oil presure

after idling a while the oil presure light syarted to flicker. upon idling longer the engine started smoking lightly also. this was upon idling probably 20 minutes working on bike. is this normal for this or a older bike. thx tim

I would think that after idling for 20 minutes clearances are getting larger fro heat and allowing oil to bypass rings or valve gudes and seals (maybe). Any time my oil pressure light comes on immediate attention is required. They don't call them idiot lights for nothing. Only time I would ignore my oil light would be on the start line during the elimination round of a drag race.

Hi Tim,

Does the engine have the proper weight oil, and is the level right up there?

Your oil probably got real thin from excessive heat and started burning off, the engine was telling you something.

I keep a small fan blowing across my engine when it's running and I'm working on it. We have aircooled engines, and they need that air movement across the fins. Letting an engine idle for that long put more wear and tear on it than a hard 100 mile ride on a Saturday morning.

Anyway, make sure you use the best oil you can afford, keep the level up, change it often, and the filter too.

Your Harley will be even harder on oil than your small bike.

Tim... Normal? Hmmmm hard to say what is normal for an old engine. I don't know your engine mechanically very well as I have never owned one of the smaller twins but here is my take:

FIRST, remove your oil pan and clean the gunk out of the bottom. It will be filthy and scare you. Then make sure that the screen on your oil pump is totally clean. To do this you will have to totally drain your oil. If you can buy a magnetic drain plug, that would be a first rate idea.

Second, with the oil out of the bike, blow compressed air down through the channels that carry oil to the top end camshaft area. Not sure how this works on your engine but they will be there.

Third, make sure your idle speed it up a bit because if your bike idles too low, the pump is mechanically driven off the crank which is spinning slowly if the idle is too low to pump the oil that is needed. Pressure will thus be low.

Four, well, the change of oil and a new filter make have fixed the problem. Make sure the oil is at the right level! If you don't have enough oil in the crankcase, the oil pressure light will flicker at idle. You will probably want to use a good quality 10W40 oil like Castrol GTX or Shell Rotella T 15W40.

I bet one of the four things I recommended will fix your oil light flickering which is really not a good sign. I get this sometimes after I rebuild and engine and crud gets on the oil screen and that is why I pull the pan after 500 mile break in and clean the screen and blow the oil journals out.