Spark plug terminal bent!

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I had a few jobs to do on the bike over the last couple of days, i had left the air filter, spark plugs, air suction valve and coolant change until i had used nearly all of the fuel in the tank to make it easier to get off.

The first minor problem i came across was when taking the tank off i found the breather hose on the left side of the tank was squashed flat up against the tank by it's bracket, the bracket is just a strip of metal welded to the underside of the tank that you bend up until it touches the breather pipe so it does not fall down.

The most worrying problem i came across was that i noticed No.3 stick coil (bloody hell that was awkward to get the stick coil out) was sticking up higher than the other 3 and the top rubber dust collar was showing above the cam cover, preventing it from sitting down properly, whereas the other stick coil rubber collars sat slightly lower on the coil body and were not visible when the stick coil was re-fitted.

When i took the No.3 spark plug out, i found the threaded terminal end was bent over to about 45 degrees , i carefully bent the terminal straight using a pair of pliers, it would not straighten by simply pushing it with my thumb, so i find it unlikely that whoever had fitted the stick coil had bent it by forcing the coil down onto the plug.

My bike is 4 years old and because of it's low mileage i believe it is the original plugs, so the plug must have been damaged when the engine was put together, i would have thought there would have been some serious running problems if the stick coil was not making proper contact with the plug, but the bike seemed to run ok, the only thing i have noticed now is the engine is alot smoother at slower speeds, like when you are on/off the throttle in traffic in second gear.

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Mental - Yip it would be reasonable to assume some dingo forced it in, what service is the plugs changed or checked or whatever? Be more like a workshop than a factory you'd think

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Oh yes! My money would be on a 'mechanic'. I let them do the first one to keep the warranty. Then I took it home and did it properly. I suppose I was lucky because the dicks never even looked at my plugs.

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According to the Periodic Maintenance Chart the spark plugs would have been cleaned and re-gapped for the first time at 4,000 miles, there is no whichever comes first time limit for the plugs, my bike has only done 2,800 miles in 4 years and 600 of those miles i have done since buying the bike 2.5 months ago.

I was assuming the plug was damaged at the factory and not by a clumsy monkey mechanic, because i have found other maintenance jobs not done, partly because the mileage to do those jobs had not been reached.