Oil Light - Electrical help needed
 

When I fired up my superhawk the other day the oil light stayed on. The bike sounded and acted fine as she warmed up. I just changed the oil and filter so I know the level is good. I checked the oil level anaway, it looked fine.

I pulled fuses, they were all good.

So I checked the manual, little help there. I checked the resistance of the sensor a couple of different ways. I looked at the wiring diagram but it doesn't indicate (at least to me) if this sensor is normally open or closed.

I figured that the sensor went, so I ordered a new one. Today I put the new sensor on. I fired her up and and the light is still on.

I did try to wiggle the connecting wire. The oil light is a steady light, it isn't flashing, or changing brightness, indicating a short.....

Again the bike sounded and acted fine as she warmed up.

Anyone have any ideas how to troubleshoot this?!

I don't know why it would be the oil pump, she only has 12K miles on her. I hate to take anything to the shop, but I may have to, because I know I am in over my head with this one.

Change your filter with a stock Honda filter. See of it acts the same. I highly recommend not running the bike until you do this. I bet you have a bad/incorrect filter.

I installed a honda oil filter. When I purchased the oil they had a "special" buy 4 qts of oil and get a free oil filter.

The oil pressure sensor is a Grounding switch that is normally closed. When the engine is running and creating oil pressure, the sensor opens the ground and thus killing the light. Turn the key on, and unplug the sensor. The oil light should go off. Then touch the loose wire to any ground. This should bring the light on. IF the light stays ON after disconnecting the sensor wire, then you have a shorted ground wire. Otherwise, you need to check the oil pressure to find out if the engine is getting lubrication.

Since you have just done an oil change, I would suspect a malfunction in the Oil Filter, as stated earlier by Gregg. That, or a grounded sensor wire. Did you remove the OLD "O-ring" from the oil filter mating surface? It is possible to have doubled up seals on the oil filter, though I am uncertain if this could cause a loss of oil pressure.

Maybe try the Kawa fix, loosen the filter one turn (with plenty of cardboard covering the floor, crank the engine kill switch off, screw back the filter ASAP and fire it up.
Kawa oil pumps loose their prime, you just need to get the air out.
It a rare thing on Hondas, maybe a bad check valve, how long you left the bike empty ??

I did try this the other day and the light remained on


So how can I find this to remedy the situation? By no means am I an expert when it comes to eletronics, its been too long.


Yes I did. The old oil ring resides with the old filter.

I opened her up and let her drain out for 5-10 min.

If you have a steady light ON with the wire disconnected from the sensor, and not touching any metal parts, then your problem is certainly electrical.


1. Disconnect the sensor wire and make sure it is not grounded. 2. Turn key ON , leave engine OFF (you could unplug headlight while troubleshooting, to keep from draining the battery). 3. Follow the path of the oil sensor wire, looking for any place it might be pinched / torn insulation with bare copper touching bare metal. This would usually be a wire trapped underneath a screw or bolt, but could also be burnt insulation allowing the exposed wire to ground out. The wire COLOR you need to follow is BLUE w/ RED Stripe. It goes from the sensor, up through the main wire harness, and directly to the gauge cluster. 4. When you find the section of wire that is damaged, free it from metal contact and check the oil light...should go off. Then, use electrical tape to protect the exposed wire and take any steps to prevent this from happening again.

Chance are, unless someone else has worked on your bike, something you did has caused this problem. Think back to the last time you worked on her before this problem came up. Did you have the fairings off? Backtrack as best you can, the problem should show up this way.