Oil light

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speedjunkie

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While driving at approx 50mph with a passenger my oil light popped on for about 2-3 sec's. It happened just after I accelerated off a stop sign. It did it again about 15 minutes later also on the highway. I checked the oil level at it appeared okay. Can I be experiencing an issue with my oil pump. The bike has 68,000 canadian kms or 42,000 big american miles:poke:
 
Sometimes just adding a "cap full" of fresh oil is enough to do the trick. It's possible that even though it looks like the level is perfect, just a tiny bit on the low side is enough to intermittently turn the light on. It had happened to me after an oil change where it looked correct through the sight glass but actually was a couple of cap fulls short. Try it out first and see if it comes on again. Mine never did.
 
Not uncommon for the light to flash under acceleration if your not near the full mark on some Yamaha's. Try filling right up to the full line if it bothers you.

The light is just a low oil level light and has nothing to do with oil pressure.
 
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You guys know how to make a guy feel GOOD:icon_beer: I was a bit in a panic since I recently bought her and wondered :doh2: Happy to know the bike is only sensitive to its oil level and its nothing major (I x my fingers). Do you guys like yamalube 20w40?

Norm
 
i was unable to find yamalube 20w40, so im running mobile 10w40. I had the exact same issue with my bike literally the first ride i took after it was under my ownership, and i was mega upset, until i did alittle research.
 
speedjunkie said:
While driving at approx 50mph with a passenger my oil light popped on for about 2-3 sec's. It happened just after I accelerated off a stop sign. It did it again about 15 minutes later also on the highway. I checked the oil level at it appeared okay. Can I be experiencing an issue with my oil pump. The bike has 68,000 canadian kms or 42,000 big american miles:poke:
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My 2002 was doing the same exact thing when I bought it. Everyone recommended an oil change as a new owner of a used bike anyway, so I went ahead and changed it out with some Mobil1 4t Synthetic. I have just hit 1000 miles since the change and no oil light at all. I am just guessing it had bit a little low when I got her and probably needed a change anyway.
 
Yamaha decided to put a oil level sensor in the pan rather than an oil pressure sensor. I'm sure an engineer had his reasons but I always thought knowing if you had pressure told you more than if the actual level was up to their recommendation. As we all know, your level can be fine but if the pump is bad, you will have a badly damaged engine.
 
Lonerider59 said:
Yamaha decided to put a oil level sensor in the pan rather than an oil pressure sensor. I'm sure an engineer had his reasons but I always thought knowing if you had pressure told you more than if the actual level was up to their recommendation. As we all know, your level can be fine but if the pump is bad, you will have a badly damaged engine.
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Yeah, both level and pressure would be good. But I'm sure the financial guys call the shots - hence, not both. If the oil pump is super reliable, as most are these days, then maybe a level senor makes sense.
I'd still like to have both.
 
Klurejr said:
My 2002 was doing the same exact thing when I bought it. Everyone recommended an oil change as a new owner of a used bike anyway, so I went ahead and changed it out with some Mobil1 4t Synthetic. I have just hit 1000 miles since the change and no oil light at all. I am just guessing it had bit a little low when I got her and probably needed a change anyway.
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What concerns me is that its happened 3-4 times during 3 days of driving only short distances 10-15 miles. If it was low on oil wouldn't the oil light be on at idle when the oil pressure is at its lowest or come on more often while riding? Unfortunately I didn't have the smarts:doh2: to drop a bit of oil to see if that cured it and now the bike looks like its going to sleep until next spring......:cry:
 
speedjunkie said:
What concerns me is that its happened 3-4 times during 3 days of driving only short distances 10-15 miles. If it was low on oil wouldn't the oil light be on at idle when the oil pressure is at its lowest or come on more often while riding? Unfortunately I didn't have the smarts:doh2: to drop a bit of oil to see if that cured it and now the bike looks like its going to sleep until next spring......:cry:
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Well at idle the oil isn't moving around due to the forces of turning or stopping the motorcycle. It sounds like your oil level was just borderline low to trigger the light. Just top it off to the top of the sight glass and you should be good to go. Even if you're not going to ride the bike the rest of this year you may still want to check the oil level just to verify where it is currently.
 
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