Changed the oil

[JPaganel]

Yesterday my oil warning light started coming on and staying on for a few minutes at a time. It hasn't done this until now in the several weeks I've been riding the FJ. I decided to do an oil change.

Oil was lower than max, but not catastrophically so. It was, however, completely black. Looks like the guys I bought the bike from didn't do jack to it and just tossed it out on the sales floor. I probably should have checked the oil sooner, but thinking that I was buying from a shop, I thought they did at least basic maintenance. And then I had to sync the carbs.

I thought the oil looking nasty like that warranted a new filter, so I popped down to the nearest Yamaha dealer. There I was fairly surprised to find Yamalube being $20 a gallon. I usually get Valvoline, and that stuff is about $6 a quart pretty much anywhere.

Next time I will know to grab some tinfoil to put under the oil filter when I take it off - spilled some oil on the exhaust.

I don't know what sort of crud was sloshing in there before, but with the Yamalube it seems to shift much better. The oil light stopped coming on for extended periods of time, but I still got a couple of blinks on the way to work this morning. Is the sensor really finicky?

[Arnie]

You will probably come to the same conclusion I (and others) have about dealers.  Almost all of them are less than useless - some are downright thieves, and most are only interested in how much money they can transport from your pocket to theirs, and very few have any knowledge.

This is why I strongly encourage others to do their own servicing work, its the only way to know that someone who cares about your safety has actually done the work.

It is always a good idea to change all the fluids on a used bike you buy.  Then you know when it was done, what brand, amount, and type of fluid was used.  You'll have a known starting point should you decide you want to make changes or try something different.

As for the oil sensor.... This is a level sensor located in an UNbaffled sump.  If you accelerate hard the oil will move to the rear of the sump, and the oil light will usually come on if the oil is even slightly less than to the highest mark.  This is a reminder to check the level, not an emergency that requires shutting off the engine and calling for a tow.  You'll learn to keep the oil level on the high side.
Many people claim to be able to tell not only fresh oil, but brand by how their FJ shifts.  Some are more sensitive than others, but follow your own heart in this. :-)  From the description of your old oil, it may have been there for a loooonnnnnngggg time.  If so, the shifting would be very klunky and you may have enough crud in the sump to slow the response of your oil level sensor.  See if this changes over the next couple of weeks.  You may want to change oil and filter a bit sooner than otherwise normal to make certain that the inside of the engine gets clean.
My oil change frequency is every 5K kms and a filter @ 10K Kms.  Others change at different time/distances.

Cheers,
Arnie

[JPaganel]

As for the oil sensor.... This is a level sensor located in an UNbaffled sump.  If you accelerate hard the oil will move to the rear of the sump, and the oil light will usually come on if the oil is even slightly less than to the highest mark.  This is a reminder to check the level, not an emergency that requires shutting off the engine and calling for a tow.  You'll learn to keep the oil level on the high side.
Cheers,
Arnie

The weird thing is that it doesn't do it under hard acceleration. Seems to do it when I'm going slow, or under constant highway speed.

Oh well. I'm gonna chalk it up to sensor flakiness.

[rktmanfj]

Trace the wiring back and see if one is worn through.   

[JPaganel]

Trace the wiring back and see if one is worn through.   

That sounds like a good idea.

Where would I look to figure out which wires these are? Is there a schematic somewhere?

[andyb]

The sender sits at the bottom left of the oil pan.  It's stupid easy to get the wires from it and the sidestand pinched under the oil filter housing and damage things.

[JPaganel]

There was one wire I saw below the filter housing. I took care to have that clear.

The oil light is now staying on more again. Just about any acceleration does it. I wonder if I should pull it and clean it next time I change oil.

Do I need to drop the exhaust to get to it?

[JPaganel]

Checked oil again today. Whaddayaknow, it was at the lower limit. I suppose it wasn't sloshed around properly right after the changing. Maybe the oil light wasn't lying.