Oil light comes on sporadically.

[remy]

Motorcycle: 2007 M695
Current Mileage: 19,500
Last service: 15,000
Last oil change: 18,000
Past issues: None

So I commute 40 miles each way to work and back. This morning I warmed up my bike as usual and then rode just about all the way to work. The whole time I couldn't hear or feel that any aspect of the bike was doing anything odd/different than usual. I reached a stoplight and when I came to a stop I saw my oil light come on. Not wanting to blow up my engine I was prepared to pull off to the side of the road once the light changed. When I got the green and pulled forward, the light turned off and I decided to continue on as usual. I reached a second stoplight and the same thing happened. Once stopped the oil light came on, but turned off as soon as I was moving again. I made it to the parking lot of the building where I work and when I rode in I realized that at a speed of 20mph and below my oil light comes on and stays on, but will turn off once above 20mph. I parked and took a look at my oil level which was to the top of the site glass, but it's hot right now (EDIT: I checked again and the oil level is exactly where it should be and is still a nice color). Everything smelled normal and appeared normal to me. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be going on? Thanks.

[Popeye the Sailor]

The more experienced peeps should chime in but if the level is correct, I'd say sounds like your oil pump may be on it's way out. It could be a bad sending unit, but it doesn't sound like it to me.

[Slide Panda]

The light being on/off probably doesn't have anything to do with your ground speed - but your engine RPM.  The oil pressure is directly effected by the engine RMPs (until it hits a max pressure then a relief valve opens).  Nor would I blame the oil pump yet.  The oils pumps are very simple, robust designs - not prone to failing.  Lots of other stuff to check 1st.

I had something very similar happen on my 900 - the cause was a slightly low idle, that would cause the oil light to flicker when the bike was hot and idling.  An corrective adjustment to my idle cured the problem for me.  On the 900, idle spec is 1100-1200 - mine would lope between 800 and 900

Other things to check for would be to make sure that your oil pressure sensor hasn't come a bit loose.  If it has this can effect what it *thinks* the pressure is. 
Also, check to see if the seal on the pressure sensor hasn't given up.  It's not uncommon for it to crap out - look for oil weeping out of the sensor.

Also, what weight oil are you running/ did you switch to a lighter oil recently?  Like going to 10w-40 from 20w-50?

[remy]

The light being on/off probably doesn't have anything to do with your ground speed - but your engine RPM.  The oil pressure is directly effected by the engine RMPs (until it hits a max pressure then a relief valve opens).  Nor would I blame the oil pump yet.  The oils pumps are very simple, robust designs - not prone to failing.  Lots of other stuff to check 1st.

I had something very similar happen on my 900 - the cause was a slightly low idle, that would cause the oil light to flicker when the bike was hot and idling.  An corrective adjustment to my idle cured the problem for me.  On the 900, idle spec is 1100-1200 - mine would lope between 800 and 900

Other things to check for would be to make sure that your oil pressure sensor hasn't come a bit loose.  If it has this can effect what it *thinks* the pressure is. 
Also, check to see if the seal on the pressure sensor hasn't given up.  It's not uncommon for it to crap out - look for oil weeping out of the sensor.

Also, what weight oil are you running/ did you switch to a lighter oil recently?  Like going to 10w-40 from 20w-50?

I've been running 20w-50 since the day I got it.

I'll try and take a look at the sensor and seal when I have a change this evening. That sounds like a good place to start. Thanks.

[Slide Panda]

Check those out - and do a general look around for leaking oil.  But give a hard look at the sensor, and make sure it's torqued down to spec.

Also, make note of your idle RPMs once the bike's been up to temp for a few minutes - enough time to fully heat the oil.

[Howie]

As said before, the cause could be:

Bad sender
Low idle
You really have low oil pressure

The proper thing to do is check the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge.
     cold engine at idle (11-1300 RPM) 2.5 bar minimum
     35-4000 RPM                              4-6 bar

     hot engine at idle                        1.1 bar minimum
     35-4000 RPM                              4-6 bar

If the specs are correct, change the sender.  Or, if you like to gamble, you could just change the sender and see what happens. 

[hypurone]

I have seen many a sender in my day fail internally in many ways (for a such a simplistic device). It does not necessarily need to be leaking to have failed. Barring a crazy low idle speed, I would bet you a dollar to a doughnut it is a bad sender. 

[remy]

Update!

I need a new stator.

I started narrowing down the areas that could be the source of the issue and it was electrically related. All of a sudden my battery wasn't charging anymore and that was throwing all sorts of lights at me from sensors not knowing what they were reading. My alternator is fine and the rectifier turned out to be fine, but the stator needs to be replaced.
That's about $500 from Ducati and maybe $300 aftermarket if I can find a compatible one.

I hear it's a time consuming task and a possible pain to get to. Luckily I think I'm still under warranty so I guess the next step is to argue with a dealership to get them to do this fix for free.
Hopefully this doesn't go as planned and they actually do honor my warranty. 

[ducpainter]

Stator...or starter?

Stator is part of the alternator.

[remy]

Stator...or starter?

Stator is part of the alternator.

It is the stator. So I guess that means part of the alternator is indeed the culprit.