Hi, I have recently took on a 1989, 883. All was well for the first day, but then the oil light came on, & now I dare not ride it. With the ignition on, if i remove the wire off the pressure switch the light remains on, & so not sure if it is an oil or sparks problem.
As this is my first bike in years, & lost touch a bit, any help/ info/ ideas, with this might get my chin off the floor. Many thanks.

This is one of the many reasons I installed an oil pressure gauge immediately, I do not trust idiot lights.

You are correct in being concerned, something is amiss if only just a sensor. Then again, putting a piece of black electrical tape over the light will stop it from annoying you.

I would make finding the cause a top priority.

Thanks for the reply. Yes a good idea with the pressure guage. I can't find anything amiss with the wiring end, but then it's been a while, & I think my brain has gone stale. I will keep looking, & have a trip down the oil pump end if I can't find anything.
Trouble with my local dealers in the uk is, if you try to pick their brains they don't want to know, unless they can have your trousers down over a simple job.

I will press on !

Hi John,
Welcome to the forum, always nice to have some new friends from the UK! How many miles do you have on the bike? Was it trashed from the old owner? If the wiring looks good and is in good shape you may want to test the sensor. Pull it out and do a visual, I don't know enough about them maybe could be clogged with gunk. Just logically thinking that if you disconnected the oil switch wire then the light would go out. Might be just the opposite light goes on if there is no current through the wires. This might be to let you know that the wire is off and to troubleshot it.

Like tourist stated your best bet is to get a oil pressure gauge and see if it in fact is bad oil pressure. Just could be your best investment. If you see that you have good oil pressure then you know it's the wiring. I would invest in the shop manual this could help you a great deal too. Sometimes you see them on ebay for cheap.

Hope this helps.

Lenny

Hi John, welcome to the forum.
John were you a bad boy on your first day of ownership? Did you run that poor old girl too hard?
First, did you check the level of the oil? You may have run it down. Top it off and test First.
IF that wasn't the problem...
Check continuity of wires, maybe one broke.
Replace Sensor or Install oil pressure gauge.
NO pressure, engine job.
Hope it helps
Lets see some pics of that UK bike.

Hi Folks, & thanks for the replies. Well I ripped a muscle in my forearm a few days before & only ran it around the block long enough to warm her up. I then let it sit there for a couple of days before I thought i would try again, and then this !
Will be looking for a gauge tomorrow. Good point about a cable break, I will have another look. Also I guess I could drop the filter off, give it a quick turnover with the plugs out, a see if I get the black stuff.
Not sure if I can get the pump off with engine still in frame, I can remember one kind that you could, but this looks a little tight. I will get the pressure switch out too.
The bike aint too bad, looks like it was somebodys pride. Showing a bit of age now, but it's still a head turner in these parts for a 22 yr old machine. Not sure if the photo will work but I had a go.

Hey lenny, I forgot, looks like 9k on the old clocks & another 7k after they had a twin cap tank, & centre clock, all the old tax discs seem to tally with that.

Well, there's your problem...

No matter what the final solution is, do not sign off on the repairs if the name "Lucas" comes up in the discussion. The old joke asks, "Why do Brits like warm beer?"

And the answer is, "Because Lucas builds refrigerators, too."

Worst case scenario, one of the HRF members has to ship you the right oil pressure gauge for your vintage (mine comes in analog and digital variety) and some easy to follow DIY instructions.

Lucas I get your drift . Well I have done a bit more today. I took out the pressure switch, & plugged it up to my airbrush compressor, & took the meter across it. A bit crude, but it said it was it was working. Chased the cable back to a relay, checked the cable, stripped the relay for inspection, a slight clean ( not that it needed it ) proved ok also. I turned the engine over, & all this black stuff started to come out of the sender hole. Of course that aint proving the pressure but may give me a bit of hope.
So I suppose tomorrow, It's time to look at the oil lines, & if that's not it, I've run out of ideas for now.

Oil's pretty black, so it want's doing anyway, just hope it's not the sodding pump, not sure I can get that out with motor in place.
The oil sender cable ( although running along the frame looking right ) seemed a little bit easy to get at, like it's it's been looked at before, & separate to the loom. Of course this could be normal ( I need a beer ) It's under cover, right now with torrential uk rain ( drizzle ).

Sounds like you're on top to things.
You might want to go and change the oil and filter first and see if that helps anything.
Keep us posted hope you get it figured out.