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Booster Plug Help Please....

Unrelated to the validity of emissions requirements, but as an observation through my travelling experiences ( and I do have an advanced degree in Atmospheric Sciences, whatever that is worth on the topic) , as soon as I have travelled AWAY from the cities and their pollution and to the less populated regions, I have found the air to be quite clean, and in many regions the landscape relatively unchanged. That is the beauty of an adventure motorcycle, you can go places far away from the crowds and the pollution. That is not to say we shouldn't strive for a cleaner Earth, but many see things only through the eyes of someone observing from the cities themselves and have no idea what its like outside the cities. My Himalayan emissions certainly do not amount to even the cleanest of SUVS, let alone private jets etc. I suppose we can all trade in our lifestyle and go back to riding horses (with emission diapers on), just don't see that happening. So to find the breathable air, get outside the cities and it is still there.
 

Theearthquaker

Getting there...
Location
Carlsbad, CA
Bought a 2021 Himalayan two weeks ago. Preparing for 1,000 mile service. The plug I have looks oval, not round. It's black, but in the exact spot as the photo in the BoosterPlug instructions.
 

Theearthquaker

Getting there...
Location
Carlsbad, CA
OK. I had the wrong plug. It's the one above. I'm ordering a BoosterPlug, and will see if it installs in my brand new 2021. The whole ECU-standards-update-error code thing sounds BMW-ish to me. Nobody's updating my ECU, cause nobody is working on this bike but me, and in the USA there's no inspections of, well, anything on a motorbike. I'll post back here with my findings. I put a Booster Plug on my 2017 Kawasaki Versys-X300 and my wife's TU250X, and it made them run like they SHOULD have run from the factory. No gains, just not too lean to work right/run cool/not pop on decel. If the B-Plug really is a thing of the past, can we still Power Commander it, or the other one, that Nathan Milward tried?
 

thresher

Well travelled
I have a lot of mixed emotions about this. In the deep south, the pine trees give off large amounts of hydrocarbons.

As far as the engine running lean it is still stoichiometric... It's a hemi type engine with a perimeter squench... Not exactly the most epa-friendly combustion chamber. Unfortunately the only way you can get an engine to breathe is by putting more valves in it or opening up the chamber and canting the valves...

After working in destructive test facilities for 18 years while manufacturing internal components... and yeah it was a long time ago... I've been on both sides of this... This is what I've learned. The EPA is driven by money not common sense... It is and will remain my opinion leave it alone. Ricardo did a fantastic job of engineering... The rest is government control and it will always win
 
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Robert

Well travelled
Location
Holland
Where there is a lot of talk about Booster plugs etc, I can't really see the need for this. If the engine runs so lean that it should require Fuel/Air Ratio adjustment there should be other, more serious problems than just popping sounds on deceleration. Popping sounds may also indicate a small leak in the exhaust gasket, so is not necessarily indicative of a lean mixture.

I only once read about an engine failure due to overheating but that was someone riding the bike for long hours at extremely high temperatures at high speed. I'm not sure about the details, it was about a year ago on The Other Site? That is one bike on how many sold? Most other bikes where the owners feel the need to adjustment are not yet broken in properly.
My engine is stock, and runs fine now it is broken in. Starts fine without help of the Bi-starter/choke and idles immediately without help of the throttle. Doesn't stall (did that the first couple of thousand km a few times, not so anymore). Still the original Bosch spark plug, though I have the NGK Iridium one as spare.
Even on hot days (37-39 degrees Celsius) there is no change in engine behaviour. It is a lean mixture I guess, else I would not get the fantastic mileage of 33 km per liter on average.
Please feel free to make any adjustments to your bike you deem necessary, but keep in mind that for normal running the stock bike is just fine.
 

thresher

Well travelled
I have a 2021 and it is bone stock. Decelerating, yes it pops every now and then out of the tailpipe but this is simply a buildup of gases in the pipe lighting off. The injection system does not go to zero when you close the throttle. It simply goes to idle and this is a buildup of gases in the pipe. I based this on empirical evidence in which when my tailpipe is cool it never pops yet much more common when the tailpipe is hot. It's nothing to worry about and it's not evidence of anything being bad.... Then again there are circumstances but nothing I've experienced.
It's a typical British engineered bike. Every week or so I walk around it with a 10 mm (and whatever else I might need) and make sure everything is snug. I'll be the first to admit my induction system the nuts were somewhat loose but they've never been an issue since.
Technically it is still stoichiometric. You can call it lean burn but in the end, it's nothing more than a perfect air fuel ratio...
 

Theearthquaker

Getting there...
Location
Carlsbad, CA
Powertronic makes an ECU for the bike, giving you two settings (Dunno what for on a Himma). IF there are re-programming upgrades for the dealer to do on the stock ECU, surely replacing the ECU all together would solve that. Their website says that it works for the BS6 models, so hopefully that includes 2021. It costs almost double what the BoosterPlug does, with a 15 day return and a 1 year warranty. I suppose that the debate of whether the bike NEEDS new fuel mapping could be solved by this device: Program the stock settings in setting 1, richer settings in 2, and then side by side compare on the same bike/rider... https://powertronicecu.com/product/powertronic-royal-enfield-himalayan-2017-2020/#reviews
 

Theearthquaker

Getting there...
Location
Carlsbad, CA
More exciting news from Hitchcock's this morning in response to my inquiry: "The BoosterPlug makes a good improvement to the bikes. It helps to give a softer throttle response and richens the mixture by a small amount to improve the rideability, as opposed to increasing peak HP like some people hope for. No engine management light will be illuminated when these are fitted.

If you already have the bike even if it is a 2021 model, you should not have a problem with fitment of one of these. When it comes to the new models in the future, BoosterPlug will stop supporting the Euro 5 spec bikes, and these Euro 5 bikes are not available just yet in Europe or the states, but they are due very soon (they are easily identifiable by the catalytic convertor position, and the Euro 5 models have a large bulge with this in the exhaust pipe very close to the cylinder head).

Regards,
Dan"
 
I have a lot of mixed emotions about this. In the deep south, the pine trees give off large amounts of hydrocarbons.

As far as the engine running lean it is still stoichiometric... It's a hemi type engine with a perimeter squench... Not exactly the most epa-friendly combustion chamber. Unfortunately the only way you can get an engine to breathe is by putting more valves in it or opening up the chamber and canting the valves...

After working in destructive test facilities for 18 years while manufacturing internal components... and yeah it was a long time ago... I've been on both sides of this... This is what I've learned. The EPA is driven by money not common sense... It is and will remain my opinion leave it alone. Ricardo did a fantastic job of engineering... The rest is government control and it will always win
non epa-friendly, not a Himalayan
 

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Theearthquaker

Getting there...
Location
Carlsbad, CA
I also do care about the environment. That's one reason to leave the evap system on the bike, especially given how easy it is to overflow the tank when filling up. BUT, the real emissions issue is climate change (no, really, it is), and gasoline simply results in a set amount of CO2 emission per gallon no matter how your engine burns it. The BoosterPlug is not going to enrich the mixture to the point of UNBURNT gas in increased amounts. SO, the Himalayan, which was designed with an environmental ethos, if not spirituality, is good for the planet because it gets good mileage and makes for happy people who can explore our beautiful world. Overheating and prematurely wearing out the motor with a too lean mixture, probably causing another bike to be needed, has a pretty big ecological footprint as well. Old air-cooled pushrod BMW's used to go 100,000 miles with dedicated owners, and I see no reason the Himma can't match that. I'm waiting for the electric bike, which, charged by wind or solar, will go 250 miles on a charge and recharge in 5 minutes....
 
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