HOW CAN I CHECK MY OIL PUMP?

Hi folks:

Maybe it´s only my paranoia, but I understand that when the engine is running you stop seeing any oil thru the bulls eye, cause it started running thru all the engine. The fact is that I keep seeing oil thru the glass after the motor is running: Is there a way to make sure that the oil pump is working properly, without dissasembling half of the engine?

Regards.

try an oil pressure gaugeB) goodluck,happy wrenching!

My Gpz comes equipped with a digital meter on the tank, which is supposed to check oil pressure and warn you if it falls below safe readings. Wouldn´t be easier to check if the switch located under the oil pan is working? I have no oil pressure gauge at hand...:huh:

id mount a mechanical gauge off of the side of motorB) goodluck,happy wrenching!

You should have an oil pressure light on your bike. If you lose pressure it will light. If the oil pressure light switch fails it will light. You may still see oil in sight glass. When engine not running oil level in pan drops a bit as oil goes to top end. This may drop oil level in pan below window then again may not. Installing an oil pressure gauge is possible but unless you have thousands of dollars invested in you motor I would just go with oil pressure light. If you had no oil pressure like from a shot oil pump you would know in a very very short period of time.

On my '77 KZ650C1 if you set the bike on level ground using the center stand, at idle, if you look through the oil site glass you can see the oil circulating. Isn't that true of all of the KZ motors? Ed

If your oil pump fails, your engine will run hot in a very short time and then it will start to knock and smoke. Later it will just sieze. If your bike is runing cool and the oil gets dirty and needs to be changed after 3,000 miles because it get thin then, you can be confident that the oil pump is working.

Spock

Spock said it well except for the "later" part bwhahaha... Oil will stop flowing on the cams and cam bearings and you will smell smoke "sooner than later".

The way your pump works is very simple. The pump itself is very unlikely to fail since it is so simple and is driven by sturdy teeth right off the crankshaft. What WILL fail is the person who is supposed to put oil in the bike. If the bike uses oil, check the oil level often. The other problem can be debris. The passageways from the bottom where the pump is to the top come up in journals also occupied by engine studs. If you use GOOP (silicon or other stuff of this nature) and it gets into the engine or enough crud gets into the oil, it can clog the oil journals which feed oil to the camshafts and cam bearings. This is why, when you drain the oil, it isn't a bad idea to blow the journals out (when there isn't any oil in the bike) with compressed air and is certainly a required procedure in any rebuild.

ALSO... you DO get sludge and grit in your oil. There is a fine screen over the pump inlet. If you rebuild or just buy a bike, remove the pan and clean the screen. Take a scraper and scrape out the crud on the bottom of the pan and buy a MAGNETIC DRAIN PLUG from z1enterprises.com to catch metal bits that float through the oil because when these get on the screen, they tend to stick there or worse, get into your crank brearings or other places where they can do damage...

wiredgeorge wrote:

This is why, when you drain the oil, it isn't a bad idea to blow the journals out (when there isn't any oil in the bike) with compressed air and is certainly a required procedure in any rebuild.

George can you elaborate on this process? How would you go about blowing these out? Remove the valve cover?

Post edited by: savedrider, at: 2006/02/01 20:23

There is a very easy but messy way to see if the pump is working. On the right side of the motor (sitting on it)there is a screw in plug that is there for a gauge to mount in. Take the plug out and start the bike. Oil will pour out if the pump is working. Our bikes use very low pressure so it is not going to shoot across the garage or anything but it will make a mess.

kawtoy wrote:

There is a very easy but messy way to see if the pump is working. On the right side of the motor (sitting on it)there is a screw in plug that is there for a gauge to mount in. Take the plug out and start the bike. Oil will pour out if the pump is working. Our bikes use very low pressure so it is not going to shoot across the garage or anything but it will make a mess.

I know what plug you are talking about...always wondered what that was for.

yeah but while you have the plug out why not go ahead and install a gauge,more permanent fix:whistle: goodluck,happy wrenching!