82 1100EZ oil gauge

[Guest]

Hello all, I've got a problem with my oil gauge. I'll start at the beginning and describe everything the best I can. I bought the bike in the summer of 2015, and the oil gauge has never worked. I asked the previous owner if he knew anything about it, and he said he's never had it working, but had never tried to fix it either. So when I got it home, I took the back panel off of the gauge cluster and sure enough, none of the wires were hooked up. So after hooking it all up, I took the bike for a decently long ride, and I still got nothing. When I turn the key, the gauge appears to "engage", and the needle jumps a tad. After I got back I had realized that I never plugged the sensor wire in just underneath the carburetors. (This bike was an electrical disaster when I got it) So I plugged that in, and the oil gauge shot right to the top in a second. I know that it shouldn't have gone up that high, so I unplugged it and it went back down to "0". The next morning I plugged the sensor wire back in and again, the gauge shot to the top. I checked all the wires to make sure they weren't grounded anywhere on the bike, they weren't. So I've just recently bought a new oem gauge for it, and now when I plug the sensor in, the gauge doesn't shoot to the top, however, the gauge doesn't seem to go up any. I haven't riden it with the new gauge, but it has run in my driveway for a good 20 minutes. (The weather has been horrible these past few weeks in MA) I'm out of ideas on what could be wrong with it. Should I try and replace the sensor? Anything helps! Thanks!

[posplayr]

The manual has a check out procedure for gage andsensor.

ed I think you should add not reading the factory manual as another nub " most made mistakes.

[GlenT.]

Posplayr is right about referring to the factory manual to verify the gauges. FYI, however, I have an '83 GS1100E that uses the identical gauge and on a cool day (<60F) it can take twenty minutes of actual riding to get the needle to move. Idling for 20 minutes will heat up the top end but your oil temp may not budge for much longer. Probably not good to do to that air-cooled engine. Take it for ride when the weather permits and see what happens.

[posplayr]

Yes it can take 20 minutes to heat up the oil. But there is not much reason to have to run the engine when there is an electrical checkout in the manual. I would have to guess the op did no reconnect the cut wires correctly which would become obvious when performing factory electrical tests. How much sense does it make to ride the bike around if the gauge is not connected correct?

[Rob S.]

...I have an '83 GS1100E that uses the identical gauge and on a cool day (<60F) it can take twenty minutes of actual riding to get the needle to move.

True that!