My bike has 1150 miles on it, and this the third OPS switch!

I purchased this bike from a private party this past July, it had very low mileage when I bought it, and about a week later - I went to go for a ride - and the oil light stayed on. (You know the feeling, the payment book just came in the mail, your heart pounds, you hear voices in the back of you head, that sound a lot like your wife......).

Once you get your heart rate back to normal, common sense kicks in, you figure that you can troubleshoot the problem, and then your really jazzed, whey you figure out it's a 12 buck part - no biggie.

No problem right?

Well @*&#_? No!

Life isn't that easy! No way. A week later the replacement switch fails, and after you get over the fact that your heart just dropped thru your wallet...

So here we go again, replace the switch and all is right with the world once again....

Afterwords, I read about that others are having this problem, and me being the bright and smart person that I am, see that someone recommends replacing the OPS with a Accel part. I'm thinking, OK others have gone before me...

When I get the Accel switch, the first thing I notice is WOW! You can use a "real" OPS socket to replace this! This is just about as good as "tits on a ritz!" Damn I jazzed....

I had planned on starting my 883/1200 upgrade today, however after I rechecked the pistons, figured out that they didn't set the ring gap like they said they would.

Since the weather was nice, I went for a ride and had a blast.... After a couple of hours I stopped for coffee, and noticed when I restarted the bike, the oil light didn't come on when I had the key on. Did the usual visual/wiggle test - no changes, so at the point I make a note to myself to accept it, and just make a monthly budget line entry for a new OPS....Recalled that I had the new Accel swith at home, figured I'd swap that out later.

I pride myself on using the right tool for the job, yet if you haven't replaced your OPS, you will find their is only one tool that will fit - Channel locks!.

Remember when I said I was jazzed that the Accel switch used a standard OPS socket? Well, guess what, didn't help a bit! Of course I had the old switch out, and trying to install the new switch, laying on my back, with oil dripping all over the place... Of course, I can't get the damn switch to line up, and it reminds me when your service the rear end in your car, and end up with gear oil running down your arm...... Gave up on the OPS socket, and used "channel locks"!!!!!

Life should not be this hard . . .

The oil light came on, on my wife's bike on our maiden ride from the dealership. We stopped. Sat for about 10 minutes as I called the dealer on my cell to report it. Started back up and it hasnt given us a problem since.

I had the same problem on my '03. First day I got it, got it towed to the dealership. Didn't want to take a risk with a bad oil pump. They replaced the oil sending unit and has been fine since then. I have heard that this is a common problem. Gamhill, your problem sounds like an electrical system problem rather than with the OPS. I suspect that you are frying the OPS's rather than the parts being faulty. Hopefully it's still under warranty.

one thought would be to ditch the idiot light and install a pressure guage , if ya can put in the sending unit you can do the guage thing , its just as simple

then ya know the real pressure insted of waiting for a light to tell ya something is wrong , but not what

:tour Sounds alot like my story. I bought my used 2004 xl1200c about a month ago. I asked the guy (2nd owner) is there were any problems and he said the only problem he had was he noticed a couple of drops of oil on the garage floor one day. The dealer ended up replacing the leaking oil pressure switch.

Test rode the bike and everything was fine. In addition, the bike was still under warranty so I wasn't too worried.

So I buy the bike. I had to ride it about 40 miles to get home. Well, after a few minutes on the freeway the oil light comes on. I can't believe it. :eek:

So, I pull off and read the manual he provided with the bike. Check the oil and it is low! Unbelievable! :yikes :yikes So I pull off at the next exit and wife goes in car (she gave me a ride to pick up the bike) to get oil. Had to add diesel motor oil as the manual specifies because HD oil wasn't available.

Fill to the proper level and hit the road. All is OK for a few minutes and then the light comes on again! Check the oil one more time just for good measure and the level is good. Decide to ignore it for the rest of the ride praying I won't regret that decision. :frownthre :frownthre

Made it home OK and changed to Syn3 right away. I really haven't ridden much since then but we'll see if the light returns. Sounds like this an extremely problematic part. As the manual describes its function, it doesn't seem too complicated.

As a side note, I called the guy after returning home to let him know he left me short on oil. He claims he checked it just the week before. As we talked I realized he checked the oil wrong. He stood the bike staight up when checking the oil. :frownthre The manual says on the jiffy stand! Anyway, he used to have a 02 and said he always checked it that way.

Not the greated 1st Harley/motorcycle experience. (Did I mention it was pooring rain?) Either way, I was grinning from ear to ear after salivating over HDs throughout college.

Kevin

So I pull off at the next exit and wife goes in car (she gave me a ride to pick up the bike) to get oil. Had to add diesel motor oil as the manual specifies because HD oil wasn't available.
...
Made it home OK and changed to Syn3 right away.Just for future reference any high temperature 20w50 dinosaur oil can be used if you're running dino oil, the manual recommends diesel oil because it's usually rated for higher temperatures. Also any 20w50 or 15w50 synthetic can be used if you're running syn. Mobil1 15w50 runs great in the engine and the primary (it's rated for high temps) and costs less than half of what HD branded oil will cost you.

Gary

Just for future reference any high temperature 20w50 dinosaur oil can be used if you're running dino oil, the manual recommends diesel oil because it's usually rated for higher temperatures. Also any 20w50 or 15w50 synthetic can be used if you're running syn. Mobil1 15w50 runs great in the engine and the primary (it's rated for high temps) and costs less than half of what HD branded oil will cost you.

Gary

Thanks for the information Gary. That explains it...I wasn't quite sure at the time why diesal motor oil was recommended by the manual. On the ride home it was about 38deg so I was also wondering if the diesel oil didn't good enough flow properties during cold temps. (My oil light would sometimes come on dim like there was some resistance to ground but not hard ground indicating the fully closed position of the switch)

If I get in a pinch again I'll add at 20w50 or 15w50 syn...

Kevin