Mysterious Oil Light
"Dice" has been treating me right for a couple months now. However, he is acting up and in a bad way I fear.
A couple weeks ago it was deadly hot out and I had to ride him on the highway for about 30 minutes. No issues at speed but when I got into the city and started to slow, he died when I pulled the clutch. I pulled off to the side and worked at restarting him. Which he did fairly quickly. Still no light and nothing out of the ordinary.
On the way home it was even warmer out and the oil light came on about 15 minutes into the ride. Made it home fine and checked oil levels. Oil was pretty dark so I decided I would change it. It would be good practice and it might keep the light from glaring at me.
I changed it by draining all the oil and removing the filter. I replaced the oil with 20w-50 and used a Wix canister filter. The filter came with new o-rings, but the one to seal the filter cap was too thin and the original was still in good shape so I stuck with it.
Original on left. New Wix on right.
Original
New
After I added three quarts I started him up and everything sounded great!
Then I drove him. The oil light came on the second I hit 55 mph. As I exited the highway Dice decided to die again. I quickly moved over to the side of the off ramp and began kicking the starter. When he finally fired back up he sounded bogged down and felt powerless.
I pulled into a parking lot and let him cool down for about 5-10 minutes, called a buddy for some advice and when I kicked him again he sounded normal! Turned him off again and let him have a break for about 15.
He got me home with full power and no bogginess but the oil light was on when I got to around 40 mph. I didn't think it was that big of a deal and thought that since I was going to a Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club meeting later that night, I could see what some of the more experienced guys thought it was.
Unfortunately for me, they advised against riding it! I had to take the back way home, which took about an hour, and keep it under 3500 rpms. They thought maybe it was the oil pump.
Now I'm off to research the fun adventure that will be!