XJ750 Oil Light / Sender

Hi guys,

I've changed my boxy XJ instruments over to.....a Suzuki set (for shame... ). Anyway, everything is working except for the oil light.

I've read on the forum that the XJ oil sender is an oil level sender, whilst the Suzuki one would have been a pressure sender.

Would this be the reason it's not working? Should the oil light light up when the bike is not running?

I seem to recall someone posting on here that you need to add a resistor to get it to light up (I did a search but couldn't find it). The idiot light is just a simple 12V bulb.

Any help here would be appreciated.

Cheers.....hillsy

 

This might be a dumb question but which Suzuki is the donor? What does the fiche for that bike say? I have the instrument setup off of an 08 DRZ 400 SU that is gonna make my Atari go away. Small and and three wires. Man my life is going to be much simpler.

 

Oil pressure sensors can be analog, like to send to a gauge that will show actual oil pressure in psi, or simply pressure switches, to indicate to a computer that the pressure is high enough at a certain RPM. For instance, VW Golfs have two pressure switches; one is used to verify enough pressure when running at idle, and the other is used to check that there's enough pressure at higher RPM (I think 4K or so). In most cases, if oil pressure is being used to light a warning lamp, there is some additional intelligence in the gauge system to only check the switch value when the engine is running, or running above a certain speed.

The oil level sensor for the XJ's is just a switch. I am not sure whether it is open or closed when reading a good level of oil, but it's possible that the problem you're having is that the XJ reads closed when "good" and the Suzuki read open when "good", or vice-versa.

What you'll need to do is first check the resistance from the wire going to your oil level sensor to ground. I assume you have a good level of oil in your engine, so, whatever value you read will be the "good" value for that sensor. Then try three things with the Suzuki oil sensor line:

1. Disconnected
2. Grounded
3. Connected to 12V with a 1K Ohm resistor

See if any of these turn off the warning light. I certainly hope that one of them does. This will tell you the "good" condition for the gauge. From there we should be able to give you some suggestions on how to make them work together. Most likely that will be a relay to invert the signal, but we'll see. Worst case would be if the Suzuki gauge is smart enough that it expects to see an open switch on startup that closes once the engine starts running, or something... that would be a bit harder to trick into working.

Cheers,
Paul

 

The Yamaha Sender is a Float.
When the Oil LEVEL dips below its limit ... the Switch closes and a Light comes on.
You will see the light come on if you run in weather cold enough to cool the Engine sufficiently to cause the Scavenged Oil to cling to cool surfaces and not drain back to the sump right away.

This was a condition that caused Virago's Oil Light Warnings to occur frequently.

If you need a PRESSURE Sensor ... You can Mount one in the Gallery Plugs on the Engine Block.

The Kit runs a line off the Gallery Plug below the YICS Passage with some tubing you need to run up to the Handlebars for a Gauge Type Pressure Meter.

 

So, is the Yamaha oil light supposed to come on when you first turn the key, then go off when the engine starts? Or does it only come on when the oil level is low?

BTW - the Suzuki oil warning light is just a 2 wire bulb, there's no smarts to it.

 

You don't say which particular model of XJ you have. On the SECA, the Oil indicator is one of the ones the computer "walks" through when it initializes at engine startup. No idea what the Maxim does.

However, since there's no way for the computer to check the switch's operation during initialization, I think the SECA's walk-through is probably bogus anyway.

For a pressure switch that opens under pressure, it would make sense that the light was on when the ignition was first turned on, then goes off when the engine is started and oil pressure closes the switch. That's nice because it also tells you that the switch and light are working correctly.

If the Suzuki indicator is just a lamp that gets ground from the pressure switch, and, as Rick has said, the Yamaha switch is open when there's enough oil, then your Suzuki gauge should work with the Yamaha sensor. Since that appears not to be the case, one or more of these assumptions is probably incorrect. Please make the measurements I asked about earlier, and we can go from there.

Paul

 

The Light come on each time the Bike is Started to let you know that the Bulb ... is working.

On the Bikes with Info-Consoles ... The Computer tests the Bulb and its circuit during the sequential "Systems Scan" when you Turn-on the Ignition.

 

Thanks fellas - I'll let you know how it turns out :wink:

 

Rick:
Can you give me more info onwhere/how to add this kit please? IE: Gallery plug locations on the XJ750 non-yics engine, and thread sizes? Appreciate any info you can provide.

Phil

 

I checked the Lockhart-Pillips Site and didn't find one.

Surf the Harley Sites for something you can use.

 

I've got a Stewart Warner gauge set on the GPz (oil pressure and oil temp). Couldn't find the exact gauge online, but it's similar to this (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SWW-82213B/) and this one should work for you as well.

Cheers,
Paul