Engine oil pressure warning light

[Daytonagrayghost]

Hello everyone...

New to this site, new to Guzzi. Just bought a 2007 Griso. Enjoying it so far.

I have a quick question about the operation of the Engine oil pressure warning light system.

I noticed after I turn the ignition on and the dash does it's self check where all the lights come on and the tach makes it's full sweep, that the oil light goes out. Yet the engine is not running therefore not producing pressure.

On all my other bikes and cars the oil light is always on when the engine is off with the key in the run position.

Another clue that there may be something wrong. I changed the oil for the first time and during the first start after the oil change the oil light did not come on. Again on all my other cars there is a brief period of time that the oil light stays on while the system pressures up and fills the filter.

The Griso owners manual regarding the engine oil pressure warning light states "comes on when the ignition switch is set to run with the engine stopped as a lamp test."

This indicates to me that the light should be on so I did some checking to see if the sending unit is bad. I removed the fuel tank and checked the resistance of the oil pressure sending unit with the engine off. It reads 2 ohms, basically a direct short to ground indicating no oil pressure. So why then is the light not on?

After more investigation and finding nothing in the Griso service manual, I found this in the Norge service manual..."There is an oil pressure failure when, with the engine on and over 2000 rpm, the sensor is detected as conduction (closed). In this case, the error is indicated by the lighting of the lighting of the "bulb" icon...."

Does this mean that the low oil pressure warning system only operates above 2000rpm?

Can someone confirm that their Griso and or Norge operates like mine?

Any comments on the system if indeed it only operates above 2000 rpm?

Thanks in advance
Jim



 
   

 


 

 

[Roblatt]

Jim,

I have an '06 Breva 11. Does exectly the same. I think you'll find it's normal. I've had mine since new and it has 40K on it, no problems so if it were me, I wouldn't worry.

Robert

 

[Phang]

My 2009 Griso 8V does exactly the same.

In my opinion, the oil pressure switch is not hard-wired to the oil pressure warning light in the old fashion way that most of us are familiar with. I guess the dash unit will monitor the signal from the oil pressure switch and determine when to light up the “Aladdin lamp” factoring in logic such as engine rpm and the length of the oil pressure switch turn on duration.

For example, it will require conditions such as engine rpm greater than 2000rpm and closing of the oil pressure switch continuously longer than 5 seconds (example) before the dash unit says “Alright, turn on the Aladdin lamp”

This will eliminate the flickering of oil pressure light at low engine rpm and during a brief dip of the oil pressure. Yes, it is not reporting the truth but at least it keeps most of the owner sending back the bike to the dealer complaining about the flickering Aladdin lamp.

Same situation for the low fuel warning light if you haven’t notice it. When you fill up your tank with the low fuel light already turn on, you will still get the low fuel light for the next couple of seconds after you turn on the ignition switch.

Phang

 

[Daytonagrayghost]

Thanks guys... I feel better now.

 

[Mi_ka]

Me not liking this.
Me would hard wire Alladin light if ever get Griso.
Me thinks some things better be dumb than smart.

 

[kiwi dave]

This is normal. If you really want piece of mind, try shorting the sender wire to chassis while the engine is running to simulate a loss in oil pressure. The sytem with immediately show a fault.

Problem is the wire to the sender is quite inaccessible for this to be practical. The system does check for a short (to chassis) before the engine is running, and an open circuit once it is running. The fact that you receive no warnings means you have no problems. In my opinion, this is a much better check than the hard wired alternative.

 

[Brian UK]

This will eliminate the flickering of oil pressure light at low engine rpm and during a brief dip of the oil pressure. Yes, it is not reporting the truth but at least it keeps most of the owner sending back the bike to the dealer complaining about the flickering Aladdin lamp.
Phang

Trouble is, I can't see any reason why you should ever get a flickering oil light at low RPM, unless you are using oil with a viscosity lower than water.

 

[Phang]

Could be the oil thinning out when the engine is very hot? i.e. stuck in a traffic jam :?:

There are 20,200 results when I googled “oil pressure light flicker at idle”… that’s a lot to read for me :shock:

 

[Will]

Trouble is, I can't see any reason why you should ever get a flickering oil light at low RPM, unless you are using oil with a viscosity lower than water.

On my old 1100 Griso I got stuck in 100% gridlock on one of the hottest days of the year in Bayonne for an hour. The engine oil obviously thinned out so much the viscosity dropped to "lower than water". I got a dashboard warning that thankfully I'd never seen before or since. It was a really big oil can symbol on the screen not just the usual light or "service" warning. Of course I cut the engine immediately and pushed to the kerb. After a half hour cooling off (and of course checking the dipstick) it was fine. Rode out of town away from the gridlock as quick as possible and swore never to go there again!

 

[Brian UK]

But what viscosity rating oil were you using at tat time? Guzzi now specify 10W60, which would be much less likely to make the oil light flicker than a lighter grade oil.

 

[andrewaustin]

g,day Jim.I also was worried about time delay of such an important light.So i fitted an oil pressure and temp gauge.I kept the idiot as well.At cold idle i have 90 psi and at 190f she drops to 30 psi using castrol edge 10w/60w.To me it,s just peace of mind!