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Reoccurring Oil Light

8K views 22 replies 7 participants last post by  Unibeck 
#1 ·
Good afternoon gentlemen,

I recently did an oil change on my bike. I did it correctly (I did not opt to prime the filter, though in the future I will) and turned the bike over and the oil light went right off. I let it run for a few minutes and d left it alone for the rest of the day. The next day I rode to and from a store (15 miles in total) and the bike ran beautiful.

This is where it gets interesting. The day after that, I went to ride an hour too school and got one minute down the rode to pump gas and noticed the oil light had come on. Bike sounded good, oil level was perfect, and no leaks so I proceeded. Maybe got another two miles before I felt like the bike was losing power. Pulled it into a parking lot and came back a few hours and the light was still on. It would still turn over though. Later that night I tried burping the engine with the spark plugs out but just killed the battery. The following day I ended up charging the bike and got it running; I then loosen the oil filter a little bit, ran the bike until oil came spitting out and tighten up the filter (burping). This worked and the oil light came off, I let it ran for five minutes to make sure and made the 10 minute ride home.

The next and to be last ride of the year, I went to meet my friend at his house, a twenty minute drive. She was running great. We ended up getting drunk so I had to come back the next day for the bike. Well I started her up, letting her warm up, and the oil light was back on!

So now she is sitting at my buddy's house waiting to be trailer-ed to my storage shed. What could possibly be the problem? If you need anymore information or something clarified just let me know. Thank you in advance for your time.

TL,DR
Bike ran fine after oil change. Then oil light came on. Burped it and was fine for another two short rides. Then oil light came back on.
 
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#2 ·
hmm, burping once should be all it takes.. twice.. maybe.. more than that, not really normal.

what oil and filter did you use? Its VERY important that the filter has an anti-drain back valve. also possible the valve in the filter is defective and allowing the air bubble to reform.

also, I have seen warm oil cause an intermittent oil light, if its too thin, or poor quality.

check for loose connection at the oil sending unit (front of engine, not far from the filter). could also have an intermittent short to ground in the harness (check around the neck), the light comes on when the lead to the sender gets grounded (low pressure closes the switch in the sender, one side of the switch is grounded thru the sender/engine).

does the oil light go out if you rev it a little? if so, suspect oil quality issue, or a flakey sender unit
 
#4 · (Edited)
X2, Also 2 things. Are your rpm's at idle above 1100 rpm. Have you pulled the tubular screen out ( inside the left side drain plug ) to see if it is clean or plugged up and installed correctly?
 
#3 ·
My oil light started coming on at cold starts idling under 2000 rpm. If I raised the rpm, it would go off. Considered putting an oil gauge on the bike to monitor pressure, but after I used Seafoam in the oil for another problem (sticky valve), the oil light hasn't come on since. Have to assume it was a dirty oil sender. Ran the Seafoam 300 miles before an oil change.

Did your light come on in all rpm ranges, or just at idle?
 
#5 ·
Mobil 1 10w-40 Synthetic for oil.
Purolator PL14610 PureONE for oil filter.

Oil light stays on no matter how I run the bike.

In response to the sender unit being grounded - the bike doesn't run right if I try to ride it with the light on. The send unit being grounded would only trigger the light and not affect anything else, correct?
 
#6 ·
JM2001 -
M y bike idles around 1250. Also, I had my finger inside the drain plug hole pretty deep and couldn't find the screen. I did an oil change the beginning of this year and was unaware of checking for the screen. After that oil change the bike oil light wouldn't turn off while i road for a few miles, but after letting her sit for a few hours resolved this issue.
 
#10 ·
Losing power could mean the lifters aren't getting pressure, you probably should hear the rockers ticking, but that depends if the lifters are totally flat or not. Losing power could also mean the crank, rods, and pistons, are seizing.

The only way to know is to thread an oil gauge in place of the oil sender and read the pressure. Sounds like it is at least pumping some oil, if it surged out while cranking it.

There's a vertical oil drain bolt on the bottom of the case, and there's a horizontal 1 1/4" oil screen cap near the left footpeg. Behind that cap is a screen tube about 1" Dia x 3-4" long. It's best to drain oil from this cap, after draining from the lower plug, because some oil gets trapped behind it. That also allows you to check the screen each oil change.




And a really bad one from this forum:

 
#13 ·
My friend is buying an oil pressure tool that I can use. I will most likely do this before next riding season begins.

Also, I will order the oil screen for the bottom of the oil pan as my bike doesn't have one. Additionally, I bought a Mobil 1 M1-110 Oil filter. Is there any recommendations for oil, taking into consideration my location/weather, which is New York. I was looking at the Shell Rotella Triple T 15w-40, but it seems like that would be too thick in the colder months here.

Is there any hope for going to a kawasaki dealership if everything else fails and see what they say?
 
#14 · (Edited)
I would think the 15w40 Rotella should be fine except in the most frigid temps. 15w will be the viscosity in colder temps. Rotella has been good to me in a lot of engines, it's good stuff. You mentioned having a riding "season", so I'm guessing you aren't in the polar bear club and riding in single digit temps. Many here are using the Rotella T 15w40, that's what I run in the bike.

There's also a spring that goes between that cap and the screen, the new screen should come with the rubber washer/grommet attached.

Dealer opinion? They'll want to rebuild the engine and probably tell you to run only Kawi brand oil in the weight listed in the manual for the temperature you plan to ride in.
 
#15 ·
i have seen this oil pressure problem before try taking the external oil line off and spraying parts cleaner thru it

if it is clogged you will not be getting oil to the upper engine and you will have an oil light coming on
 
#18 ·
Great advice! I will look into this after I check the oil pressure. Would this oil line also affect the wet clutch? I'm asking because while oil light was on and the engine power was low on the bike, trying to shift would make a horrible grinding noise. This all has to do with the oil pressure it seems. Maybe a faulty oil filter?
 
#20 ·
My 2006 VN750 has the oil light come on occasionally.
It happens mostly in cold weather or after I do an oil change, but not every time. I think it is time to run Seafoam through the system and clean out the smaller oil passages.
 
#21 · (Edited)
I have an update for you guys and for anyone that might have this problem in the future. I brought it to a shop for them to diagnose so I wouldn't screw the engine up. They called me back after changing the oil and filter, saying they couldn't repeat the noise or the light. Well I didn't have the problem immediately after the oil change either so I road it for about half an hour on three separate occasions this past week and nothing has came up. Must of been the filter.

Some things to note is that the oil light flashed on/off three times while idling when I first received the bike back. That might of been because of how cold it was that day, but I was anxious to drive it home :). The second time I went for a ride, I was waiting for it to warmed up and the light came on. I gave it some throttle because it seemed like it was struggling to idle without the choke. This happened twice but went away, and so I rode with out problem.

Anyhow, thank you all for the help.
 
#22 ·
Might have mentioned this already ... Since my oil light blinked on at low speed cold idle, I've made it a habit to use the choke to keep the rpm up around 1500-1700 until it's had a chance to warm up some. These engines can get low oil pressure with a slow idle, even when hot. I did give it a Seafoam in oil treatment as well.
 
#23 ·
Yeah, I almost always cold start my bike with the choke on. I didn't care to explain in my previous post that I had the choke on, took it off after about a minute, and that's when the oil light came on.
 
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