Oil Pressure Switch Replacement

[Kookaburra]

Replaced my low oil pressure switch 12 months ago with a pattern switch. It has just started to leak. SAeems to be around the thread/crush washer. I have gone the plumbers tape route and will see how it holds up.  

[rev_mook]

Sorry to bring this thread back to the top, but my oil pressure switch is also leaking!  It seems like it is leaking through the switch, not around the threads.  I'll need to order a new part.

So, dumb question.  Do I need to drain the sump when replacing this part?  Can I just lay the bike on it's side?

~B

[montmil]

Lay the bike over on it's right side. Doesn't have to be completely horizontal. You won't lose any oil.

[Luca]

I replaced mine recently too and left the bike standing straight up.  It only dribbled the little bit that was in the oil passage that feeds the switch.  I did spin the engine for oil pressure before letting it run under its own power again.

[Semper Gumby]

Has anybody just binned the switch and replaced it with an oil pressure gage.  I have this problem (again) and am are tired of throwing good money after bad.  

[Luca]

A mechanical gauge mounted up at the handlebars would have a greater potential to leak with all the plumbing to get the oil there.  Mounted down on the engine it's not a very good warning device.

An electric oil pressure gauge would use a sending unit, which is pretty much the same thing as our our oil pressure switch except that it has a varistor in it instead of a binary switch.

It's not really a matter of the design, but the manufacturing quality.  The thing to do would be to find a higher quality switch with the same threads (not a common size) and an equal or higher trip pressure.  I've heard legends of such a switch, but never got the part number  :-/

[Bob_Roller]

I looked into this a few years ago, I don't have the paperwork on it right now, but if I remember correctly, a gauge and sending unit were around $50 US, this was 5 years ago .
The company is eGauges.com .

[Barry]

I'm currently reading Ted Simons book 'Dreaming of Jupiter' where he rides around the world for the 2nd time on BMW. After 35,000 miles It's been incredibly reliable but guess what; the oil pressure switch leaked so bad he had to take it out and put a brass plug in to stop the leak.

[Tony Smith]

I looked into this a few years ago, I don't have the paperwork on it right now, but if I remember correctly, a gauge and sending unit were around $50 US, this was 5 years ago .
The company is eGauges.com .

This is my queue to say that I am messing about with getting "copies" made of a BMW accessory instrument pod made in blow-mold plastic. I have a pod which cannot be satisfactorily repaired and I intend to use it as a model. The problem is that whilst I have access to a blow-molding plant, thermoset plastic has significantly less structural strength than the industrial resin the original article was made from which requires extensive redesign of the mold. The secondary problem may be that by the time I can get enough structural strength in thermoset, the finished article might look just a little "silly", or have no worthwhile service life. I was really hoping to use thermoset as a friend owns a thermoset blow mold plant (he makes bottles and jars) and would let me use his left over plastic prior to weekend shutdown to make as many pods as I can - especially if I do not care if they are clear, green, white or orange.
 
As a long term project I may cast up some in industrial resin but  the  minimum quantity of the stuff I can buy will make about 100 pods and if I put any allowance for time casting them one by one, the price will be not cheap whereas if i can get the thermoset idea working, they will be giveaways.

[Ed Miller]

You should just have one machined out of aluminum.  Paint it black if you wish.

[Tony Smith]

You should just have one machined out of aluminum.  Paint it black if you wish.

Of course I could do that, and given that I will shortly own a universal milling machine, I could do it myself. But it is not repeatable, whereas if I am successful with a blow-mold, I can knock out a few and given them to people who want one. I've always regarded a voltmeter as a useful addition to any motorcycle.