oil pump working or ready to quit?

[fastrider1959]

After a long ride in the florida heat about 98° I returned home and placed my 06 gen ll on the center stand to give her post ride inspection mind you she was still runniing, that's when I noticed there was a small amount of oil in the sight glass.the only time oil is visible in the glass while the engine is running is when the side stand is down,there were no codes on the dash,no oil lights, she run and performed beautifully. in typical fjr style. my question to my fellow riders is has this ever happened to anyone out there *PS she has 30.000mi on the clock she has her oil changed every 3.000 mi with full synthetic yamalube and yamaha filter the short one anyone know were to get the larger filter part # 5JJW-13440-00 my dealer told me thay are out there but hard to find. thanks any help is appreciated.

 

[Ignacio]

I had a hard time making sense of the post in relation to the title....there's not much pertinent detail or a clear issue to me.

mind you she was still runniing, that's when I noticed there was a small amount of oil in the sight glass.the only time oil is visible

You should make sure there's adequate oil in the engine with the engine off, let it sit for a bit on the centerstand, and that it's in the sight glass. What you describe demonstrate anything helpful I can see nor is a concern.

oil pump working or ready to quit?

Since the only actual question mark you have is in the title, then I would say, no. I don't see any indication from what you describe as the oil pump is ready to quit or not working.

Oil pump failures are rare (I think I remember maybe one over the years on this forum) including many motorcycles over 200,000 miles. 30,000 is almost nothing for these bikes.

Unless you've run it without oil, I'd generally suggest riding more and stressing less.

 

[Uenjoymyself]

After a long ride in the florida heat about 98° I returned home and placed my 06 gen ll on the center stand to give her post ride inspection mind you she was still runniing, that's when I noticed there was a small amount of oil in the sight glass.the only time oil is visible in the glass while the engine is running is when the side stand is down,there were no codes on the dash,no oil lights, she run and performed beautifully. in typical fjr style. my question to my fellow riders is has this ever happened to anyone out there *PS she has 30.000mi on the clock she has her oil changed every 3.000 mi with full synthetic yamalube and yamaha filter the short one anyone know were to get the larger filter part # 5JJW-13440-00 my dealer told me thay are out there but hard to find. thanks any help is appreciated.

Fast rider,

I understand what you're saying. With the bike on the centerstand and running you see oil through the site glass when before you did not? I suggest letting the bike cool and look again, engine off. If the sight glass does not have a bubble at the top, or oil is over the top "full" indicator marks you may have too much in the crankcase.

Also, at high temperature things expand. Check again with engine cool and running after start up. I'd bet things look normal.

Typical coeff. of expansion = 0.00070/deg C

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/cubical-expansion-coefficients-d_1262.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion

Uenjoy

 

[Viper Pilot]

....... ,,,,,,,, ?????? these things may help understand what your saying!

 

[RossKean]

Change synthetic oil and filter every 3,000 miles? Please send me your used oil!

(On topic - I seriously doubt that there is anything wrong with your oil pump!)

 

[hppants]

The oil pump on the FJR is seriously stout from what I've seen on a disassembled motor. It's an amazingly simple design (maybe by choice). It can take a ton of debris and throw it without failing - way more than the screen or the filter could pass. I'd be shocked if it has a problem. If it is not working correctly (not putting out enough oil pressure), and you have the oil level within the acceptable range, then the oil pressure sensor would be tripping a light on your dash. You would also be hearing very noisy valves, as these components are farthest away from the pump, and at the highest level (i.e. - lubricating those parts takes the highest amount of pressure). There could be other problems (bushing/bearing failure for example) whereby the pump is putting out pressure, but is starting to fail. In that context, surely you would be hearing some really bad noises or feeling some really bad vibrations.

OTOH - when you engine's oiling system is working right, and the engine is running, the oil pump is sucking oil through the filter and throwing it all over your engine. You valve train at the top of the engine is experiencing a Category 3 hurricane of oil, quite literally bathing everything in copious amounts of lubrication. The volume of that oil being used to lubricate your moving parts has to come from somewhere - that would be the sump of course. Naturally, this will lower the amount of oil in the sump, transferring that volume all over your engine, and thereby lower what you can see (if anything) in the sight glass.

To put this in perspective, on my bike, the difference between the "low" and "high" mark on the sight glass is about 1/2 a quart, give or take. On a 4 1/2 quart sump (give or take), that 1/2 quart represents about 11% of the total volume of oil in the engine. From the low mark, it would only take about 2 ounces for the oil to disappear entirely from the sight glass. Since I don't have x-ray vision, I have no idea exactly how low the oil in the sump is lowered past the end of the sight glass when it is running. But theoretically, it might only be around 15% of the total volume.

But I digress....

(ahem)

Agree with Iggy - ride more, stress less....

 

[Fred W]

Your engine was very hot, so your oil was as thin as it gets. All oil gets thinner as the temperature increases. Thinner oil will return back to the sump by gravity faster than cold thick oil. Seeing or not seeing oil in the sight glass when the engine is running doesn't mean anything significant.

As for the old style longer oil filters, yes they are still out there, but since they haven't produced them in years the supply is dwindling fast. Boats.net (aka Partzilla.com) claims to still have them in stock here. If you are insistent on running $12 OE oil filters I'd recommend stocking up as they will disappear soon. I prefer to run a good quality auto filter (Purolator) with the same or better specs for about half the price, and I can pick up locally with no shipping. Of course as with all things oil related, YMMV.

 

[Heen]

Fast Ride,

Please up date us on what you found when the bike was run at cooler temps.

Fred,

I have been using the Mobil 1 M1-110 filter since it is one of the longer style filters.