No oil pressure

Oops forgot to mention the thermostat seems fine as I'm not seeing any overheating problems and the oil cooler gets hot once the engine warms up.
I just need to get some thicker oil, 20/50w seem quite hard to get hold of unless you want cheap low spec rubbish.
 
I've been using Silkolene Comp 4 15/50 (mail order from Opie Oils) for a couple of years now - seems good stuff to me :)

Andres
 
I use Castrol Power 1 Racing 10w50 Fully Synth in mine as recommended by BMW and available from Moto-oil.co.uk It's not as thick as 20w50 mineral but I've had no knock problems when hot, unlike my old 2004 model 1200 years ago.

The OEM oil filter is indeed manufactured by Mahle and is so similar in price to the BMW item I just buy them in multiples from my local BMW agent.
 
I have just cut the filter open and it has a pressure relief valve / one way valve inside. It has a very small paper element and is not a full flow filter. Oil flows through the filter in the usual way, but when cold or the filter is getting clogged it flows to the bottom of the filter though a metal gauze though the valve bypassing the filter. It is not a non return valve to stop oil draining back from the engine, bugger. So thants the end of that theory.
The oil filter I removed seemed ok
I think Ottomunch is right and the noise I'm hearing is the hydraulic tensioners as when I restarted it it took about a second for the light to extingiush and I got the same rattle. I let the engine run till it was one bar from max while I balanced the throttle bodies and it runs fine not a single rattle or rumble. Switched it off and it restarted and the oil light went out immediately.
I think it must be the oil pressure relief valve sticking as its intermittant and its been fine now for 2500 mile, it could have been a piece of RTV sealant? as their is no evidence of any scoring or sticking, I also rechecked my handbook and it states 40w oil is ok up to 30c and it nowhere even close to those temps although these engines seem to prefer thicker oil.
Anyhow its all back together and I'm going to keep using it until it happens again as everything seems fine for the moment
 
Are you running fully synth??

What grade ?

My mate and I have this argument all the time he uses 10W40 in his 1150 and it rattles everytime he starts it
 
I'm using 5/40w fully synthetic, I've just changed the filter and not the oil as it will be due a change in 2000miles previous to this I was using 5/50w fully synthetic and I had this problem occour once.
I'm not convinced this is an oil viscosity problem or it would happen all the time.
When it does happen there seems to be zero oil pressure so something must be sticking open and it always happens when its hot.
At the minute it starts fine when hot, oil light extingiushes immediately and no rattles and it ticks over bueatifully.
The engine seems fine as it uses hardly any oil.
 
Does anybody know what thread the oil pressure sensor uses as I am going to see if I can install a pressure gauge. These engines seem to run with quite high pressures as the relief valve is set at 87psi which seems high.
 
rust bucket said:
Does anybody know what thread the oil pressure sensor uses as I am going to see if I can install a pressure gauge. These engines seem to run with quite high pressures as the relief valve is set at 87psi which seems high.
Click to expand...

That's the best thing you can do. You'll know for sure one way or the other.

Synth oil is fine - just make sure you use the correct grade.

The worst thing you can do is rev the bollocks off it when it's cold and/or there's no oil pressure. That'll kill your engine fairly quickly.
 
What part of the statement "my engine knocked when using 10w40 in hot weather/heavy traffic" did you miss when you decided it couldn't possibly be viscosity related through using a 5w40 oil? (All of it by the looks of things).
 
Hi Pukmeister the first part of the viscosity is the cold rating and has no effect on the hot rating so a 0w/40 will behave exactly the same as a15w/40 when hot the first number is the winter or cold rating so a 0w will flow better than 15w when cold but behaves exactly the same at 150c. Not that it really matters in our climate but most fully synthetics have a lower winter rating.
Air cooled engines can run alot hotter so I always like to use fully synthetic.
 
Feck me, this should be on an american forum with all bollox posted about oil draining back into the engine etc etc. . That alone tells me you don't know what you're talking about.

Just change the oil pressure switch and fill it with a decent 20/50.
Job done.
 
Sorry not meaning to pee anyone off I'll probably never find out what caused it unless it does it permanently as its been fine 2500mile.
Thanks for everyones sugestions
 
Looks like the engine is ####ed fitted an oil pressure gauge, not easy as there's not much room. Oil pressure when cold is 80psi and out the road when warm is about 40psi with 3 bars showing at 3000rpm however if I run it in the garage with 4 bars showing it drops to about 5 to 10psi at 3000rpm and at 5bars showing it can hardly register anything!
I took the pressure relief valve out again and its fine but after the oil drained out it couldn't build any oil pressure when hot exactly the symptoms i've been experiencing.
I'm going to try thicker oil but it looks like bearings are on the way out or the oil pump is shot.
I checked the service history and the front cover has been removed and resealed and they seem to have used a hell of a lot of RTV some of which is falling off I assume the inside is the same so the oil strainer could be partially blocked.
Either way the engine is going to have to come apart at some stage but its not knocking yet so i'm just going to keep using it and keep an eye on the oil pressure. Will see what happens when I put some 20w/50 in
 
rust bucket said:
Hi Pukmeister the first part of the viscosity is the cold rating and has no effect on the hot rating
Click to expand...

Thanks for the lesson but I already know all that being a marine engineer. My point was, I had experienced similar symptoms with an X w 40 grade oil, hence why I suggested you try an X w 50 grade oil to see if it improves.

All pretty academic now if you have such low oil pressure when hot. Surely if the oil pump strainer was blocked you would suffer low oil pressure at startup? Out of interest, can you shim the oil relief valve spring with a washer or similar to see if pressure improves?

My money is on increased bearing clearances, the proof will be in a strip and inspect.
 
Just changed the oil,managed to get 20w/50 from unipart,it meets BMW minimum spec. The oil pressure is slightly better but only by 5psi if that, the engine does sound a little quieter though. I did try and shim the oil pressure relief but it didn't make any difference. I think you are right my bearings must be worn,the bike could have been run without oil as it has scratches on both cylinder head protectors. The engine still sounds fine and runs ok so I'm going to keep it running it for now, I'll stay away from hot places!
I think the oil pressure senors operates at only .15bar so i've got the gauge perminately installed. When I mean 3 bars showing i'm not counting the intial black lcd bit which is at the bottom of the display it runs most of the time with 3 bars showing if that makes sense.
 
The oil pressure relief valve is there to bleed away the excessive oil pressure which can happen on a cold engine. Its unlikely to open in a hot engine, so shimming just risks oil seals getting blown when the engine is cold.

The oil filter valve is there to bypass the filter if it gets blocked due to lack of servicing. Dirty oil flowing is better then no oil flowing because the filter blocked.

As the OP says, his very low oil pressure suggests a serious engine problem. It might be possible to change the oil pump but the findings so far suggest the engine bearings (crank and cams, etc) are not being well served.

Something like Wynnes Stop Smoke to increase the viscosity might help, but its only ever a temporary fix. That said, we'll have to think again if it makes little or no difference to the oil pressure readings.
 
do what steptoe said and change the filter as well ,i have know in cars for filters to fall to bits inside :thumb
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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