Oil pressure warning light ON...!?!

[Steven Northrop]

I hope it's not the beginning of the dreaded (and well known) #3 conrod
bearing failure. As the bearing fails, the increased clearance between the
connecting rod bearing and the crank pin cause the drop in oil pressure. The
change in the mechanical sound of the engine makes me suspect. When you
change the oil, check for silver metal flakes in it. If found, this is
bearing material and will signify impending bearing failure. Good Luck.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com] On
Behalf Of GPZ1100ABS
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 1:48 PM
To: Steve Northrop
Subject: Oil pressure warning light ON...!?!

I'm a little bit troubled to say at least.

After completing the winter overhaul I had the engine started for the first
time since November. It fired right up and ran smoothly at fast idle. After
a minute or so the mechanical sound of the engine changed a little bit - not
much,  just barely noticeable. It was not rattling or noisy or anything,
just a little bit different. Not from the top end, more like a change in the
crank case. Not overly concerned I decided to take it for a spin on the
suburban road, just a couple of hundred meters. During this the oil pressure
warning light flashed a couple of times, then a couple more times at a
longer duration, then finally it came on permanently. I stopped to check for
oil leaks and found none, plenty of oil in the engine. Fired it up again,
the red light remained on, shut down again.

Of course I should have changed the oil and the filter before putting her
away for the winter. On the other hand the oil quality should not degrade so
much during winter as to cause engine failure at startup months later?

I have drained the oil and taken the filter out. Tomorrow I'll put in a new
filter and add fresh oil and see if the problem remains. But given the
little change in the sound of the engine I fear that something mechanical
has happened.

The only work I have done on the engine this winter was valve adjustment
- something I have done more than a dozen times, and I didn't drop anything
in the crank case nor left any piece of cloth or anything else in the top
end. So what could it be? Can the oil pump quit all of a sudden? Any ideas?
The engine has run 158.000 km (almost 100.000 miles), but last year it was
still running smooth and with low to moderate oil consumption (approx. 1
liter pr. 10.000 km)

Ped
'96 Black Stealth" GPZ
Denmark

PS: Fortunately I have George's engine sitting in the garage, but I'd like
this one to run just a little bit longer...
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