New Insurance Policy - Oil Level Warning Light

[Eveready1100]

Threw the tank & seat back on in preparation of pulling the pipes & sump tomorrow. Ran the sensor wire to an underseat earth until that gets done. While checking that all my other wiring was still intact, I  noticed that due to the relay taking a moment to energise when the ignition is turned on, you get a momentary flash of the warning light which shows that the bulb is working.
 Hey, isn't that a self test??
 Unexpected bonus!!

[steptoe]

love your work

[Eveready1100]

I've gotten a bit done this week with all the wiring now done and a dummy run done using the sensor.
All's well in that department. Here's how it went..........


 ^ Selected a suitable site for the relay. I then sourced a switched & fused power feed wire for the infeeds for the relay ( terminals 30 & 86 in the relay packet photo above). I just joined the two together as there's no real load on the circuits at all. The relay's coil ground wire (#85) went to the sensor and the power output (#87) went to the reserve light unit's old connector (Light green wire, centre bottom of the 6 pin plug). I don't know if it would work with the reserve lighting unit in place just by splicing it into the wire but that'd be worth trying.


 ^ The now defunct headlight failure warning light.


 ^ Removed the cover to swap bulbs


 ^ Installed first locally sourced red LED bulb. Bit disappointed with the brightness as I wanted a real "in your face" warning light but have now sourced a 1.5 watt LED to improve the power output.


 ^ As it sits now. A nice red glow, but too dull for good daytime illumination.


 ^ Relay in its nearly completed state. Just have to put a heatshrink sheath on that top terminal to avoid any shorting out possibility.

Now, I'm just setting myself to pull the exhausts (again) and swap sumps over the weekend.
I will get out the measuring spoons and check everything with both sumps side by side on the floor.
Stay tuned!

[Eveready1100]

I took my sump over to Geoff's place on saturday morning to show it off and he noticed the marks on the bottom of the sump under where the oil pump pickup sits. I notice yours has the same faint swirly circle in the middle of the pan just below where the connector plug is sitting in your photo. Any theories on what might cause that?
The sensors opposite to the norm workings caused a bit of a worry until that relay type was pointed out to me. I didn't know they existed in that form, but now I know. The one I bought is a massive case of overkill as far as the loads are involved but the price seemed right to me.
My plan is to utilise the connectors where the Reserve lighting unit used to hook into the harness and fit a bright red led where the (now defunct) white headlight warning light resides. this way, I'm not modifying any part of the main harness. Just the add on bits which have already been altered.

Hobbsy, personally I'm not keen on the ACCT in that they progressively tighten up the chain with no going back till you physically reset it. My view is that they could put extra tension on the guides as the chain expands when hot an maybe getting a click of adjusment, then as the chain cools and shrinks, it'd tighten down on the guides as the tensioner will hold its new position. Just my personal view, but then I'm looking at it with a view of mechanical sympathy.

[hobbsy84]

May have to look a little further into this one, its certainly better to be safe than sorry when it comes to oil level. Not a fan of getting off and walking home... Guess it can go on the list along with changing over to an automatic cam chain tensioner, eh?

[excess.11]

Holy Shit Errol....................thats uncanny...........
Here i was coming home from work today ..............wondering......how Evs going with that sump/oil level setup.
And lo and behold...................there s your post..............fricken spooky......




and you know whats even spookier???
Look what came in the post for me today aswell.....!!!

[petejw1966]

1st ive seen on this thread,
what a good idea.

[Eveready1100]

Bit of an update on my project. Received the sump on Friday and between nightshifts, started planning the details...


^ Inside view of the recess for the sensor unit. I'd guess at about 200ml in capacity lost due to it.


^ Where the sensor protrudes


^ Top edge of sensor is approx 20mm above sump gasket level, which brings it in line with the bottom of the window, so it will show low level when you have a sump of oil left, which should be enough to save your motor.


^ Sensor unit is a simple float affair which switches as soon as the float comes away from the top of the unit.........but............
 due to the XJ1100 having a computer module in the dash that carries out all sorts of self tests at startup and while running, Yamaha have designed the unit to go open circuit when the sensor triggers instead of the normal closed circuit, like most warning lights etc. But all is not lost! After a quick discussion with my pet electrician at work, I purchased one of these dual mode relays, which can be set for either open or closed circuit operation at a cost of $15. This will be set to close the contacts for the warning light when the oil sensor goes open circuit and unloads the relay.


^ Relay unit

This will make the wiring a little more complicated but should still install pretty easily.
I'll have a crack at it this week between shifts and keep a pictorial step by step for anyone interested.

[steptoe]

you have been thinking haven,t you,, love the end result

[excess.11]

[Eveready1100]

Had one of those moments this morning, Jeff. I realised i no longer use the headlight warning light on the guage cluster due to the HID headlight so I could slot a nice bright red LED in that holder and revamp the wiring to suit.

[Eveready1100]

I like it!

[excess.11]

Errol....to avoid having another globe to add somewhere on the bike.....you could use a tricolour LED installed where the existing oil pressure globe sits.

As the plastic filters the colour to red on the existing globe.....by replacing it with the LED.....retain the red for the pressure..and use the blue...to make purple for the "level".

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=ZD0012

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=ZD0270

[Eveready1100]

It's an oil level sensor. When the oil level comes below the top of the sensor, it triggers.
Also, according to the XJ owners handbook, the oil capacity is 3.5 litres with a filter change so is supposed to be the same as an XS. Hmmmmm......maybe a tad less, I think

[Eveready1100]

I haven't got any specific data on them, Jeff. I did a fair bit of reading on the dot com site from owners over there and i haven't found any reports of false readings. I did read that the XJ's warning light comes on before the level reaches the bottom of the window, so should be ok for my desired purpose.
The sump is a direct bolt on though it may hold slightly less oil due to the big recess where the sensor is fitted. And to answer your final question, you can probably see why I didn't want to try adapting the original sump in these pics


 ^ original sump


 ^ XJ sump , note recess for sender unit