Hey everyone...

I have a problem with my 01' f4i.

My Problem: After riding the bike for more than 20 minutes or so and the running temperature is warm (around 230 degrees, or so), the oil light will illuminate/flash when I come to a stop and idle. ONLY when the bike is idling/not moving, and ONLY when the temperature is up there. As soon as I continue to ride and the rev's go back up, the light goes back off. The idle is hardly effected, if at all by the light being on.

Background: I had a very similar problem a while back, around 1,500 miles ago. When I would come to a stop, the oil light would come on as the bike reached a stationary/idle position. BUT, when the oil light came on, the idles became sparatic and the bike would bog. But again, as soon as you accelerate, the problem disapeared. This problem was fixed by changing the badly worn spark plugs. Rode great up until this.


When it started: I stalled at a red light, and was in a hurry to crank the bike. The bike cranks fine when it has not been recently running- but when you attempt to crank it immediately after riding for a long period of time, it is hesitant. Anyhow, I spent 30-45 seconds trying to crank the bike. It was turning over, but not firing. After close to a minute of attempting to start it, it finally did and I was on my way. The problem I am currently having started immediately after this.

Obviously, I checked the oil. It was perfect as I just changed it <500 miles ago.
I am mechanically inclined, but unfamiliar with bikes. When I was trying to crank it when I stalled, was it just dumping fuel the entire time I was on the starter?

What could be the problem?


SPARKNOTES: When stationary, oil light comes on only when the running temperature is near 230ish. When moving, oil light goes back off. Oil level is fine- spark plugs changed very recently. What's the issue.

Thanks, all reasonable insight is appreciated!

 

i have been browsing around and I see several people with issues that are caused by bad fuel pressure regulators... could the oil light illuminate because of a drop in oil pressure that is caused by a drop in fuel pressure? Like I said, the light only comes on when the bike reaches temps near 230...

 

the fpr is really easy to check. just take the vaccum hose off and see if its wet, if it is its bad, if its not then its ok still. what weight oil are u running? and what kind?

 

I'll check to see if its the fpr, but I'm guessing it's not... anyways, I believe it's OEM kawasaki oil, not sure of the weight. I might catch some hate from people on here for running kawasaki oil... but it is what it is.

 

trying to avoid going to a shop at all costs.. i have several thousand in repairs tied up into this bike and i can't keep dumping money into it...

 

How many miles are on it? You may have said and I just missed it. I've ran across a few bikes that did that. I pulled oil pump and rotor clearance was right at the very edge of service limit. Those pumps are inefficient at low rpm's. Ever hook a quality gauge up to one? You'd crap your pants. I had an autometer on my 900 for a while. After maybe 3 or 4 passes (last couple were on the spray) my oil pressure was around 5-7 psi. And that's with a brand new pump. If you don't spend a great deal of time idling, should be fine. If you're OCD about it, yank the pump and grab some feeler gauges and check rotor clearance. I'd be willing to bet they are close to the limit.

 

well, the wrong weight oil could do it too, u might try changin it. i like to run yamalube, dont worry bout the hate

 

Well I hope that's not it.. i am lead to believe that it wouldnt be the problem because like i said, as long as the temperature is kept <230, the light doesnt come on... only when it gets hot... even if Ive been riding it all day, the light still doesnt come on unless the temperature reaches that 230 mark at idle. I would think that if the pump were taking a dump it would idle poorly all the time once it is warmed up...


as for my bike, 18k miles. Would you say maybe i need to run a more viscous oil?
before i jump into changing the oil again, the bike ran fine with this oil change (for almost a thousand miles), RIGHT up until I stalled it. Minutes later the problem appeared.

 

Wierd. Changing oil would be the cheapest thing to try first.

 

Sounds very weird. Taking a gander outside the proverbial box...

When does your fan kick in? Maybe the added electrical draw causing the sensor to malfunction?