oil light coming on

Also, make sure it's not a simple wiring problem either. Is there a chance the oil-light wire may have been pinched and shorted? That's happened to someone, I think. Is the light just on solid all the time? You can test by disconnecting it at the switch. Then it should never come on.

Haha ed. Guess I'll just use the clymer for starting fires! Def not starting the bike till the petcock is fixed and oil changed. Loudhvx- the light just flashed a few times on my ride home. It comes on solid w key on and bike not running and has never even flashed before while running. I just went thru the electrical system a few weeks ago cleaning all terminals and installed a plastic plug in type fuse box so I'm pretty sure its not a short kindof reluctant to disconnect the light because I don't have a guage yet and I would rather have the idiot light than nothing at all. I guess my biggest question remains the same. Would the already thin oil diluted w gas be enough to drop the pressure below the 8psi needed or does it sound like I was already low on oil pressure? Again guys thanks for all the input. I've learned a lot from this forum

I don't know if the thin oil would turn on the light, but it might. I guess it would depend on how much it had thinned out. The light coming on with the key on and engine off is normal. Ed

jonarmstrong wrote: would the thinner oil and the intro of gas in it cause the pressure to drop enough to cause the light to come on?

YES. If you dilute the oil with gasoline, the viscosity drops way down. If a true reading (not indicator problem), the light would come on when the engine is idling as that's where the pressure drops to minimum,

Bounyhunter- the light flashed during acceleration and at road speed. Headed to the shop now to work on it. Guess that's the only way to get a definite answer! I'll report later when repairs have been made. Thanx all

Also it comes to mind that the light might flicker under heavy acceleration, due to the oil being forced away from the pump. i installed a oil pan gate in my oil pan to prevent that. Not saying thats your problem but something to keep in mind. I would change the oil and see if that helps you any.

Ok I think I have it all straitened out. what a mess! Fixed the petcock checked needles and seats. Needles have no rubber on them so I put them back in. When I drained the oil I noticed the stream coming out was irregular so I stuck my finger in drain hole and found a solid object laying in oil pan. So I took the oil pan off to see what it was. A head nut and one of the rubber blocks that hold the timing chain guide in!! When I bought the bike the top end was disassembled and I guess the previous owner was using the timing chain galley to store extra parts! The bottom end was from a totaled bike that had been sitting outside for a while. I was told all was good w it so I didn't question him and freshened the top thinking that was all it needed. Wrong!! There was tons of sludge and chunkies and even pieces of old rtv in the pan as well. The oil pickup was so covered I'm surprised it was able to draw any oil. All is clean and back together now and I'm headed to get new oil so it should be up and running again in a couple hours. I guess the moral of the story is don't trust a seller, double check everything! Wish me luck.

All is good now. Bike is running good aside from some much needed carb adjustment. Thanks for all the help