Occasional oil warning mystery

[tz89]

Every so often the oil warning (bottom left) symbol comes on. It stays on for a while, then goes off. Sometimes it does it a couple of times in a row, then goes off.

 

No particular pattern. There is plenty of oil in the sight window. I do know how to check it. Oil can be new or old. Driving fast or slow. Short haul or long haul. Level or hill. Once it goes off I may not see it again for weeks.

 

The rest of my computer is working.

 

I have two theories based on the best source - near total ignorance. Some kind of electrical connection issue working up on me, or an actual issue with the sensor/sendor.

 

My understanding is this isn't an oil pressure sensor, but something else. What else I don't know. It works like my toilet bowl for all I know.

 

Any clues or suggestions you can send my way much appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Tom

[frankd]

Yes, it's not an oil pressure warning, but an oil level switch, and it's located in the front of the oil sump. On my 83, if the oil is near the lower allowable level, and you run it hard through first and second gears, the warning may come on briefly. Because the float is in the front of the pan, and the oil pickup is in towards the rear (where the oil flows to when you're accelerating hard) I never worried about it. Your's is different. If you look at the bottom of your engine, you will see a single wire going into the motor....that's the oil level switch, and I think that the warning comes on when the wire is grounded by the level switch. If the wire's insulation has been damaged and the wire is grounding, this could make the warning intermittant, but this isn't very likely. The most likely problem is the alarm panel printed circuit board has a break on one of the runs. There are several discussions about this on the site.

[Kirby]

Same thing on a 1gen VMAX. It's called the poor man's shift light!!You'll probably only see this if getting on it pretty hard in the first three gears. Put in just a little more oil and see if it still does this. Don't overfill!!

[friesman]

If your oil is halfway up the glass I wouldnt add any more oil to it, you will probably just end up with a bunch of oil up in the air cleaner box.

My 85 did that last summer after running thru some real cut up roads during road construction on the way to Cody WY. I felt something big bump the bottom of the bike as I was going thru a real nasty patch close to Belfry and immediatly my oil light came on. I pulled over as soon as I could and checked things over but couldnt find anything wrong, so I just rode into Cody, as I knew it was just an oil level light.

 

The light stayed on intermittently the whole trip but when I got about halfway home it went off and i havnt seen it since.

 

Brian

[Marcarl]

My 85 did that 2 times, both times after or during riding on some fresher tar and chip. I found a stone stuck in the wiring on the bottom of the oil pan,,, since then it hasn't happened again, but then I have not been riding on any tar and chip either.