intermittent oil light

[el_oso]

Sunday night riding home from Leicester to London my oil light started flicking on off on the motorway. I stopped at the next services to check the oil and well it wasn't full but wasn't below the low mark either so I continued home at a slower pace. Topped it up Monday so it was up to maximum line and halfway to work I noticed that the light came on again briefly for a second or two then went back off. It has done this a fair few times on tbd way home and am wondering if it's something I should investigate further or its just a bad connection/faulty sensor. I have no idea how the oil level is obtained ie pressure or level or if I have a pump that pumps the oil or what. Nothing feels different about the bike, just don't want to blow her up.
What would you do? Would you be worried or just ignore the crazy Japanese electronics
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[Kickstart]

Hi

Assume this is for the Thundercat.

Most Yamahas have an oil level light, including the FZR600 that the Thundercat lump is based on. From memory it is a small sensor (~10p diameter tube) that fits from below into the sump plate.

They do seem to behave oddly sometimes. Probably worth keeping the oil level towards the top and make sure you are using the right oil. Tended to find with the FZ750 that the oil light would come on when the engine was pretty cold (and hence the oil still cold) and the level was still well within limits. Oil at the top of the glass or oil warm and it wouldn't come on.

If it were an oil pressure light and you were really low on oil pressure then you would probably have wrecked the engine by keeping on riding it.

All the best

Keith
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[el_oso]

It is indeed the thundercat.
I have seen the oil sensor on the sump and heard that it was oil level but never confirmed it. First time it came on I was riding at a reasonable speed for an extended period of time so thought that might have something to do with it but like I said when I checked it was dark and ground wasn't perfectly level but I did the best I could to get it level given the circumstances and could still see oil in the window. Topping it up to maximum on level ground in the garage used less than 100ml so couldn't have been that low.
How is oil circulated round the engine? Thinking about it, if there is an oil pump then of it failed oil would just be sitting in the sump and would not cause the light to come on anyway

Thanks
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[Kickstart]

Hi

High pressure oil pump to push oil around the engine. If that failed your engine would be toast rapidly. If you rode it any distance I would expect the crank to be gone rapidly, and if you didn't stop for it to quite probably throw a rod through the crankcases.

Think the sensor for the oil level is towards the front so a long uphill section (or wheelies) might allow oil away from the sensor enough to cause the light to come on if the level is borderline.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[ian505050]

I had my oil light flicker a little on an sv650 when the idle was very low? I trweaked the idle up a little and it went away.

[el_oso]

Acting even stranger today. The rev counter is bouncing all over the place from time to time. The only error codes I know of are at 3000 for tps and i think 6000 for the fuel gague. Any idea what's going on now? Water behind the clocks?
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[Shinigami]

[Fizzer Thou]

Check to see if there is a multipin block connector inside of the fairing somewhere,like this one on a Yamaha R1

https://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv23/WiNot_Rhencullen/Workshop/Picture374.jpg

Some of the pins can become corroded and so is a good idea to start with all of the connectors that you can find.Give them all a squirt of WD40,GT85 or Duck oil and make/remake the connection so as to help to clean the electrical contacts
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[el_oso]

I did think of the electrical gremlins, but couldn't find a picture on the restricted computers at work. For some reason pictures on google image search don't work.
Either the cat or the SV650S has one of them connector blocks. When I get home I'll have a look and give it a squirt with some electrical cleaner.
____________________
Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[el_oso]

I did think of the electrical gremlins, but couldn't find a picture on the restricted computers at work. For some reason pictures on google image search don't work.
Either the cat or the SV650S has one of them connector blocks. When I get home I'll have a look and give it a squirt with some electrical cleaner.
____________________
Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[doggone]

Yes there'll be corrosion in a connector block, salty road spray will be getting in the last few days making things worse.

Oil pressure senders are often located in places they get wet and corroded too - while not to be disregarded it's not unusual to have them flickering intermittently - especially in damp weather, and in most cases it's the sender needs cleaning up or replacing.

[Fizzer Thou]

It may well be worth changing the oil if it has not been done for a while.If sludge has built up around the float sensor then fresh oil may well wash that sludge away.

A few years ago I was working in a car garage when a customer rang complaining about noisey hydraulic tappets,which are supposed to be self-adjusting.The garage owner advised the car owner to change the oil after making sure that the oil was good and hot.

A friend who had a FZR1000 Genesis had a problem with an intermittant oil level light illuminating on his dash.We removed the sensor and cleaned it using engine cleaner and before reinstalling it we filled it with fresh oil.This cured the situation from then onwards.There was some corrosion on the single wire from the sensor to the wiring loom,but not enough to cause the problem from what I could see.A quick clean with a small brass wire brush and a squirt of WD40 kept the possibilty of corrosion away.
____________________
Just talk bikes.What else is there?

Always have a 'Plan B'