Oil light on, petcock vacuum melting...

Ever since I did my oil change and upgraded my gauges, my oil light stays on. As I understand it, the light is a level light (unlike the pressure light on my old XS1100) correct? By the window, I've got plenty of oil, a hair over if anything. Could I have tapped the wrong power for the light? New semi-syn oil not liking the sensor? Bad sensor itself? Should I just cut the light wire?

Also, I seem to be melting the vacuum line for the petcock. I was thinking about cutting a very short chunk of good line and running off #1 instead so it won't kink sideways and hit the head. How do you guys deal with this?

 

For my 550 there are 2 different quantity specs in the manual: with filter and without filter, and it's a matter of 300 mL. When I initially put oil in it I put in the amount stamped on the engine casing, rode it around quickly and the oil light came on. After looking in the manual I found the 2 different specs and filled to the "with filter" spec and no problems since. Might be worth a look.

 

Correct, and there is a littele number cast into the clutch housing in near proximity to the filler; that's the "official" oil capacity. You really want to go about 200cc more, to keep the oil light happy.

With the bike on the centerstand, you're looking for the oil in the sight glass to be almost to the top, with just a "bubble" showing.

If your vacuum line is melting, it's not real vacuum line.

 

Unplug the oil light wire and see if the light goes out, then ground the wire and see what it does.

I had fun when I upgraded my Seca dash to an aftermarket Koso unit. The Seca switch is backwards from all the others (closed when oil level is OK).

 

Oil-wise, the Haynes calls for 2,500cc without changing the filter, 2,800 if I do, I ended up putting 3 quarts. As for the bubble, it's a bit wider than it is tall, making me think I have just a bit extra. And the light isn't plugged into anything, I directly soldered the wiring with the positive end of the light going to the brown light power and the negative end going to the black/red wire to the switch, as per the Haynes.

Maybe I'll have to look into some REAL vacuum line, the big shop here just gave me some plastic fuel line when I asked about vacuum. Worked for about 60 miles.

 

Three quarts or three litres? Most true "motorcycle" oil comes in 1L bottles. Either way, sounds like you're fine.

Re: vacuum line: You already know. If it isn't real vacuum line, it can collapse in on itself under vacuum when warm and the petcock will quit working. "Real" vacuum line, from the auto parts, tends to be a bit on the "chunky" side (large OD.) XJ4Ever carries the proper, small OD vacuum line for these bikes. I highly recommend it.

 

Here's the exact oil I put in, 3 bottles worth for main oil.
http://www.amazon.com/Yamalube-Performa ... 858&sr=8-5
And I will have to check XJ4Ever for that line. Until then, bowl floats and seals are good so leaving it on Prime doesn't seem to hurt. Thanks for the help.

 

Move it to "ON" once the bike isn't running. No sense tempting fate.

 

I do, using it as a sort of "OFF" for now, but I mean it doesn't seem to hurt when I'm using little fuel or for those moments when I use none between turning fuel "on" and starting the bike. And I already sent out an e-mail about getting a new vacuum line so this won't be forever.

 

It is common for the Oil Light to Come-ON when the Engine is running in a Cool Environment.

The Cold Blooded nature of the Aluminum keeps the Engine cool.
The OIL takes more TIME to SCAVENGE to the Sump.

This causes the sensitive Level Indicator to trip.
The Light comes ON.

Use an Oil VISCOSITY recommended for Lower Temperatures.
Add some RESERVE to satisfy the SENDER.

It's good to have a Low Oil Light let you know when the Level in the Sump is Low.

 

Great advice here, I wouldn't use any semi-synthetic oil until you know the bike is tuned and everything is right. I started using the first 20w-50 semi-synthetic oil I could find from the local parts store and immediately noticed problems with clutch-slippage, etc. I ended up getting 20w-50 yamalube oil (non-synthetic) from ebay and have had great results with it. There are alot of mixed reviews of the two types of oils, but my two cents is that if you are having any weird issues, go with what they used when the bike was new so you have one more thing to rule out. Ditto what Bigfitz52 said about the vacuum line.

Mac

 

YAMAHA is not in the Oil Business.
Somebody else is in the Oil Business.
But, Yamaha IS in the Bottle Business.

The latest word from CASTROL is that their legendary 20/50 Oil has changed.
Castrol 20/50 is no longer completely Wet Clutch Safe.
Its a matter for Chemists to argue about.
The incidents for 20/50 related problems is just a few percent.

Castrol recommends T/4.

 

Rick, thanks for the weather note, it is still chilly up here. And I'll look into something besides Yamalube next time then. For now though, she runs great. I'm also going to switch out and get an adapter for a more simple oil filter change, but I've got a few miles before I have to worry.

 

The most important thing about oil these days is to use motorcycle oil.

Rick's right, even good old GTX (car oil) has changed; it's not so much whether or not it's semi-synth or conventional, as long as it's formulated for bikes. What's happened with car oil is they've all started to add "friction modifiers" that are unfriendly to wet clutches.

 

I've done my research about those, big science nerd here so I have a pretty good understanding about what's going on with those modifiers.

 

I have used Rotella T non synthetic for years (not on this bike) with great success. Like stated, the friction modifiers are what cause the problem. So the diesel oil works just fine and as a bonus, has lots of detergent too.