handlebars on one when the nose sunk into the next wave and submarined the boat!!! It was fun! :hurray:

 

[scooper77515]

OK, I looked at the pics and YUP!!! lots of red. It used to run more oil fouled, but seems to be running better now after I stopped premixing and leaned out the low speed on the carbs. and it starts up IMMEDIATELY even when cold. It seldom turns over more than 2 times before starting.

Now I need to get the Challenger to start this easy and not foul plugs. I am doing a fine bit of tuning each time i take it out (I hate working upside down in that thing) so by the end of the season, it should be perfect, then time for teardown and rebuild, and do it all again next year...