Oil light issue or not?

Hi all,
I have a question about my bike ('82 KZ750 Spectre): whenever riding along the streets (non-highway), there's no issue at all and the oil light never comes on. Whenever I go onto an on-ramp to get on the highway, this means accelerating a bit fast to get up to highway speed. Every time I do this, when I hit around 70/80km/hr the oil pressure light comes on for about 2 seconds, and then goes off again.

If I accelerate slowly instead of normal speed, the oil light does not come on.

I've let the bike run for 5 minutes and then checked the oil level and it's about right in the middle so looks fine.

Should i be concerned about the light coming on briefly when i accelerate fast? Should I take it in to a shop to get looked at?

Thanks for any advice.

The oil light comes on because the oil flows hard to the back of the pan when suddenly accellerating, causing the pump to drop pressure/pickup less or none for a moment.

It's not a worry at all, and by all means NEVER take your bike to a shop :laugh:

Keep your oil topped up to the top line on the oil window (1/4 down from top), and this may help.

You can make a small modification to the pan to prevent this, but it really isnt necessary on the 80+yr old models,
as thier pan is designed a little better to prevent this, but it still happens occasionally.

GL.

Ditto, but check also to make sure it's not a high rpm issue. Sludge or partially clogged drains can cause fluid to collect in the heads and make the problem more prominent during hard acceleration. Blip the throttle in neutral while looking at the sight glass (bike on it's stand of course) and see if the oil level is dipping excessively. If good, then I'm jealous 'cause you've got much more pick up than I do.

Also, you probably know much more about bikes than I do, but it doesn't take much of a tilt off plumb to make you think you have more oil in your crankcase than what you actually have (and vice versa).

Cool - thanks very much for the feedback guys!

Might be a good Idea to pull the pan and inspect, could be a pickup screen issue, etc. It wouldn't be a clogged filter would it? If the filter bypass was stuck you would loose volume to the galleys.
Just a couple of thoughts.

Where's the UNBELIEVABLE ICON .....

The bike wasn't designed to have the oil pan modified in order to keep the light from coming on.... :dry:

Other than a restricted oil pump screen, the light is coming on from one of 3 potential problems.

1. The sending unit might be crudded up or the wire may be loose on the connector.

2. The oil level is low.

3. The oil viscosity has been extremely reduced from gasoline in the motor.

Usually, it's a sending unit problem. NEVER, EVER, EVER in 10,000, 000 years is it because the stock oil pan needs an oil gate for normal driving....

Larry C

I don't know Larry. I think 10,000,000 years is a bit excessive. Don't you think?

Unless he is riding on his back wheel with the front wheel skyward, I doubt that his oil pan needs renovation.:laugh:

A blinking oil light warrants buying an oil pressure gauge that threads in below the sending unit just to find out what the pressure actually is.

If it was mine I would drop the pan and clear the screen.

larrycavan wrote:

Where's the UNBELIEVABLE ICON .....

The bike wasn't designed to have the oil pan modified in order to keep the light from coming on.... :dry:

Other than a restricted oil pump screen, the light is coming on from one of 3 potential problems.

1. The sending unit might be crudded up or the wire may be loose on the connector.

2. The oil level is low.

3. The oil viscosity has been extremely reduced from gasoline in the motor.

Usually, it's a sending unit problem. NEVER, EVER, EVER in 10,000, 000 years is it because the stock oil pan needs an oil gate for normal driving....

Larry C

I have to 100% agree with Larry's assumption on this.