(TallTom @ Aug. 28 2007,08:40) I am trying to not be a worry wart here but I need some input to help me set it aside and not worry.
First of all I baby and care for my bike pretty religiously. Which is why this particularly woke me up when it happened.
Conditions:
Florida. Hot and thick air here. Heat index today of 102.
Came off interstate after 30 miles at speed. Waiting for light to turn green sitting at idle. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a red light come on. Looked down and saw nothing. Kept staring at it.
My oil light flickered. Not even long enough to fully illuminate. About 3 seconds later it did it again All of this happened at idle.
I idled into the first parking lot I could get to and checked the oil level. It was at the halfway mark in the sight glass, which is where I always see it after the oil change with the specified amount of oil. It has never shown all the way to full but it has always been right at the halfway mark and it has never used any oil. I erred to the side of safety and put a half quart of oil in it. I am writing this from a public library in hopes that by the time I get home I have some thoughts from you guys.
My idle is probably a little under 1000. Probably 950. Witihin spec but yes on the low side. I am trying to convince myself that I don't have a lubrication problem here. Can a half quart be the difference between enough oil and oil starvation?
It is possible that this light may have flickered on the highway between my gauge checks, but I'm pretty religious about checking all my statuses when I'm on the move. I doubt it would have been more than 4 or 5 seconds that it could have come on, IF it came on at all. The flicker worries me in that the duration was so short that at speed it may have been there and I simply never caught it in my routine scan.
I am trying to tell myself that at a slower idle in high heat, the oil may have thinned out enough to fool the pressure sensor. I am also trying to tell myself that there isn't a bigger concern I need to think about here.
I know my oil is clean and I know the sight guage showed good level (good being halfway in the glass).
Hasn't come on since but I also have not repeated the conditions again yet.
Also to add. During the run the engine never saw more than 6K at speed and between shifts. In other words I wasn't pushing the limits of anything even closely. I probably was at a steady 5 to 6K at cruise. 30 miles worth.
My thinking is if I had a pressure problen it would be more apparent at higher demand (engine speed). But I am paranoid that it could have flickered and I simply never saw it.
So help me out engine gurus. Is there a weak link in the lubrication system in these? Weak link could be poor pressure sensing when there is no problem at all.
Does a possible half quart difference kill my engine?
Should I be trying to look deeper into anything at this point? There are no unusual sounds and all seems quite normal. I have 9K miles on my bike. Well cared for miles.
