Service

SERVICE

JOE MINTON

Red-light district

I am having a problem with my 1500-mile, 1989 FZR 1000. After I brought the bike in for its 600-mile tuneup, I noticed it was a little sluggish. I checked everything and found that the oil level was about a half-quart too high. I changed the oil and put in the recommended 3 quarts. The bike runs better and the sight-glass oil level is right, but in hard turns, or while braking or accelerating, the oil light comes on. My dealer says not to worry, but oil lights scare me. Is overfilling the crankcase my only solution?

Neal Fiefifron

Chestnut Hill, Maine

You ore certainly right, Neal, to worry about oil lights. An engine with low oil pressure is not long for this world, especially if it is a plain-bearing engine like your FZR 1000. However, in this case, I agree with your dealer.

As long as the light does not stay on for more than a couple of seconds under braking or side loads, you need not worry about it.

You see, Yamaha doesn V put an oilpressure warning light on many of its motorcycles, including your FZR. The light you have observed is an oil-level warning light. Yamaha builds an oillevel sensor into the oil pan, and when you brake, accelerate or otherwise cause the oil to move away from the sensor, it activates the red light. The light does not mean that your engine isn't getting oil. merely that the oil /cve/ /.ç /mv at //?<? sensor.

The oil-level warning light is a convenience and could save the engine if for some reason, your FZR were to run low on lubricant. However; /6> /??r wav of thinking, an oil-pressure warning light would be a more useful addition. If your FZR's engine were to lose oil pressure, YOU would have little, if any. warning. I have repaired various engines that lost their oil pressure, and my experience indicates that the damage is always extensive.

I'd recommend that you consider finding a way to install a pressure switch in your Yamaha's oil system and connect it to the oil-level warning lamp you now have. That means you'd have to check the oil visually, but I'd trade that inconvenience for the piece of mind an oil-pressure light gives.

Impossible dream

I would like to build a liquidcooled V-Twin motorcycle, similar to the Honda Shadow or Suzuki Intruder, using only American-made parts, either aftermarket or specially ordered. Would it be possible for me to find all the components I would need to accomplish this task?

Dale Zawicki

Parma, Ohio

What you are suggesting for yourself could consume the lifetime of a talented and tireless person. Motorcycles are very complicated devices, requiring advanced technology. A new engine design will require much more than a million dollars to develop to the point where it is ready for production. No less a motorcycle engineer than Eric Buell, who is both talented and tireless. never considered designing and building an entire motorcycle. He buys the hardest part, the engine, from Harley-Davidson for his RSI 200. Further, Buell has been unable to buy forks in America, as no one here makes them.

If you want an all-American, liquidcooled, V-twin motorcycle, you might find it more rewarding to convert a Harley Evolution Sportster to liquid cooling (which would be daunting enough) and then assemble the rest yourself If building a motorcycle from the ground up was something one person could do, I assure you there would be more than one major motorcycle manufacturer in America. B3