Low Oil Light On

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V4Al

V4Al

Joined
May 1, 2022
Messages
93
Location
Chicago, IL
Took the V4R out for a short ride today, and I do mean short - went about 1/4 mile total, just so I could bring it somewhere photogenic. I noticed when I fired it up, the low oil light was lit on the dash, and it stayed on for the duration of the ride. I checked the sight-glass with the bike level, and the oil level seemed fine. Is this just a matter of the bike having sat for a while (about 6 days), and never getting warmed up enough? Perhaps just a Ducati quick I need to get used to? Or a symptom of a more sever issue? There's no oil patch where I was parked, and no signs of leaks.
 
Its not a oil quantity light. Its an oil pressure light.

The bike needs to sit with the engine off for two hours before you check the level, which you do so with the bike upright. Overfilled is bad too.

Do you have an OBD-II device where you can see if its making oil pressure?
 
I can’t believe you let bike run / idle with oil light on and let alone take it for a quarter mile ride! Refer to Shazaam’s highlighted part of the post but in all bad news there may be some good news. You can also have oil pressure sensor failure or electrical problem and enough actual oil pressure to not cause engine damage but with out knowing what is the issue it’s not worth of gambling game!
 
Last edited:
bp_SFV4 said:
Its not a oil quantity light. Its an oil pressure light.

The bike needs to sit with the engine off for two hours before you check the level, which you do so with the bike upright. Overfilled is bad too.

Do you have an OBD-II device where you can see if its making oil pressure?
Click to expand...
Yup I should mention that when I checked the oil level, it was indeed with the bike upright and fairly level, before I started the ride and it had sat overnight. The level did seem fine to me, but I'd say it was like 3/4 of the way to the top. No OBD2 device unfortunately.
 
Bo13R said:
I can’t believe you let bike run / idle with oil light on and let alone take it for a quarter mile ride! Refer to Shazaam’s highlighted part of the post but in all bad news there may be some good news. You can also have oil pressure sensor failure or electrical problem and enough actual oil pressure to not cause engine damage but with out knowing what is the issue it’s not worth of gambling game!
Click to expand...

Tomorrow morning I'm going to start it up again and just let it warm up in the garage, see what happens with that light. PO gave me a pretty thorough rundown of the bike during delivery and it didn't come up then, while we had the bike fired up. I'm hoping I'm misremembering today somehow.
 
If it was my bike, I'd trailer the bike to somewhere that could run a diagnostic on the oil pressure sensor. I wouldn't take a chance on running the engine.

Hope you get it resolved.
 
V4Al said:
Tomorrow morning I'm going to start it up again and just let it warm up in the garage, see what happens with that light.
Click to expand...

What part of ...

"Important: If the ENGINE OIL light stays ON stop the engine or it may suffer severe damage."

... don't you understand?
 
V4Al said:
Tomorrow morning I'm going to start it up again and just let it warm up in the garage, see what happens with that light. PO gave me a pretty thorough rundown of the bike during delivery and it didn't come up then, while we had the bike fired up. I'm hoping I'm misremembering today somehow.
Click to expand...

You can check the oil pressure sending unit on the right side of the bike near the ABS unit. The connector is labeled P.OIL and its easy to check. I'm pretty sure you can check it by just removing the lower fairing.

1651756084142.png
 
bp_SFV4 said:
You can check the oil pressure sending unit on the right side of the bike near the ABS unit. The connector is labeled P.OIL and its easy to check. I'm pretty sure you can check it by just removing the lower fairing.

View attachment 42365
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'll break out the multi-meter for that sensor and see what's up. If the sensor is in fact faulty, I think I want part# 53940302A, is that right? I'm seeing a couple different versions of that part on Google, looks like sometimes its just the sensor itself and sometimes an entire assembly. Any trusted sources you can recommend ordering from?
edit: And are these sensors normally open or closed?

TIA.
 
Last edited:
Shazaam! said:
What part of ...

"Important: If the ENGINE OIL light stays ON stop the engine or it may suffer severe damage."

... don't you understand?
Click to expand...

In order to see "If the ENGINE OIL light stays ON" when the engine is running, I'd need the engine running.

"...but must turn off a few seconds after the engine has started." seems to confirm that I do indeed need to fire up that engine.

Looks like I understand it just fine. I'll be sure not to keep it running too long though, let alone ride it around.
 
the oem diagrams are available at ducati omaha. the 2021 v4 shows 53940302A. if you look at the physical switch, it is stamped 1.95-2.4 bar or atmospheres which is 30ish psi. typically single wire sensors sensors go to ground, but you'll have to feed your switch 30psi plus to test it.
 
Rats, I haven't got access to a compressor anymore unfortunately. I was thinking that testing continuity would be sufficient, but either way I'd need to know if they are NC or NO right?
 
I don't have my fairings off right now, otherwise I could hit it with a meter and see. I think the best thing would be to read it from the CANBus. If your bike is new and still under warranty, I'd get the dealer to check it.
 
The picture of the generic 8 dollar switch shows a single pin and the V2 owners manual wiring diagram shows the housing being the ground.

tomlogic tells me that it is closed from zero to the number range stamped on the aftermarket switch...or close to it.

a bicycle pump would work. Probably a dud switch since your motor didn't .... the bed.. but test it before you start the bike again or trailer to said dealer.
 
Slightly off topic but the wiring is pretty interesting. The body of it is grounded and the signal/+ comes right off of the dash. The last car I really worked on outside of wheel bearings, brake and stuff like that was a 1979 Trans Am. CANBus is a different animal.
 
Agreed. My owners manual electrical schematic shows 'earthed' so definitely not a digital item.
 
Being that it’s just one pin it’s likely just a switch. Closed when the engine is off, open when it’s on and getting pressure. I wonder if there’s a sending unit elsewhere that detects the actual pressure.
 
Probably. I have a car with a VDO dual sending unit for the ..... light then for the gauge. It also has an oil temp sensor to limit the cam timing change with relation to the oils temperature.

Speaking of TAs...i thought this is a criminal offense. Lol. Wtf
 

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Ah. I was under the impression that even these simple switches can be NC or NO, it just depends on how the internal diaphragm is designed to react when the target PSI is reached.
 

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