Topic: Oil Pressure??? CB500

[Kenzo1979]

OK, Please read through and hopefully someone can give me a pretty definitive response...

Liitle back story:  Rebuilt the engine on a '71 500 two winters ago.  Had trouble seating the tensioner in that slot at the bottom of the case, following the manual's orders.  Manual says to put the tensioner in after the cylinders are on.  Well, that was nearly impossible.  Wound up putting the tensioner in, torquing the head bolts down, undoing the nuts (because I felt in my heart and mind that tensioner was not in right), popping the cyl's off, trying to reposition the tensioner in that slot to no avail again, retorquing, unscrewing, blah blah blah...  Wasn't until after the 3rd time I did this that I said to myself, "screw the manual, I'm gonna pop the cylinders off, put the tensioner in, then put the cylinders on over it...PERFECT!  No thanks to you Hayne's!  But thanks for everything else.

Ok, so rode the bike last season, it was fine.  Here is where my oil pressure indication interrogation comes in:  When I started the bike, indicator is ON (Lit up) at Idle.  Pop it in gear start moving, light goes out.  Come to a light, stop the bike, idling, light comes back on.  Question 1:  Is this how the indicator is supposed to function?  I would assume, YES, because the faster the rotations, the more pressure the oil pump would put out, right?  Moving on...

This season I noticed a tiny bit of oil, like a teaspoon or half on my fins right under the head gasket on the leftside of the engine.  I'm sure it's from cranking that new head gasket on and off four freakin times berore I got the tensioner set right, so this winter I'll probably replace it.  Agreed?  If so, Question 2:  Do I have to replace the paper gasket under the cylinders as well, or just the Head Gasket?

Lastly, and I'm guessing this is probably in relation to the head gasket weeping issue, I've noticed new behavior in the oil pressure indicator.  The Light comes on at start, at idle.  Pop it in gear, it goes out, same as above, EXCEPT...now when the bike gets warmed up, say 10-15 minutes into riding, it stays ON even when in gear and doesn't go out until the RPM's are above let's say about 4500.  So, Question 3:  Does this new Oil Pressure Indicator behavior seem like it's doing it's job in what it's telling me?

Thanks everyone.  Looking forward to your input.

[dave500]

your oil pressure sender unit is buggered,just get a new one,replace both gaskets,make sure the top of the barrel and the head surface are flat,slightly chamfer the oil passage hole in the head,yep,they go together better by dangling the tensioner in the barrel,i like to have the sump of to make sure its gone into its locating slot properly.

[Kenzo1979]

Cool, thanks.

[crazypj]

Sounds like you have it wired to neutral switch?

[Kenzo1979]

Nah, if there's one thing right on my bikes it's the wiring.  The light stays on at idle regardless of being in neutral or in gear, it's just not until I get it going and get the RPM's up that it goes off.  I just left that out of my original post to keep it simple and slightly less wordy.

[crazypj]

Have you checked the sump pick up?
If that's clean it has to be the switch or pressure relief valve stuck
I would be a bit worried as it's only 4psi switch and mounted directly on top of pump