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Oil pressure loss !!

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Paulb
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Oil pressure loss !!

#1 PostAuthor: Paulb » Sat Jun 22, 2019 9:19 am

Hi Guys
I have a Z900A4 and rebuilt the engine nearly 1000 miles ago. Everything seemed fine.
Now I am starting to open it up a little bit. When the engine is hot and I accelerate from a standing start, occasionally the oil pressure light comes on. I shut the throttle and slow down and after a few seconds the light goes off again. I am using 20w 50 oil , does it need thicker oil? The sump appears to have the baffles in it, so I don't thinks the oil is sloshing to the back of the engine. Anyone got any Ideas ?
Thanks Paul
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#2 PostAuthor: ZedHead » Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:03 am

Drop the sump and check the pump filter is clean.

You can remove the sump in the frame with pipes removed and it can reveal a multitude of sins. It is not uncommon to find the broken front cam chain guide lurking in 40 years of carbon and metal swarf!

Loads of bikes ran 20/50 oil back in the day with no real problems, although you should really be using 10/40

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Paulb
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#3 PostAuthor: Paulb » Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:25 am

Thanks zedhead
I have dropped the sump, the mesh filter is clean. I feel the oil may be getting too thin when hot so I will try using 10/40 oil.
Thanks for the quick response
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#4 PostAuthor: ADRIAN H » Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:35 pm

Make sure oil is suitable for Motorcycles with wet sump.
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#5 PostAuthor: King of Kings » Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:28 am

Surely if you think the oil is getting to thin when hot, you want a higher quality and/or viscosity oil?

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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#6 PostAuthor: gpjes » Sun Jun 23, 2019 8:24 am

Are we on standard bore? some of our puppies benefit from an oil cooler, the quality of the oil can be a contributing factor obviously the action of yeehaw go for it! does make the oil slosh about, you have seen the splash lubey evidence when you pulled it apart, if it was a case of worn pump, it will run hot, as long as your oil exceeds the correct A.P.I . specs it should be ok, however, the lack of oil is usually down to it not being put in correct in the first place, orrrrr! it's getting past or down into head and being burnt, oh bugger, but I think yours might just be a case of filter and oil change, I run ZX1 in all my stuff including pumps on jetwashes everything runs a lot smoother, even my Fatbob, hoho. At some point I need to do me old Z1R, 36,000 on it, it don't help that the clutch runs in same oil, I have personal experience back in the day of shagging a crank on a GPz750, the previous owner had fitted a pattern oil filter which tuned to mush blocked the pump screen, and bolloxed the crank mucho expense! so lesson learnt always use genwine! :biggrin
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#7 PostAuthor: Big Fluff » Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:45 pm

For the small cost, I would certainly fit a new oil pressure switch as I've seen these fail many many times before and they don't last forever.
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#8 PostAuthor: 000zeds » Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:08 pm

Big Fluff wrote:For the small cost, I would certainly fit a new oil pressure switch as I've seen these fail many many times before and they don't last forever.


Agree with you 100% :up :up :up
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#9 PostAuthor: ZedHead » Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:16 pm

000zeds wrote:
Big Fluff wrote:For the small cost, I would certainly fit a new oil pressure switch as I've seen these fail many many times before and they don't last forever.


Agree with you 100% :up :up :up


The plungers can get 'sticky' over time. If it intermittently fails to break contact with the oil gallery you would get the symptoms you describe.

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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#10 PostAuthor: Paulb » Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:52 pm

Thanks for all the advice guys

I think the first thing I am going to do is change the oil pressure switch, because,as you say, it's cheap and easy to change.
Hopefully that will cure the problem.

Thanks again everyone for the advice.

Paul
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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#11 PostAuthor: 000zeds » Sun Jun 23, 2019 8:38 pm

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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#12 PostAuthor: ZedHead » Mon Jun 24, 2019 1:24 pm

Paulb wrote:Thanks for all the advice guys

I think the first thing I am going to do is change the oil pressure switch, because,as you say, it's cheap and easy to change.
Hopefully that will cure the problem.

Thanks again everyone for the advice.

Paul


They do not come supplied with the o-ring, it would be sensible to change both while you are on. I have both in stock if needed .... other suppliers available :lol:

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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#13 PostAuthor: samspoons » Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:09 am

I used too have this problem back in the day. A mechanic told me not to worry about it as the z900 did not have a baffle plate in the sump and under hard acceleration the oil would slosh to the back of the engine and make the oil light flicker on. If you are worried you could put a pressure gauge on the oil gallery just to make sure.

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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#14 PostAuthor: needaz1100r » Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:56 am

000zeds wrote:
Big Fluff wrote:For the small cost, I would certainly fit a new oil pressure switch as I've seen these fail many many times before and they don't last forever.


Agree with you 100% :up :up :up


Totally agree with you both, the first thing to identify is if you have a loss of oil pressure or a loss of the oil pressure signal.
Cheers,

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Re: Oil pressure loss !!

#15 PostAuthor: ZedHead » Tue Jun 25, 2019 8:52 am

samspoons wrote:If you are worried you could put a pressure gauge on the oil gallery just to make sure.


Or just stop trying to pull wheelies :?: :lol:


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