Oil light came on

[Anonymous]

I was riding my '82 GS650GL home from work yesterday when the oil light came on. I had just accelerated faster than normal when I noticed the light. I immediately hit the clutch and the kill switch and coasted into a parking lot. Oil did appear low in the sight area so I ran to the nearest gas station and bought oil. By the time I got back to the bike, the oil level looked fine. I drove on home without adding oil and with no other problems.

What could cause the oil light to come on if the oil was not low?

Is it possible that I am checking the oil incorrectly? I do it two different ways. One involves using the center stand to make sure it is level from side-to-side without actually putting it up on the center stand. The other involves actually putting it on the center stand. Is there a preferred method?

[Anonymous]

is your oil light : low oil level, or : low oil pressure ?

better find out

[Anonymous]

Check the connection between the oil pressure sending unit and the wire going to it. Also trace the wire, and make sure it's not chafed anywhere. Your bike isn't likely to have had low oil pressure, even if it was a little bit low.

Tim

[Anonymous]

Oil pickup points where?

By coincidence, I was reading an article about my 1100E in a 1980 Cycle World magazine today. They mentioned specifically that Suzuki had chosen to change the oil pump pickup from rear facing to front facing on this new model. The reason? Under hard braking the oil would rush to the front of the sump (and the forward-facing oil pickup), so the pump wouldn't starve for oil. Cycle World thought that was a good idea, but their testing showed that under heavy acceleration, the oil pressure light would come on because all oil had rushed to the back of the sump, away from the pickup. They still thought the change a good idea because heavy braking would be more frequent than heavy acceleration (apparently the editors had not met GS Resources Forum readers). The momentary pump starvation was not considered a significant problem, at least for the GS1100E. Perhaps this relates directly to your heavy acceleration?

[Anonymous]

Wow I diddn't know that. Lets see if I can remember that later.

[Anonymous]

I have never noticed the light while accelerating before. I agree, that could be the cause though.

I'll check the wire for the light and verify that my oil is at the right level. I'll drive it to work tomorrow and see what happens. I'll just make sure I have a quart of oil and pliers with me in case it happens more frequently.

Justin

[Anonymous]

Really? I noticed a couple of times under hard deceleration (especially pointing downhill) the oil light would come on for a few seconds. I figured it was something like this, and didn't worry too much about it.

I've since found out there may be *other* problems with my lubrication system...

--Mitch

[focus frenzy]

I dont know for sure about the 650 but on the 850-1100 you are suspose to check the oil level with the bike on the center stand on level ground.

[Anonymous]

I was told to check the oil level on my GS650L while not on the centerstand, just get the bike to its balance point and hold it there while you look in the site. Takes some practice, but its not to hard after a while. And if your 650 is anything like mine, get used to seeing that light. Mine is up to a quart every 400 miles.

[saaz]

On a low oil pressure system (roller crank models) a drop in oil pressure once in a blue moon should be no big deal. On a plain bearing model...hmmm....troubles. Roller crank models can suffer huge abuse.

I brake heavily and accelerate a lot with the GS1000 and no oil light problems. I don't put the old girl on the back wheel or do burnouts as I want it to last another 24 years thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, the GS650G and GL models are not roller crank models, they have regular car main type bearings. So you need to just check the oil and hope for the best. Good luck