Katana Owners Club U.K.

Folks

The oil light is coming back on again, and I have a few more thoughts/questions for anyone with the time and energy to review.

The light came on for the first time after I pushed the bike quite hard for the first time since the service. The engine was well and truly warmed up, and I had the urge to give it some welly. Probably up to 7k on the Tacho.

Excuse my ignorance, but does this crankcase have a pressure release valve, or something similar? It seems to me, that the crankcase is getting pressured up when I wind it a bit, and then the valve that releases crank pressure is sticking open, preventing the oil pressure from reaching the required levels when it is warm.

This if course could be complete and utter BS, but its the only thing I can think of.

no, the gsx has a pretty low pressure system. if the oil light is coming on then either its low on oil, or there is something stopping the oil getting through the switch, or it may even be pulling air in between the strainer in the sump and the pump itself. i assume you arent running fully synth oil and youve dropped the sump to check the strainer.

Hi John

thanks for the info. I am stumped.
1. Oil level checked and found to be fine.
2. Bike not smoking, or apparently using oil, or leaking.
3. I requested 10W/40 mineral oil at agarage, can only assume they used it.
4. I specifically asked them to check the strainer and filter, and too look for debris. No debris, and screen clean according to the mechanic.

Basically I don't have a decent place to work on this bike, so I have had to get it done by my local bike garage, and have to take their word that it would be done.

did they charge you for a replacement sump gasket cos if they didn't they didn't check the strainer. where in london are you?... i'm in SM4 so just next to Raynes Park...

not sure if you can get the sump off with your pipe on either.... some you can, some you can't.... did they breakdown what they charged foror was it just a total? you should be able to see if there's a new gasket there as it should still be clean(ish) around the edges

Hmm thanks for the nudge Steve. I must confess I didn't check the gasket area at all, and didn't check the bill to carefully, I was dashing to beat yet another rain storm when I collected it. I will get under it and have a god look, and give them a call to confirm that they actually did this. I did leave them with a haines, and when I told them what I needed to do they new exactly what I was on about so ...

Assumption can be the mother of all ....

Hmm replaced the pressure sensor to be sure to be sure, and the light wouldn't come on at all. So I wiggled the wire a bit then it did. I smell a rat.

Well folks, its official, the sensor wire was pinched and was shorting on the block. Typical. I checked everything difficult first before I checked the simple things.

I once stripped my aeroplane carbs five times, and fiddled with the settings to try and stop it flooding. The reasoning being, I had just bought the aircraft at sea level, and had read everywhere the the needle should be lowevered to its lowest setting to lean out the mixture. After weeks of bs, I found a tiny disk of mud(left there thoughtfully by a mud wasp) in the carb overflow pipe. One poke with a piece of wire, and hey presto it ran perfectly.

you would think I would have learned the lesson by now, always check the simple stuff first. In my defense it is a very low mileage engine, and I was terrified of blowing it up...