ditchdigger's thread about oil light coming on prompted me to post this

[madrat]

my oil light comes on blinking at hard acceleration but goes back off at idle or deceleration. the oil gauge needle bounces up and down like buddy rich's left drumstick. cold at idle no light. starts warming up and light comes on blinking and on solid on full throttle acceleration. what gives? my theory is a broken tooth on one of the oil pump gears leaving a small blank spot. and should i put in plastic or metal breather gear??

[Mule]

Or a loose connection that looses the ground under vibration.

[madrat]

can't find anything loose; now what about the gauge needle??

[Bone Head]

Metal breather gear.

[66glide]

Can you check the oil tank and verify nothing got in there that intermittently blocks the feed line?

[Racepres]

While I find a Gauge less than worthless...a good Light is paramount.. senders are cheap.. I get them from Standard Motor products...and for some reason they are different for Shovel vs Evo

Edit to Add; The Bulb socket is always suspect, especially on FL dash... since 12v is applied at the socket, and the Sender provides Ground!!

[DITCHDIGGER]

May want to give the oil lines a good looking over . Jim said to tell my kid that the feed line my be sucking air I told him .. When he got the bike the oil light would come on at idle told him to change the oil it didn't give him any trouble till now he did make a few changes .. Good luck

[madrat]

Can you check the oil tank and verify nothing got in there that intermittently blocks the feed line?

i will do that when i can get to it; capital idea! i knew you were good for something, glide.....haha
new American-made sender did same thing.

[66glide]

i will do that when i can get to it; capital idea! i knew you were good for something, glide....

Hm.

I’ve been told I’m good for nothing!

[Hooda]

Hope you're still doing good. Another educated guess would be the bypass plunger is popping (better yet, fluttering) early. If you get up to a certain temp., and your spring is on the edge of where it should be, it will cause the pressure switch to flutter. Check the springs for proper placement, type and length, And that the ball, plunger, dunce cap, springs, seal and washers are all present, functioning, and good. Surprising how much "opportunity to malfunction" there is in this basically sound design. Good Luck!

[madrat]

Hope you're still doing good. Another educated guess would be the bypass plunger is popping (better yet, fluttering) early. If you get up to a certain temp., and your spring is on the edge of where it should be, it will cause the pressure switch to flutter. Check the springs for proper placement, type and length, And that the ball, plunger, dunce cap, springs, seal and washers are all present, functioning, and good. Surprising how much "opportunity to malfunction" there is in this basically sound design. Good Luck!

xlnt stuff here. thanks. it's a rare S&S "cast" aluminum pump. been on it for 14 years with zero issues. i will attend to all of that stuff.

[welder]

so the lite goes off at decel or at idle, thats the time the pump is shooting oil into the primary, rev it up and it stops, so oil is being pumped. my 52 pan has just been rebuilt and the oil lite comes on at idle when hot. of all the pans that ive owned, they never lite up the oil lite, when i bring them in for a rebuild, thats when the lite comes on, always, i know had enough done. my theory is that the unrebuilt engine is full of crud, causing the pressure to be restricted, keeping the lite to be off. the senders bought at parts stores are not all equal you can buy 3 different types /brands and each 1 will give a different on and off set point. most times its the sender that causes grief, just went thru that with a friends stroked shovel.

[Racepres]

I would think any Restriction, would cause pressure to go Up...while Worn Parts (more clearance) would cause Restriction...to go down..
I try to only use O.E. or Standard Motor Products so have Not had Problems with senders having different "settings".
Even When I suspect a Pressure problem...I will check Flow... sure wish someone made a good flow meter for lower flow applications..
All we have available are for Tractor Hydraulic systems...Decidedly Larger!!!

[Bone Head]

Standard Motor Products seems to be of consistent quality and do their job correctly. As a side note, don't early Volkswagens operate on low pressure/high volume? Wonder if their sending units would be the same or close to it?