Oil pressure sensor question

[bikermandude]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm at a loss here. Could the oil pressure sensor cause the bike to not start? After getting it back together it ran fine then all of a sudden my oil light started coming on, then it would flicker out. As I was going down the highway I started to lose power then it shut off. Now it only clicks when I try to start it. The battery is brand new and I checked all my fuses and connections. During my rebuild I did have to replace my oil pan due to a crack and I filled it with 3.5 quarts of the Rotella t4 just as I did before. I'm wondering if maybe when I reconnected the sensor I didn't get it connected well enough and that could be preventing the engine from turning over. I work nights so I can't look right now but I thought I'd get some opinions from more experienced people. Any input would be appreciated. I'm a body work person and know very little about wiring so I'm having a lot of trouble here

[pya977]

will the engine not turn over at all ?
if not and you had no oil getting around the engine it sounds like the engine has siezed,
bad news im afraid

[bikermandude]

Nope just that clicking sound as if the battery were dead. I don't know why there wouldn't have been oil around the engine though because I had put brand new oil in before ever starting it up. While I was up to speed I just started losing power then as I downshifted to pull off the road it died completely, but before that was running smooth as far as I could tell

[pya977]

try taking out both sparkplugs and put it into 3rd or 4th gear and try to push the bike, you should be able to get the engine to turn over,at least you will know that the engine is not siezed

[bikermandude]

I'll give that a try, thank you

[bikeman]

"Could the oil pressure sensor cause the bike to not start?" 


No. it wouldn't. 

"During my rebuild I did have to replace my oil pan due to a crack and I filled it with 3.5 quarts of the Rotella t4 just as I did before."

did you replace all the "O" rings while the sump was off ??. from the sounds of it you have low oil pressure could be a internal leak  low oil pressure would damage the engine I'm afraid. so you will have to check.
also it is worth remembering the oil pump can go faulty on the gen 1 engine [which the 454 is]  this is caused by the oil pump losing drive due to a fibre washer inside the pump. this wears out and the drive is lost. common problem on the EX 500 which is derived from the 454. the fix is to strip the pump and replace the fibre washer with a steel one. A fix done by Kawasaki on the gen 2 engine [post 93] 

good luck I hope there is no damage done but if so a btm end rebuild may be required if so do the oil pump fix while in there. and renew all the O rings. 

[knoizy]

May 24, 2018 15:15:11 GMT -6 bikeman said:

it is worth remembering the oil pump can go faulty on the gen 1 engine [which the 454 is]  this is caused by the oil pump losing drive due to a fibre washer inside the pump. this wears out and the drive is lost. common problem on the EX 500 which is derived from the 454. the fix is to strip the pump and replace the fibre washer with a steel one. A fix done by Kawasaki on the gen 2 engine [post 93] 

Wow. Informative and scary at the same time, I'm guessing you are talking about part 92022 on this diagram and also guessing this would activate the sensor if the pump was going faulty?


Returning to bikemandude I was going to suggest jump or bypass the sensor for testing purposes so long as you could be sure the engine was getting oil for the test.

[bikeman]

yep that's the one. scary that a two dollar washer can do so much.  although to be fair Kawasaki probably never imagined the washer in the pump would have to last so long not all fail and some are nearly 40 years old.  it is just one of those maintenance issues. if you have the sump off change the washer. bit like the magnets on the gen 1 flywheel loads of stories of magnets coming loose or detaching and getting mangled in the case. that's why they changed to the enclosed type on the gen 2. 

yet some of the older engines still have the original flywheel with no issues. 

[hemi]

Your description of how the bike quit is very similar to mine.  I guess the only difference is mine would start once it cooled down and would run for a short while until it got hotter and the oil light would come on.  As soon as the light came on I killed the engine.  In my trying to figure out what was going on I did let it run for a moment while the light was on and something got hot enough and it seased to a stall, but again it would turn over once it cooled and would run fine for a mile or so.  That’s how I got it home.  Run it until the light came on and kill it, let it cool and go another couple miles.  It got to the point that I could anticipate the light and kill it before it came on.

in my case, a piece of the timing chain broke and started shredding the guides.  I’m guessing the material clogged the oil pickup.

i hope you get that thing turning again.

and like bikeman said.  No way the oil sensor cuts the engine.  acourding to the wiring diagram it’s just an idiot light.

[knoizy]

As if by fate my bike did something very similar twice on today's outing - I was doing a steady 70 and it suddenly felt a bit boggy then the engine cut out with the oil light coming on.  I'm a bit hazy on what happened next as I was in a slight panic but I'm sure the starter button did nothing and the oil light stayed on, I gave it a minute and then it started up fine. All good for the next ten minutes or so then it cut out at 70 with the oil light again, I pulled over and it started up no problems first time. Tried to get the problem to repeat on demand but it wouldn't. Oil level is fine, carbs recently cleaned and I'm wondering what causes the cut out.

AFAIK the oil pressure sensor and light are not part of any cut-out electrics are they?

Also I remember that cold starting the bike in the garage was a bit odd today, it is warm weather and yet it took a lot of choke and longer waiting for it to warm up before it would idle properly. This I thought was odd and then the whole oil thing has got me concerned. Sounds like I need to get the pan removed and have a look at the pump, is it worth trying anything a bit less intrusive first?

[fatboyjim]

Hi, has anyone managed to sort the oil sensor light coming on. So I have rebuilt my 1985 LTD and when you start the engine the oil light comes on.

Is the red light to indicate oil level or oil pressure.?

When I rev over 4000 the oil light goes out... also the bike boggs when riding.
I did drop the oil pan and when I put it back together I noticed a rubber o'ring on the floor. I could not see where it came from so I'm wondering if this from underneath the oil pan. Any help much appreciated...

[pya977]

there is an ring that can fall out when you take off the oil pan as this happened to me, all i did was check where i though there should be an o ring and checked it for size against recess