796 Oil Light When Rding Hard

[Nick_M]

Been out for the first propper blast on the 796 today. At high speed (for a monster) during acceleration the oil light would come on for several seconds at a time, closing throttle and coasting allowed it to go out and then I could get on the gas again. Was definately revs/acceleration related. Obviously I have checked that the oil is not low.

is this due to the oil running to the back of the sump and away from the pickup pipe, or possibly cavitation in the oil pump at high revs, or am I just unlucky and something is wrong?

Bike has done 3000 miles from new. Obviously I am worried about oil starvation having a detrimental effect on the engine life. Does anyone have any clues, solutions, or suggestions?

I will try the main dealer on Monday but thought I would ask the collective for any similar experiences

TIA

Nick

[rollo22]

Shall I be the first to state the obvious.

You have checked the oil level with the bike level????????

[rogermunro]

just been out for second time on 696 thisa year on both occasions after about 30 miles clutch lever becme snatchy and then wouldnt pull away left for 5 mins then clutch was smooth and no more trouble . fluid seems ok ?

[Saint aka ML]

It is an oil pressure switch like on old style monster right? If the case then having low oil would light it up at idle but it would go off at higher revs as pressure is higher. I would check oil level ASAP but it looks more like pressure switch fault.

[Nickj]

The switch is either on or off so if it's on when you turn the ignition on and then off when you start up then it's most likely OK.
So given that it's either on or off then it's more likely to be the oil level which is easy to check and fix.

[Starter Sprag]

Check oil level with bike on level ground, and bike upright, NOT on sidestand

If ok, then it's a duff oil pressure switch, easy to change


Other problem, you have air in your clutch system, bleed very carefully, using syringe and tubing on your bottom clutch bleed nipple

[Rally]

Are you quite sure it's not the rev limiter lights flashing at you to change up?

[Saint aka ML]

Are you quite sure it's not the rev limiter lights flashing at you to change up?

Good question, when I fitted my new dash I realised it has a option to set a speed warning light so I set it up to "70MPH" ;) to know from when it is court not fixed fine. It is located right next to oil pressure light so at first I kept on getting a scare of WTF is oil light on at high speed.

[Nick_M]

Have checked oil level whilst bike vertical, although that is on a rear paddock stand so maybe that pitches the bike forward and gives a false reading?

I will get someone to hold it upright whilst I check the oil level just in case it really is that simple!

It's definately the yellow oil light on the LH side of the dash, the shift lights are a red bar along the top.

[BigOz]

just been out for second time on 696 thisa year on both occasions after about 30 miles clutch lever becme snatchy and then wouldnt pull away left for 5 mins then clutch was smooth and no more trouble . fluid seems ok ?


A couple of things can cause this, do you have after-market levers? If the lever is not allowing the master cylinder plunger to extend completely it can trap oil in the line/slave and as this gets hot and expands it opens the clutch plates. You should feel a little free play in the lever before the clutch starts to operate and you feel resistance.
An over filled reservoir can have the same result.

Moisture in the fluid can cause issues as can air as Starter Sprag mentioned.

Andy

[BigOz]

Have checked oil level whilst bike vertical, although that is on a rear paddock stand so maybe that pitches the bike forward and gives a false reading?

I will get someone to hold it upright whilst I check the oil level just in case it really is that simple!

It's definately the yellow oil light on the LH side of the dash, the shift lights are a red bar along the top.

Hi,

The yellow light on the left is the EOBD Engine On Board Diagnostic light, the oil warning is red and on the right.

I used to get the EOBD light come on at high revs due to clutch slip but the cause can be all kinds of things, any sensor giving out of spec readings can cause this. Get the error codes checked. It is normally only an issue if it stays on but worth getting the codes checked to be sure.

Andy

[Nick_M]

Okay, clearly I need to RTFM!! :dunce:

Just assumed the yellow light was oil...!! mind you I was looking at it whilst tramping on a bit;)

Possibly because IIRC my R1 oil light is a yellow one

Okay this makes a bit of sense as I did notice that if at high speed I touched the clutch lever ever so slightly it engaged the clutch. Possibly it is starting to slip at high revs under hard acceleration and bringing the light on?

I will investigate clutch play / adjustment.

If it is an EOBD light and it doesnt appear to be because of the clutch, then a dealer should be able to see the cause of this on an upload?

[BigOz]

If it is an EOBD light and it doesnt appear to be because of the clutch, then a dealer should be able to see the cause of this on an upload?

I've had the EOBD light come on and leave no error codes on the ECU in which case I was told not to worry about it, anything serious should be logged.

Andy

[Nick_M]

Cheers Andy