oil pressure gauge install

[snarleybill08]

it was in the 70's here to day and i went for a good ride with the 5w-40 rotella t synthetic. just as i thought the oil pressure is still way up there. my conclusion is the pressure relief valve is set at 75 psi. thats the highest reading i get. very high for any engine. i think the reason is the valve adjusters are so small in diameter that it takes a high pressure to keep them pumped up. apparently it won't hurt anything or mamma kaw would have lowered it years ago. from my observation so far any oil heavier than 10W- 40 would be less than benificial for this engine., no matter how hot the ambient temp. is. this ain't gospel just my opinion. the lowest idle pressure i got was slightly over 25 psi. at 1000 rpm. very acceptable. guess i will just have to live with this off the map oil pressure. it's better than the alternative. lol. bill

[macmac]

Originally Posted by snarleybill08

hey mac and doc, i have always been a low viscosity oil advocate. i run 10w-30 mobil1 energy conserving in my wing, and, z-x 14. alot of guys are running mobil1 5w- 20 in there zx-14 and busa dragbikes for less drag and more horsepower. when you are running .001 to .0015 rod and main bearing clearance. thick oil just don't cut it. won't use the energy conserving in my nomad after hearing all the clutch slip issues. but never had a clutch issue after years of use with my other bikes. bill

I am not that familar with wings, but had the idea they used a single clutch plate and it ran dry like a car. BMW bikes are that way so far as I know.

If you use EC oils in a bike with a wet clutch it won't be long before you cry in yer beer!

[macmac]

Originally Posted by Doc (Lonewolf)

Your right mac. Im going to the Mobil-1 10W-40 racing oil at wally world this time. Its $9 a qt but only need 3 and some left over oil. Full syn.

Doc Mobil 1 switched everything around and I can't buy the oil I told you about anymore, so I bought the same oil you told me about.. Every for car Mobil 1 I saw was EC oil, other than the V Twin which I saw for the first time and no 20-50 for a bike either.

I would not have bought the 20/50 anyway.

[snarleybill08]

Originally Posted by macmac

I am not that familar with wings, but had the idea they used a single clutch plate and it ran dry like a car. BMW bikes are that way so far as I know.

If you use EC oils in a bike with a wet clutch it won't be long before you cry in yer beer!

mac, the wing has a multidisc wet clutch. been using energy conserving in all my bikes for years. never had a clutch issue. this nomad is the first one i have ever tried non energy conserving on, because of all the things i have heard about the weak clutch spring. every one keeps talking about not using energyconserving on the wing site and our venture site but i have never heard of anyone having an oil related clutch problem to back it up over there. i used it from day one in my venture and the same in my wing. no clutch problems what so ever. both bike i bought new.bill

snarleybill,interesting stuff, but I have a different aspect for you.
kawasaki state oil pressure should be at least 55 lbs/psi at 5000 rpm.
theres no other numbers in the manual either higher OR lower.

I've had an oil pressure gauge on the nomad for over 5 years now and I tend to agree (mostly) with you apart from idle pressure.

when I first start the bike, pressure will be around 25psi from cold at idle, as high as 80psi at 2000 and above. half an hour later that pressure is down to 55 @2000 and as low as 12 at idle.
(I do have the idle set at 850)

I'm not convinced about going to 10w oil.

[snarleybill08]

Originally Posted by sunnybob

snarleybill,interesting stuff, but I have a different aspect for you.
kawasaki state oil pressure should be at least 55 lbs/psi at 5000 rpm.
theres no other numbers in the manual either higher OR lower.

I've had an oil pressure gauge on the nomad for over 5 years now and I tend to agree (mostly) with you apart from idle pressure.

when I first start the bike, pressure will be around 25psi from cold at idle, as high as 80psi at 2000 and above. half an hour later that pressure is down to 55 @2000 and as low as 12 at idle.
(I do have the idle set at 850)

I'm not convinced about going to 10w oil.

i have my idle set at 1000 rpm. on gadget site he said they may go as high as 100 psi when cold. guess there is a difference in bikes. mine is low mileage so clearances are probably still tight.

although mine is now 9 years old, it was a garage queen for several years due to a company vehicle so it only has 28,000 miles now.

If I recall correctly, the 1500 has white metal main bearings, same as the 800, so if thats the case then I'm happier with the extra psi.

what I have found from other riders is that a swap to pure synthetic often produces oil leaks that were not there before they swapped.
At least 2 friends swapped back to semi-synthetic to make the oil leaks go away ::)

[dogdoc]

Yep mac, I hope I like the Mobil-1 V-twin 10W-40 racing full syn oil,, let me know.