| Author | Message | ||
     Ceejay |
I know I should probably put this in the KV put I kind of need an answer quick as I will be riding home from work....My oil pressure light began flickering on the way in today, never stayed on for longer than half a second and never really fully lit...just flickering. I had checked it-the drive gear, mid-summer and it showed wear but nothing bad, I probably have about 18,000 miles and have been running full syth since about 7,000. I only have a tach-no speedo thus the round abouts. Thanks for any reply. Corey | ||
| Tramp |
any other lights flickering? could be intermittent charge issue as well. don't jump to conclusions....how's your oil level? | ||
| Reepicheep |
I think you know your oil pump drive gear has failed because it sounds like somebody just threw a handful of gravel into your cam compartment. That, and the big chunks of metal bouncing down the street behind your bike and the wide smoking oil slick spreading behind you. What you are describing sounds more like a loose connector on the oil pressure sending unit. I think it just snaps on, you might have "unsnapped" it. Scared the crap out of me on my Cyclone... I was all prepped for some sort of mechanical disaster, turned out the loose connection was the first thing I checked, so I snapped it on and went for a ride. | ||
| Ceejay |
yea I already checked that stuff, my oil level was good it was pumping fine too, no other flickers seemed to be happening as all my lights and signals worked good, I have been having problems with the sending unit connection but when it falls off or comes loose I don't get a signal-no light at start up. isn't really RPM dependant either, so I was getting worried. I kinda thought the same thing-that I would be having a yard sale in the middle of the street but I wasn't sure if I was getting lucky with an early indication. I can't think of any other reason unless I have an electrical issue. I will check all the electricals tonight, hopefully that will fix it. Thanks. | ||
| Road_thing |
What Reep and the Trampster said. If your oil level is OK, look for a loose connection on the oil pressure sender. If it's loose or all covered with oil and road spooge, contact can be intermittent, and your oil light will flicker. rt | ||
| Moboy516 |
when I was riding through Nashville on the way to the Gap about a month ago this happenned to me. It was right after I had ridden over an hour in the rain. After pulling over several times and restarting, checking the oil level, and listening for odd sounds, I kept going. I watched the oil light more than the speedo for about 200 miles that day. Never came on again, but sure did worry me. I stopped at a HD dealership to ask them about it and they said that it was probably okay but that it was most likely because I used Valvoline syn 20W50 instead of HD syn--yeah right!--. 2000 miles later, still no problems. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
A loose/dirty connection will not turn it on. It has to ground to the case to turn it on, right? At least that's the way it is on my Ironhead. Try looking for a chafed wire coming off of the sensor. | ||
| Ceejay |
Thanks for all the help, it seems to be running fine, oil level good with good flow coming out the return and the connection is tight so maybe it just needs washed, kindof my bikes way of saying "WTF, you've painted me twice this year and haven't washed me once #$^@#@*!" | ||
| Reepicheep |
My loose connector was RPM dependent. I can't remember if it was high or low RPM's, but the light came on intermittently, and only with one or the other. Some serious pucker going on. Then I snapped the sender wire back on, and the world was a wonderful place. Funny how thinking something was about to blow up, and finding out it did not, leaves you happier then never thinking things were going to blow up in the first place  | ||
| Fullpower |
my 1998 sportster was making a funny vibration (ha-ha) and developed a clatter (no, really) between 2500 and 3500 rpm,the engine is on its 4th set of pistons, currently running a 3-5/8ths bore forged S&S flat top, any way the noise was an odd vibratory gravelly growel sound. so i was taking it real easy cause i wasnt sure what was up, and giving a neighbor girl a ride. anyway running up a 5% grade, just touched the rev limiter in 4th gear, shifted to 5th and just as i released the clutch ( like i said , babying it) i glanced at the tach, and caught the oil pressure lamp lighting up. pulled clutch, shut ignition off, coasted ALL THE WAY INTO GARAGE (no sheet). on teardown, i found that oilpump drive gear had shat all teeth, said teeth then packed into the oil pump complete destruction of oil pump. its ok, i wanted to cut down the gearcase housing cover anyway, and it was about time to replace that oil pump anyway. had to find the OLD style splined oil pump gear to fit the S&S stroker flywheel shaft, part was original to a 1981 iron head. so it is all buttoned up now, and the bike is 2 pounds lighter, that is the quantity of excess aluminum carved of the gearcase cover. engine is running fine, no ill effects apparent. current 89 inch stroker has about 35,000 miles on it, but the oil pump was original to the 883, and had at least 42,000 miles at failure. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Wow... quick reflexes and good luck! What are the odds that none of those teeth got into any of the cam gears? You got any lotto numbers for us? | ||
