oh feckin bah

[Mental Trousers]

How can ya tell if you've got a faulty oil sensor OR if the oil pump is dead without disassembling the 2 wheeled jigsaw puzzle?? The bloody low oil light won't go out but there's plenty of oil in it (even topped the thing up just in case) and the level is showing almost maximum. I don't want to ride it to the shop just in case it is the oil pump and the top end etc isn't getting lubed and therefore would implode on the way there.

Problem with disassembling the thing to find out is that I don't have a garage (inner city apartment) so whatever I do to it it has been reversible and able to be totally completed during daylight hours.

Ideas??

[onearmedbandit]

You mean the low oil pressure light? Just did a quick search on google and the first article I clicked on suggested removing the sender unit and checking if the light stays on when the engine is running. The author says that if it does it more than likely means a fault not in the engine.

Checking oil pressure

First article

[Burger]

Yeah I always assumed that the light was indicating an oil pressure warning, irregardless of how much oil is in the engine.

[Mental Trousers]

Sorry, it is the low oil pressure light. Most common reason for it coming on is cos there's not enough oil in the engine.

[Teflon]

If the yzf is like the fzr models, then it's a low oil level light.

I would offer our garage if it wasn't full of gib board.. give old Adam a ring down at Bikes and Bits, he's prety on to it.

[Kornholio]

Bummer Shane, hope its nothing to major...

[bugjuice]

air in the system? an air lock can cause the system to not pressurize, but that's often after an oil change or if you've dropped the bike. Do you have an oil window or dipstick thingie? if a window, check it while the engine is running. All the oil will disappear.

Else try an oil change and see if that helps out.
dirty/faulty sensor too..? Wouldn't know how to check it off hand, but pull out the sensor and see what it looks like and clean it up. Should be able to see if it's all ok, and check the wiring too.

just some thoughts..

[Jackrat]

To find out if the oil is actualy circulating take a cam/inspection cover off and start the bike.If the oil pump is working properly your going to know real quick.Stand back when you do this,or cover the hole with a rag or summint.

[Motu]

Like Jack says,or crack an oil pipe somewhere...if there are no external oil conections,take the oil pressure switch out and crank with the igntion disabled.A gush of oil will tell if your oil pump is working.OK,so it's a bit messy....do you want to find out or be limp wristed about it?

[Karitane pete]

Screw a pressure gauge in to the hole that the pressure senser came out off and see if you can get pressure?

[Rhino]

Like Jack says,or crack an oil pipe somewhere...if there are no external oil conections,take the oil pressure switch out and crank with the igntion disabled.A gush of oil will tell if your oil pump is working.OK,so it's a bit messy....do you want to find out or be limp wristed about it?

Motu has given you seriously good advice. Take the pressure switch out. If the engine won't crank with the kill switch off, pull the plugs and then crank as if starting normally.

If the pump is ok, I would expect to see your bikes life blood being sprayed out of the pressure switch hole. As a final confirmation, most Auto Electricians should be able to test the oil pressure switch for you.

[Mental Trousers]

It seems that the YZF 750 has a bolt on the side of the cylinder bank in the oil gallery that you can loosen off (not undo) and then start the engine up. If there's oil pressure (ie the oil pump is working), it'll seep oil from that bolt, if not, curl up in the foetal position and start crying.


Something to do when I get home.

[HDTboy]

If you can borrow a pressure gauge, that'd be your cleanest and safest bet. Just adapt it to screw into your magic seepy-bolt, fire it up and pray. a decent pressure would be at least 0.5 bar (7psi) at idle

[SPman]

The light,as on all Yamahas, is an oil level light - not a pressure light!

[Mental Trousers]

Found out that SPMan and Teflon are right, it's an oil level light and not oil pressure. This is good. I would check the oil pressure anyway but the bolt in the oil gallery that is used for that purpose won't farken move and is now round. Arse. However, I was able to verify that the sensor if knackered by disconnecting it (which meant the oil level light was on) and shorting it to the frame (oil level light off yay!!). And seeing as the oil level is very close to the maximum it means the sensor is poked. So, I'm going to be riding with the glowy red light on for a while because changing the sensor means dumping the oil and pulling the headers. Bah to that. I'll wait until I need a new tyre and pay someone else to do it.