P700m4 Loose spark plug boot question

[William perry]

Good Morning! Love the forum!
Has anyone had any experience with a spark plug boot being loose? i noticed my boot was loose on the spark plug. when i went to pull it out, i noticed something fell out of it. upon looking, i saw a spring and something like a diode/fuse looking thing and the clip that attaches to the spark plug. i reasembled everything and screwed the clip onto the boot. it seemed to be tight. now the boot is loose again. i checked with the dealer to order a boot wire and it only comes with the boot attached to the ignition coil. does anyone know what the fuse looking thing is? or can the wire only be replaced? is there a simple fix? it is still under extended warrenty but the dealer is 45 minutes away.

 

[Admin]

 

[Tflynn]

Is this the piece that fell out?

If so, remove the plug and this little guy threads on the end, make sure it's tight!

The plug wire literally snaps onto this little piece. Try snapping it in with the plug still removed so you Have a feel for how it should be. Then reinstall the plug and snap the wire on and hopefully that's all there is to it! I hope that answers your question.

 

[William perry]

thanks for the reply, but no there is a spring and something that looks like a round fuse (not the automotive glass type ). inside the boot there is a stud, a spring, the fuse thing and it all is held in by the female part that goes onto the piece you have pictured. the female part is threaded and holds all of the other pieces inside the rubber boot. could you maybe use locktite on the threads?

 

[Tflynn]

Hmmm might need to see a picture. I would probably stay away from loctite as it may interrupt the electrical connection and cause a problem with a warranty claim if that's what you end up having to do.

 

[CATaylor]

It is a RFI "Radio Frequency Interrupter", all of my old XR bikes had them. Stretch the spring out a little before reinstalling it next time, it will let it keep a little more pressure on the retaining nut and possibly keep it from loosening up. Another good thing to have on you is a piece of aluminum foil to wrap it in in the event that it fails; no go if it fails. It may however cause failure of other ignition or electrical parts if ran in that manner for long periods, although I never personally experienced any adverse effects. I had an 86 XR250R than ran that way for many years.

 

[Tflynn]

It is a RFI "Radio Frequency Interrupter", all of my old XR bikes had them. Stretch the spring out a little before reinstalling it next time, it will let it keep a little more pressure on the retaining nut and possibly keep it from loosening up. Another good thing to have on you is a piece of aluminum foil to wrap it in in the event that it fails; no go if it fails. It may however cause failure of other ignition or electrical parts if ran in that manner for long periods, although I never personally experienced any adverse effects. I had an 86 XR250R than ran that way for many years.

Good to know! Maybe I need some foil for my trail kit, thanks for the tip

 

[joeymt33]

Chewing tobacco wrapper works in a pinch....

 

[Tflynn]

Chewing tobacco wrapper works in a pinch....

Haha chewing tobacco? Pinch? Pun intended?

 

[joeymt33]

Yep

 

[William perry]

Good to know! Maybe I need some foil for my trail kit, thanks for the tip

This is what it looks like.

 

[Hondasxs]

This is what it looks like.View attachment 6674

Thanks for the picture. I have never taken one out.

 

[Buryit]

Wow now I gotta check this thing out, not sure why such a setup is in use.

 

[William perry]

Running with a spuratic firing spark plug, could this problem cause the fuel injection to keep pumping fuel to the motor and unburnt fuel go to the exhaust and try to burn (causing a whistling sound)? it runs fine at idle but will slowly start to whistle louder and louder until it shuts down. i know it has to got to the shop, i am just trying to make sense of it and maybe make people aware of a potentially dangerous situation.

 

[CATaylor]

I wouldn't think so but anything is possible I guess. If it is wistiling I would bet on a restriction in the intake or exhaust. I would lean more to the exhaust side since it gets worse the more it runs

 

[Tflynn]

Just wanted to say thank you forum! I pulled my plug today and when I popped the boot off little tiny parts flew everywhere! I remembered this thread, looked it up and bingo! All the info I needed to put things back the way they should be

 

[Tflynn]

Update-
After reassembling everything in the spark plug boot and putting things back my engine seems to run much smoother now. I'm thinking the "screw" as referenced in the picture in post #10 had backed out to the point where the connection/current to the plug was compromised. Because this happened so slowly, it was hard to notice symptoms until they got pretty bad. But once fixed it really made a difference. Now the engine runs as it should.

So, next time you get a chance, you might just give your spark plug boot a wiggle. If it feels normal then great. But if it's real loose and flimsy you may be having a problem similar to mine and @William perry 's. I know I'll be checking on this at least with every oil change.