Boxerworks.com

Hi all-
Purchased my 1995 Mystic June 2021- 'joined up' said hello and I keep up with the posts here.
Love the bike ride fairly often; mostly short rides- accumulated around 2,500 miles so far.
I've had a couple things fail fixed them all good. Went for a 30-40 mile ride Monday all A-OK.
Tuesday (yesterday) rolled it out of the garage fired it up wanting to enjoy one of the
(few remaining?)nice October days here in Michigan-motor ran 5-8 seconds and oil light stayed on.
Not something that has happened before. And yikes! Shut it off, tried again-same.

What should I look for, check, do etc... thanks in advance

Russ

Are you sure it was the oil light? Not sure of the exact arrangement on your bike, but sometimes the charge light and oil light can be confused.

Kurt

yes so very sure

Question 1 - is there any oil in it?
If not, add oil

Question 2 - Did the bike have a recent oil filter service?
Could be a wrongly installed o-ring or filter.

To check the oil light circuit (with the bike not running) disconnect the wire at the oil pressure switch the light should go out.
The switch is located in the left lower engine block just rearwards of the pushrod tube.
The light should go on if you ground that wire to the block and go off with the wire disconnected.
If the light stays on with the wire disconnected, you have a short circuit somewhere.

if the light functions properly...

To test the actual oil pressure switch, you have to remove it. The switch terminal and the switch body should have electrical continuity as it sits, and open circuit when you press something (like a blunt nail) into the hole in the end of switch.

To check for oil pressure, if you don't have a oil pressure gauge, crank the motor over with the spark plugs out and grounded and see if oil squirts out of the hole where the switch was. Put a towel or something in front of the hole, this can get real messy, it can squirt pretty far.
Another way to check for oil pressure, remove a valve cover and start the engine, oil should drip out of the upper rocker arm blocks.

Post back and we'll take it a step further if all the above doesn't help solve the problem

1 yes, normal
2 no

I will follow up add reply

As GSPD says, first check the oil light circuit. If that checks out, panic!

Seriously, though, if the oil light stays on don't be even tempted to run the engine for more than a few seconds...

Rob

to continue my reply to gspd

checked oil light circuitry and it works properly

removed switch and it also works properly, but it seemed glitchy at first...
(maybe just my imagination) but cleaned it up used a multimeter and a q-tip stick
to plunge switch in- it is functioning correctly

before I check for oil pressure (using the pressure switch hole)
I will need to finish an oil change-I drained the oil before I saw gspd's reply

I'm 67 years old have changed oil on cars and motorcycles (and more)
hundreds of times (really!) but I still have some questions before I finish
reassembly of filter cover.

oh, and Rob F thanks but I'm not panicking yet and I do know better but thanks for reminder not to run it more

I want to ask questions about assembly of filter cover during oil change-
should I ask on this thread or start a new one?
used search function here and also google search
but still would like some experienced feedback before
I put together

Here's a couple of past threads to get you started:

viewtopic.php?p=133492#p133492

viewtopic.php?p=127926

It's all about the depth of the filter canister. Once you know that, then you the proper order of parts can be recommended to properly squish the large white o-ring for good sealing.

Kurt

Hi Kurt
I read thru both threads, very helpful I have gained much understanding and nearly all my questions are answered - thanks so much!

I purchased a couple filter kits from EME soon after bike purchase (I like to have on hand) the EnDuraLast one -pn 'OF 575'

upon disassembly a OE BMW filter came out everything looked good

there was no shim under the white o-ring and no paper gasket for the cover

the filter that came out and my replacements are all the hinged style, but there are no obstruction to use a non hinged

Does it matter which I use? And also what about the 'missing' metal spacer under the white o-ring

it seemed to work ok like that, the used white o-ring was flattened on both sides-not 'O' anymore

based in that it seems (to me) unnecessary to shim and flatten it more