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[xjackx]

I had the 5,000 mile service done last week at my local dealership. Saturday morning we left for Rolling Thunder and appx. 100 miles out, the oil pressure begins to fall. Pressure was about 20psi at 2800 RPM's so I pulled off and called the service manager.
His response was it was probably the gauge and is I don't see any lights on or flashing, I should be OK.
After a gas stop, the pressure would be 34PSI for about 15 miles then it would begin to drop down to 16PSI.
On the way home yesterday, pressure held at 32-34PSI for hundreds of miles but then as the ambient temp. got higher the pressure dropped to just below 20PSI.
When I got home I checked the oil level, which was fine, but noticed the oil to be darker than the 4000 mile oil and the dip stick brown like it was cooked.
(Never experienced this on my other bikes.)
3 weeks ago I went to Orlando, rode faster in much hotter conditions and the pressure was probably 34-36PSI.
My immediate thought was the dealer put something other than synthetic oil in the engine and once the oil reached a certain temp.,it just broke down.
I am thinking about having the oil tested to see if it's synthetic.
I would appreciate any theories and suggestions on how to approach with the dealer.
Thanks.

 

[hdctss]

had exactly the same problem with my '07 cuse2.  rode it with the problem for a while, the dealer never could figure it out.  I got fed up, traded it in, and 12 days after I traded it for my '09 cuse4, while the gm of the dealership was riding it, the oil pump failed due to the crank failing.  good luck convincing everybody there is something wrong.  I do know that the dealer got the motor company to pay for the repair...so they must know something is wrong.

[grc]

What he said.

It is highly unlikely that using dino oil rather than synthetic would have the effect you are seeing, unless they also used the wrong weight as well.  I suppose if they threw 10W30 in it it might lose pressure once it got up to full operating temp, but a 20W50 dino oil versus a 20W50 synthetic wouldn't give you those symptoms.  BTW, dino oil doesn't "break down" in 100 miles, and when it does get cooked it normally gets thicker, not thinner, as the lighter fractions are boiled/burned off.

Best idea I can recommend is to have a mechanical pressure gauge installed with a "T" fitting at the sending unit for the bike's gauge.  That way if the gauge is failing it will read low but the mechanical gauge will continue to read normal pressure.  If both gauges read low, you may rest assured that you really do have an oil pressure problem.  Lately the most common cause for that would be as noted in the  previous post, oil pump damage. Once you verify the pressure really is dropping, don't let them put you off.  Continuing to ride with a possibly bad crankshaft and oil pump could cause the engine to lock up. 

Jerry

[AXIL]

  I agree with grc. most oil pump failures that i have seen were from broken lifters, bearings and most of all........
 broken or worn out pump gears from excessive pinion shaft run out.     axil