oil light on 77 kz 1000 came on. . .

I was out riding yesterday, and was winding out 2nd gear a bit, and my oil light flashed on for a split second. . . .I just changed the oil, so the oil is clean and full. Was wondering if i may have a weak oil pump, I read in my manual that i could test my oil pressure with a special tool., but i dont have one and cant find one.

my question is, could my oil light have flashed on because i may have been winding it out a lil to much, or should i go ahead and replace the oil pump?

if i need to replace the oil pump, is it a job i could tackle? or would it be better to take to a shop? im no kind of master mechanic or anything, and havent worked on motorcycles much in the past, but have learned to work on my own cars and trucks pretty well.

thanks in advance for any advice,
Mike

I wouldn't worry about it unless the oil light stays on for a significant period of time...oil pumps generally don't fail and these bikes were prone to having this light come on during hard acceleration.

basscatnc wrote:

...oil light flashed on for a split second....

Don't worry. You didn't harm the bike or do anything wrong. Most of our bikes do that, often for several seconds.

Believe it's caused by oil moving to rear of sump (away from the pickup) during hard acceleration. Some folks install a "gate" in the pan to impede the rearward flow.

Best to keep rpm's from exceeding redline.

ive noticed my 74 z1 900 does that sometimes when i really lay into it, glad it's not something serious. My buddy just blew up a 2003 kawasaki zx636 ninja, he pulled to long of a wheelie and no oil in the pump and blew the motor, kinda a shame i liked his bike.

Post edited by: oldkaws4ever, at: 2007/06/18 15:30

Thanks guys!! it worried me a lil bit, but it never came back on, i wound it up again afterwards but not quite as tight, and it didnt come on.
Thanks again.

When that light fails to flicker, it usually means you're not accelerating hard enough. :woohoo:

Patton wrote:

When that light fails to flicker, it usually means you're not accelerating hard enough. :woohoo:

Now that soumds like a comment from Sandy

I think that the problem with the oil light needs a bit more discussion. The reason that the light comes on is that oil in the sump sloshes back leaving the front fairly dry under real hard acceleration. There are a number of slotted channels in the pan to try and help avoid this but they are not particularly effective. The only real way to keep the oil from leaving the front of the pan under hard acceleration is to install an oil pan gate. This is a little flap that sits in front of the slotted channels that SHUTS when under hard acceleration... the oil sloshing towards the back shuts it and keep oil up front where it can be pulled into the oil pump. I believe you may still be able to buy these from MTC but it wouldn't be hard to fab one. I think this phenomenom is WHY some of the drag racer types use external oiler lines for the cam shaft area. This pic shows the gate closed, as it would be under hard acceleration... will post another with it open.

Here is gate open as it normally would be under most circumstances... (not hard acceleration).

Post edited by: wiredgeorge, at: 2007/06/18 21:09

thats a good idea for a bike that gets launched hard on a regular basis or spends a lot of time on backwheel,but its overkill for a normally ridden bike;)

Hi George,

I assume it's just the normal direction of oil flow that opens it once you get the front wheel back on the ground?

KZCSI

Correct Bill... BTW: The oil lights on all my bikes will come regularly... maybe I just "launch" the bikes more than some folks but this means oil starvation while the light is on. I normally will rebuild every engine on every bike I own before riding and install an oil gate as a matter of course.