Oil light on at idle

[Guest]

I used the search tool, and came up with a few answers that may or may not apply; sorry if this is redundant

My 82 Katana went for its maiden voyage Saturday after the resto process, and I'm pleased to announce that it went supremely well with the exception of one little thing, and that is the title of the thread....

When warmed up, the oil warning light comes on when sitting at idle. If I throttle it up even just a RCH, light goes off and the panic in my head subsides, reducing the swimming vision I get of doing the whole thing over again due to burnt cams. The oil light also comes on under hard acceleration, but I guess this can be expected? My buddy Tim's V-Max does the same thing with no apparent harm done.

I'm using dino oil formulated for diesel trucks (Mobil, I think cuz it was cheaper than Rotella) and the bike now has officially got 27 miles on it after the rebuild. I'm going to drain and replace oil and filter, but thought that while I was at it I'd pull the sump cover (oil pan, anyone?) and see if I might have missed an O-ring under there somewhere, allowing for my pressure drop.

It has a new Vesrah gasket set, new o-rings everywhere I could find one, and runs really well.

I know the o-ring that goes between the upper and lower crankcase, leading to the oil pressure switch, is in place. I'm not sure if there is one missing somewhere under the sump cover, the fiche at bikebandit shows #3 as the only O-ring that I'm not sure where it goes or if I even put one in... They call it the Kick Gear O-ring. I would post a picture if I knew how, but alas I don't.

Anything I should be looking for?

[Smokinapankake]

May have found the answer to my problem....
In the photo below I don't recall putting an o-ring in that little hole directly above the sump filter thing (round with two tubes poking out of it). If I did not, would that allow enough leakage such that the pressure would drop enough to cause the oil warning light to come on?

[TeamDar]

Yes, it's in there for a reason. The oil pans don't always fit flat until you torque them down so there could be a gap.

[Smokinapankake]

I prolly just overlooked it; was so frustrated after getting the two halves together you know.

[Smokinapankake]

Pulled the sump cover last night; indeed, there was no o-ring. Hopefully that should solve the problem.

[Nessism]

Hopefully you figured it out. I've experienced a similar issue when installing an oil cooler, the type with the adapter attached under the carbs because there was some internal leakage.

[jwhelan65]

Is that you living room! My wife would shear them clean off!

[posplayr]

The oil light also comes on under hard acceleration, but I guess this can be expected? My buddy Tim's V-Max does the same thing with no apparent harm done.

I have seen drops in pressure when running low on oil. Drag guys and some other members reverse the pickup tubes to point to the rear. Without the o-ring you are probably just sucking air rather than oil unless the entire pickup is submerged.

BTW looks like very nice work.

[Steve]

Is that you living room! My wife would shear them clean off!

ANY proper "man room" should be carpeted.

Makes it much nicer when you take pictures of bike parts.

Like this:




(This was from replacing the rusted-out crossover on "Freebie".)

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