| Tramp |
my S2 had a weird new noise this past weekend, and an extra splat under the engine when parked. an hour ago i noticed one of my spark plugs had worked itself loose.... very loose..... | ||
| Firemanjim |
Tramp,done that myself.Caught it before it spit it out though. | ||
| Tramp |
thank you for that, jim  (the plug was still in, just jiggly with oil blow-by) | ||
| Road_thing |
My Road Pig spit one all the way out once. Scared the snot out of me, I thought I was in for some real expensive fun until I saw the plug hanging by the lead... rt | ||
| Ceejay |
After looking at it thinking about it I decided that it was time for an oil change and tore my filter apart, nothing looked bad, so I guess I was having a hypochondriac attack...still haven't washed it though. I have had so many thing go wrong with it last year before i did the rebuild that now when I hear/see something go out of order I kind of get the what the hell is this now attitude. Thanks for listening! | ||
| Fullpower |
reepi, yes pretty lucky there. the cams (N6) are in very nearly perfect condition, all the schrapnel went down into the oil pump. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Figures. I replaced my drive gear *before* it broke, and my #4 cam was *still* trashed (probably defective from the factory). Some guys have all the luck  It sits here on my desk beside me. Cool paperweight, and it makes gnarly growly sounds when you roll it across a laminate desk | ||
| Reepicheep |
In the future please post topics like this to the applicable topic in the Knowledge Vault. We'll be moving this one there soon. Thanks for helping to get BadWeB organized. 172689 | ||
| Tramp |
i intedn to replace my oil pump drive gear before it breaks.... maybe in another 10 years.... | ||
| Iamike |
I was concerned about a nasty rattle on my '99 S3 that I couldn't find. I had all kinds of thoughts of terrrible things going on in my engine. It turned out to be the original front brake rotor's rivets are worn out. Time for a new unit. Motor seems to be fine. | ||
| Ceejay |
Reep-when I pulled the cam cover-I wanted to cut it, I really wasn't planning on doing a whole lot to the motor, maybe hone the cylinders and re-ring but my #4 (front exhaust) has some real bad pits in it and was really "worn" looking being that it only had about 15,000 miles on it, so did a complete top-end rebuild. Tramp-have you ever messed with the bike? sometimes I wonder if my fiddling has created more problems or if I got one of the so called bad apples, that created a whole wirlwind of problems for buell. Kind of like the mad cow scare where Canada couldn't export their beef because of one cow... | ||
| Reepicheep |
Interesting that we both had the same bad cam in the same way. | ||
| Ceejay |
what year was your M2? Oops just checked '00. very interesting. | ||
| Captainkirk |
Hey...#4 cam was the bad one on mine, too. You might have something here. | ||
| Tramp |
ceejay- no, i leave my scoot's innards the he*l alone. still running factory top-end. i think people jerking around looking for problems on their scoots (you know- the ones they read about on online boards) tend to find problems: I AM very interested in this whole #4 cam thing, though, on the other hand. very interested. can you say "Class Action Recall"? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Kinda like the whole quantum mechanics thing? It ain't broke until you look at it?  | ||
| Ceejay |
Tramp-know what your talking about, usually shut up and ride is the best solution, my oil light is still flickering so I am probably going to hook up a guage tonight and see what it says. My problem is that I am a habitual tinkerer, grew up that way/if you wanted to used something well you'll have to fix it first. part of the reason I bought one of these shaking, noisey goes like hell beasts, looks like a hot rod, which are usually run, owned by folks who can't stand to leave well enough alone. I still got my cams somewhere I'll post a pic if I can get my camera to work. | ||
| Ceejay |
could it be a cavitation issue-the oil pressure light? | ||
| Old_bird |
I put up with an occasional flickering oil light and a mechanic who to this day insists the oil pump is fine, for 14,000 miles. It didn't start making noise until the last 2,000 miles. My engine is severely trashed; the oil pump is out of spec and visibly scored (and the mech still insists the oil pump is fine). Changing the oil, checking the filter, checking for a short (which is what I thought I had), checking the sender (I replaced mine, when the noise got bad I found debris build up at the sensor) are the first simple first steps. I am really kicking myself that I did not replace the pump and drive gear as was my first inclination. Hope this helps. |
