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Hello - first post, so please be gentle! I'm recommissioning a Dart that's been off the road for the past decade or so, and hit the first milestone today when it fired up for the first time. I put 2.5l of Motul 10W-40 in there to start with, as that seems to be the accepted wisdom. However, the oil pressure light stayed on. I'm 99% sure that this will be down to the sensor, rather than actual low pressure - but is there an easy way to test this? Is there a gallery or something I can access to see if there is pressure?


Thanks all,

Errr, having looked at the wiring diagram, is there actually an oil pressure sensor anywhere? I can find the temperature and level sensors. But no pressure sensor. I suspect I may have answered my own question there - the red light is level, despite the owners manual saying it's pressure?

There is no oil pressure sensor.

The Dart would originally have had a special sump plug with level sender. You could replace the banjo for the lower oil cooler pipe with one that incorporates a sensor.

EVguru wrote: ↑01 Jun 2021 18:26 There is no oil pressure sensor.

Cool, thanks for confirming that. I'll fix the problem with a bit of duct tape over the warning light in that case!

Thanks,

Have you started it and then put it in gear?

SupermotoDave wrote: ↑01 Jun 2021 21:21 Have you started it and then put it in gear?

Not put it in gear yet while running. I've moved it up and down into first and second just wheeling it around the garage. They both appear to engage OK, so that's a small victory!

Although I'm now curious why you asked... are there any things I need to worry about? (Other than clutch drag sending me through the garage door at a rate of knots).

Ta,

There's an oil indicator lamp check circuit. It's on whilst in neutral.

And as Paul implies it’s off when in gear, so no need for the gaffa tape as that might hide it if it does come on, which you would probably want to know if you were riding .

The early bikes all had an oil pressure switch on the bottom transmission case, usefull to remove and check the state of the plain bearings by connecting up a oil pressure guage, should be 80psi when cold and around 55-60psi when hot at 2500 -3000rpm. I have a permanent oil guage fitted as all plain bearing engines should and used to have.

Hi nr,

Not sure how I missed your posts as normally I'm pretty keen on watching the dart threads. So apologies for being late to the party!..

Anyway, glad to hear you're making progress with the dart.

As already mentioned, the dart has no pressure switch, just a level sender on the sump plug (although most darts no longer have this as they are fragile)

The oil light on the dash is linked to the level sender and as mentioned already, comes on when in neutral as a warning bulb 'tell tale'.

Frankly, morinis don't use much oil unless something is seriously up, especially the nikasil barrelled ones like the darts, so the oil level sender is a bit pointless, and you still have a dipstick (although as you'll know you have to take off the right side fairing to get to it.)

The temperature gauge is plumbed in to the oil strainer cover which is a useful add-on but even with all that fairing darts don't really run hot, and even on my 501 engined dart I've never had any concerns about overheating in UK climate.

I find on my dart when its cold it takes a few minutes for the oil level light to not intermittently flicker. I suspect this is due to the relatively thick oil I use and the fact that when on its sidestand more oil will be over the left side.

On my 501 because I was worried about oil pressure I added a pressure sensor banjo to one of the oil cooler lines, and wired that in place of the (frankly a bit pointless) side stand warning light, so I have pressure, level and temperature warning on mine. Not that (thankfully) I've ever needed any of them.