On the ride home last night my warning light came on and then went off again almost immediately (before I got to the side of the road when pulling over).  I stopped and checked my oil level in the sight glass, and it looked a little low.  I started the bike again and the light turned off right away as normal. 
Since I was only blocks away from home I rode home, once home I put oil in it, and then started the bike again.  this time the light only ... sorta went out, it "glowed faintly"

Any Idea what this might be?  I checked the oil lvl and now ... it looks a little high... (sigh)...   this morning.  same thing.  light is "glowing faintly"  I did not have time to let the bike warm up and check the lvl or time for much else but get to work, so I rode the other bike in 

Help?

Thanks in advance

  The sending unit is prolly going out. You can confirm oil pressure with a mechanical guage. If it's OK change the sending unit.
  Check for a loose connection and any moisture where the wire hooks onto the unit first.

Gotten wet or washed the bike recently?

Typically that low glow on the oil light is caused by some water seeping in between the pressure sensor and it's connection to the harness.  Disconnect the sensor and blast some air in there and leave it to dry for a while.  Also a q-tip generously dunked in rubbing alch or contact cleaner and be used to gently swab the connection.  It'll clean things up a bit and help dry up any water.

remove the electrical connector from the sender (by your oil fill) There is probably some water in there, blow it out with air or wd-40 and see if it is better. Very common after bikes have been washed of ridden in the rain.

Quote from: ducvet on August 01, 2008, 07:16:38 AM
remove the electrical connector from the sender (by your oil fill) There is probably some water in there, blow it out with air or wd-40 and see if it is better. Very common after bikes have been washed of ridden in the rain.

Quote from: yuu on August 01, 2008, 07:16:29 AM
Gotten wet or washed the bike recently?

Typically that low glow on the oil light is caused by some water seeping in between the pressure sensor and it's connection to the harness.  Disconnect the sensor and blast some air in there and leave it to dry for a while.  Also a q-tip generously dunked in rubbing alch or contact cleaner and be used to gently swab the connection.  It'll clean things up a bit and help dry up any water.

Two very good examples of why i shouldn't post while at work.
I didn't have time to elaborate, but the above replies are what i was trying to say.

Thanks for the ideas.  I'm at work, so I won't be able to try anything for a few more hours.

Though I have not washed the bike recently... so...
I'll let you know as soon as I can.

Thanks again!

yeah, reseat the connector and coat it with electrolyte grease (AKA "bulb grease") Autozone and Advance auto usually have it in those 99 cent packets by the register.  that protects it from moisture.

+1 to all of the above. I have soem of the "magic electrical goo" here...I'll bring it along to the "Take It 'n Break It Day" tomorrow.

Stop by and I'll give your beasty the pre-trip once over!

i don't mean to threadjack but this title is perfect for my question as well...

when i turn my bike on with the kill switch flipped the red oil pressure warning light stays on.  but when i start the ignition the light turns back off.  i bought an '06 bike just sitting in a garage for over a year and haven't had the oil changed yet.  is this anything i should be concerned about?  changing oil in a week but in the mean time...

If the engine is not running - the oil light will be on.  The sensor's 'dumb'  if there's power to it, it only cares if the oil pressure is over a min amount.  When you turn the bikes power on, power goes to the sensor.  But w/o the engine running, there's no oil pressure - so the light comes on.

thanks for the kind response yuu.  and please forgive the dumb questions from this noob

No problem.  We're kind of spoiled by the computers in our cars that do little stuff like disable that warning light when not needed.  The bike's a simpler beast

Ha!

This problem just happened to me this weekend while riding on the highway. The oil light came on bright then as I let off the throttle the light slowly got dimmer. I got home and checked the oil level and it was fine.

Went on a ride to check it out again today and about 15 mins in to the ride once the engine was nice and hot the light came back on. Hmmm. So I did the Haynes manual test to see of the switch is faulty by grounding the wire to the engine case and now the light stays on? So it looks like I have a bad switch......please please please .  I will take it out tomorrow and try to clean it. Bike is a 94 M900 so parts are starting to go bad. Man if it's the oil pump I am in for a long day in the garage. 

I will post my results soon.

Quote from: Christophe on August 11, 2008, 09:28:28 PM
Went on a ride to check it out again today and about 15 mins in to the ride once the engine was nice and hot the light came back on. Hmmm. So I did the Haynes manual test to see of the switch is faulty by grounding the wire to the engine case and now the light stays on? So it looks like I have a bad switch......please please please .  I will take it out tomorrow and try to clean it. Bike is a 94 M900 so parts are starting to go bad. Man if it's the oil pump I am in for a long day in the garage. 

I will post my results soon.

I have a 650 Pantah which I removed the oil sender and replaced it with an oil pressure gage.  The Metric pipe parts aren't easy to find, but the hole is a 10x1mm, same as the brakes. 

Maybe you can make a temporary setup with an oil gage?  You can get the taiwan-made Sunco types for aorund $20 which comes with the hose and english fittings.  You just need to swap the fittings for metric.  If you run it just as a test, you don't need to hide the hose or mount the gage, just put it in your pocket and look at it when you're running!