Oil light comes on during highway riding

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waldo877

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So the oil light on my 01 FZ1 likes to come on during sustained 6-7k RPMs on the highway (80mph). If I pull the clutch in and let it idle for a couple seconds it comes right off. Am I damaging the bike? Oil starvation? How can I prevent this? I have the oil filled right to the middle of the sight glass. I use 15w-40 rotella.
 
I think that's common issue for the Gen1. Fill the oil to top notch on the sight glass and you shouldn't see the oil light again. I don't believe your hurting your engine with oil halfway in sight glass since the oil level is in spec.
 
:+1: Filling it to the top of the sight glass should "cure" the issue, but you're not hurting the engine. The Gen I oil level sensors seem to be somewhat sensitive as I've heard of quite a few people have similar issues.
 
Same thing happened to me on my '02 when I had it, cured the issue by doing what the other fellas here have been saying to do, just top her off...
 
I agree that this is a common issue with the Gen 1.
Try adding the oil until the site glass is full - that worked for me also.
Just a side note: The yellow temp light on the speedo will sometimes light up (but not fully). Its like its a faint glow. Just another quirk... When the temp light actually comes on - you will immediately recognize the difference.
 
I guess it's a Yamaha trait.
They put the oil sending unit at or close to the front of the engine, so gravity pushes the oil back.
Happened to me too at the same 80mph about 100 miles from home...drove me nuts all the way home......was low on oil.
Same with my VMax and xj550...if not at the top of the site glass, lights come on under light acceleration, or high speed cruzin.
 
So I filled it to the top line in the sight glass...STILL does it! Only does it when I put a heavy load on it during 80+. So, on-ramp acceleration etc. I COULDNT get it to do it at 50-60mph while holding the rpm's at like 8-9k. The oil sensor...is it an oil level sensor, a pressure sensor, or maybe a flow sensor in one of the channels? Its bugging the HELL out of me. Only way to get the light off once it comes on is to slow down and basically pull in the clutch.

Oil i'm using is T5, 15w-40. Scares me, I keep waiting for it to seize up on me once I see the light on. Dangerous too--makes me slow way the hell down on the highway.
 
waldo877 said:
So I filled it to the top line in the sight glass...STILL does it! Only does it when I put a heavy load on it during 80+. So, on-ramp acceleration etc. I COULDNT get it to do it at 50-60mph while holding the rpm's at like 8-9k. The oil sensor...is it an oil level sensor, a pressure sensor, or maybe a flow sensor in one of the channels? Its bugging the HELL out of me. Only way to get the light off once it comes on is to slow down and basically pull in the clutch.

Oil i'm using is T5, 15w-40. Scares me, I keep waiting for it to seize up on me once I see the light on. Dangerous too--makes me slow way the hell down on the highway.
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I have the oil light issue on my 02 Fz-1 this is the 2nd Gen I I have had the problem with, but my light stays on anytime I am riding now not just highspeed. I have now put a couple thousand miles on the bike no problems. I am now trying to sell it, and worried this will scare off buyers. I tried filling to top of sight glass and its still on.
 
Well..link them to this thread haha!

Im going to change oil filter brands and see if maybe the return is slow or something with this thing. Hell, I wish the sensor would break and never come on. Its pretty scary seeing the 'bike is about to grenade' light.
 
waldo877 said:
The oil sensor...is it an oil level sensor, a pressure sensor, or maybe a flow sensor in one of the channels? Its bugging the HELL out of me.
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On the Gen II it is purely an oil LEVEL sensor, assume it is the same on Gen I. Something else is going on if you have level set to top of sight glass and it is still triggering the light. Poor connection perhaps or faulty sensor.
 
waldo877 said:
So I filled it to the top line in the sight glass...STILL does it! Only does it when I put a heavy load on it during 80+. So, on-ramp acceleration etc. I COULDNT get it to do it at 50-60mph while holding the rpm's at like 8-9k. The oil sensor...is it an oil level sensor, a pressure sensor, or maybe a flow sensor in one of the channels? Its bugging the HELL out of me. Only way to get the light off once it comes on is to slow down and basically pull in the clutch.

Oil i'm using is T5, 15w-40. Scares me, I keep waiting for it to seize up on me once I see the light on. Dangerous too--makes me slow way the hell down on the highway.
Click to expand...

It's a oil level sensor....I also use rote la, and castrol before that....same issue......like someone said, bad or loose switch......if site glass is full, your good to go....it's just a dummy lite.......fill to barely over the whole glass, just leaving a bubble, and it will probably be gone.

What do you weigh? How firm is your suspension? I'm 215,and bike equated a lot under acceleration.....I have the suspension pretty firm and that helped with the light issue also.
 
215 also. The suspension is definitely a bit soft. So I'm guessing replacing that sensor requires getting into the bottom end? Or...if yours is ALWAYS on, there must be the send wire somewhere where you can ground it out.
 
So the oil light hasn't come on since I topped it up to the top of the glass. BUT, tonight, I noticed my oil looking a little darker than usual, and the level down to the top dot on the glass. Is it normal for the bike to use a bit of oil? Does that seem like a lot of oil? It has been very hot the past week, and the fan has kicked on quite a few times, so I know the bike was running warm.
 
waldo877 said:
So the oil light hasn't come on since I topped it up to the top of the glass. BUT, tonight, I noticed my oil looking a little darker than usual, and the level down to the top dot on the glass. Is it normal for the bike to use a bit of oil? Does that seem like a lot of oil? It has been very hot the past week, and the fan has kicked on quite a few times, so I know the bike was running warm.
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My bike seemed to eat more oil when it was running on Conventional, but now that is has had 2 changes with Mobil1 Synthetic the oil burning has tapered down a bit. I just changed the oil today at just over 3000 miles, the sight glass had about 1/8th showing above the oil line.

I am hoping that on this third fill with synthetic I wont see the line appear before 3k.
 
I have a gen 1 and have the same issue, usually it starts coming on around the time for a service anyway so I change the oil and filter when it happens!
 
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