oil pressure

[Wulfy]

I,ve got an 83 vr, and was wondering if anyone has put a aftermarket oil pressure gauge on theirs, I don't trust the idiot lights, GREAT web site I've been a member for a bit over a year, and it's been a lot of help on The Beast.

[Dano]

Ebay has a VMax aftermarket oil pressure guage that should work, need to lengthen the hose to mount it, I believe. Goes in place of the plug under the water pump.

 

Dan

[Squeeze]

Since the Lubrication System is not high Pressure System, but a high Volume System, a Oil Pressure Gauge isn't that important. The Light is a Oil-Level Indicator not a Pressure Warning Light.

[Dano]

So when I'm bangin' the throttle and gears, and that stupid little indicator comes on, don't worry about it, right?

[Gearhead]

Right. On my Virago (same manufacturer, same vintage) I know for a fact that the indicator is only valid when idling a warm engine, bike vertical. I strongly suspect the same applies here. Any of the following conditions causes more of the oil to linger in the top end and thus the level sender in the sump triggers a low level:

 

-Cold engine (and oil)

-Higher viscosity oil

-High rpm

 

If the bike is leaning away from the sender or accelerating or braking hard, that would also cause a false trigger.

 

Trust your sight glass.

 

Jeremy

[Dano]

Thats why I was looking to put in some kind of a secondary guage, possibly with pressure switch and idiot light if I ever lost pressure.

 

Dan

[Squeeze]

There is no "Pressure" you can loose. When you loose the Oil-Pump and notice that, you'll be too for late shutting down the Engine.

 

On my Max, i currently have a Motor which has an 1 Liter Oil Pan Extension mounted. The Light comes on constantly above 6.5 k RpM. Only Thing you can do about this, is to undo the Sensor and mount it in backwards. Or just plain check the Oil Level regularly and ignore the Light under Acceleration.

[Redneck]

There is no "Pressure" you can loose. When you loose the Oil-Pump and notice that, you'll be too for late shutting down the Engine.

 

On my Max, i currently have a Motor which has an 1 Liter Oil Pan Extension mounted. The Light comes on constantly above 6.5 k RpM. Only Thing you can do about this, is to undo the Sensor and mount it in backwards. Or just plain check the Oil Level regularly and ignore the Light under Acceleration.

What do you mean there is no oil pressure to loose? The engines run oil pressure about 80 psi revved cold about 25 psi 3000 rpm hot and about 2 psi idle hot. If there was no oil pressure they would only last a matter of minutes.

[Squidley]

You dont want to look at an oil gauge on the Ventures as Redneck said, it only runs a couple of lbs of oil pressure at an idle when warm. That will scare the hell out of you when you first see it

[Dano]

I was more worried about sucking the sump area dry as in being above 5500 + on hard runs. I figure there can't be more than 1/2-3/4" difference between the sensor level and the sump pickup for the oil pump. THAT's what concerns me. I've seen expensive race motors toasted because the sump went dry on 'em. Anybody shed some light on these thoughts?

[Squeeze]

What do you mean there is no oil pressure to loose? The engines run oil pressure about 80 psi revved cold about 25 psi 3000 rpm hot and about 2 psi idle hot. If there was no oil pressure they would only last a matter of minutes.

 

Mike, would you consider 2 psi as an Oil Pressure ? What you talking about are 'Pressure on the Reference Point not the real Pressure in the Main Feed Line. But we have been through this Discussion and i won't do again. If there is no Oil Flow, the Bearings woudn't last more than some Minutes. The Pressure Buildup in the Main Feed Line is a Sideeffect from the Oilflow the Pump creates, not the designed Goal of the Lubrication Design.

 

 

Dan, get over your Worries, as long as you keep the Oil Level half Way on the Glass, there is nothing to worry about.

[Dano]

Dan, get over your Worries, as long as you keep the Oil Level half Way on the Glass, there is nothing to worry about.

 

Ok boss, worries over

[Snarley Bill]

Ok boss, worries over

if you want to put a gauge on heres how you do it. take the big round plug out below the waterpump. this is the main oil gallery that feeds the main bearings.this it the most important area to read oil pessure. it is an an aluminum plug. you can drill it and tap it using an 1/8 npt tap. now the fittings for most any oil pressure gauge will fit. you will need a 100 psi gauge. like redneck said cold idle pressure can excede 80 psi. you can use a mechanical gauge with plastic tubing and go direct from the plug to the gauge, which i did on my v-max and rstd, or you can do it with an electric sending unit like redneck did. rednecks set up is the neatest. both are accurate. like brad said idle pressure is low. mine was about 5lb. hot which is addequate at idle. it held about 25 lb. hot at most riding speeds. i hate the oil level idiot light. it means absolutly nothing. i want to know what my oil pressure is and you can use it as a temp gauge to tell when the engine oil has warmed up enough to run the hell out of it. i prefer autometer gauges with the good looking chrome mounting cup. if your the paranoid type skip the gauge and use the light. my light never came on on any of my yamahas. my wing and zx-14 both have oil pressure idiot lights and they both now have gauges. big improvement. bill

[V7Goose]

There is a detailed write up on mounting gauges in the 2nd gen tech library.

Goose

[Gearhead]

I was more worried about sucking the sump area dry as in being above 5500 + on hard runs. I figure there can't be more than 1/2-3/4" difference between the sensor level and the sump pickup for the oil pump. THAT's what concerns me. I've seen expensive race motors toasted because the sump went dry on 'em. Anybody shed some light on these thoughts?

 

Well, Yammy did design the engine, sump and lube system to work together under a wide variety of circumstances. As long as you're operating in conditions that are not extremely abnormal (like running gear oil in your engine, or something weird), and the oil level is anywhere between the marks on the sight glass with the bike vertical, there should be oil at the pump pickup.

 

I find it interesting that your light flickers. Does anybody else's? My oil level light on the Venture never comes on. My Virago, OTOH...it's well known with those bikes that they come on all the time. The sender is in the front RH corner of the engine, so if you're accelerating, or on the kickstand or going uphill it tends to come on. Plus, I think it's just too sensitive. But the sump pickup is in the bottom middle of the engine, so it's not subject to these conditions.

 

Only Yamaha, as far as I've seen, put a LEVEL warning system in rather than a PRESSURE system. That means on every other vehicle you own you have the same scenario, but you just don't have a light to worry about. Personally, I like the LEVEL system because if you're running at high rpm and heavy throttle and your oil PRESSURE idiot light comes on, I think it's too late at that point because that's gonna mean somewhere under 2 psi. With the LEVEL light on the Virago I have learned to interpret how much it comes on to know if I need to check the level at the glass.

 

Jeremy

[V7Goose]

I have seen the oil level light flicker a couple of times - ONLY when under very hard acceleration in 2nd or 3rd gear and running up a slight incline. Throws all the oil to the rear enough to trigger the level switch. I did not notice a drop in my oil pressure gauge at the time, but frankly, it was so quick I would not have noticed unless I was staring at the gauge.

Goose

[Snarley Bill]

oil pressure is a much more important reading than how much oil you have. you can have your light on and still have good oil pressure. when that oil pressure goes to zero. you need a motor. it is not very likely but the lubrication system can fail causing loss of oil pressure even though you still have plenty of oil. could happen and does on rare occasions. the oil pessure gauge buys me piece of mind. thats why it is one of the first things i put on a bike. cheap insurance,although not always easy to install. like i said you can tell by the drop in oil pressure when your engine is getting totally warmed up. bill