Intermittent warning indicator - <!> (2007 RT)

In the past week, the indicator Oil < ! > on my 2007 RT has been coming on periodically. It seems to come on when I'm stopped on a slight downhill. Rebooting the bike clears it up. The normal oil indicator - Oil √ - comes on normally.

The oil has under 3200 miles on it. The oil level and color appear normal through the sight glass. There are no obvious oil puddles in my garage. And the nice weather around Boston recently hasn't subjected the bike to any temp extremes.

Any idea what might cause that to come on, then go off when I restart the bike? Am I risking a major blowout by riding it right now? Thanks!

i dunno, but i don't think its wise not to take an oil warning seriously

i'm sure you checked the level but pressure & temp are also factors.

greggsnider said:

In the past week, the indicator Oil < ! > on my 2007 RT has been coming on periodically. It seems to come on when I'm stopped on a slight downhill. Rebooting the bike clears it up. The normal oil indicator - Oil √ - comes on normally.

The oil has under 3200 miles on it. The oil level and color appear normal through the sight glass. There are no obvious oil puddles in my garage. And the nice weather around Boston recently hasn't subjected the bike to any temp extremes.

Any idea what might cause that to come on, then go off when I restart the bike? Am I risking a major blowout by riding it right now? Thanks!

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I'll bet you that it is the same as my 2005 RT.
Simple solution...add oil.
Mine was doing the exact same thing, which is a bit unnerving when you come down the sweeps on a mountain and see that <!> show up with nowhere to stop and check.

I noticed that 1st it would do it just on occasion but then became more common when the bike was being pushed a bit harder up and down the mountain. Did an oil and filter change and re-filled to 1/2 mark on the side window, just as I used to on the previous 1150RT.
The warning mark came up again, but just on very few occasions.
Topped the oil up to 80% of window and no more <!>

Oil level was measured by putting her on the side stand for a few minutes...then center stand and final level checked after 10 minutes.
That's with the bike being ridden 1st on at least 20km stretches.

I agree with Alfred.

A couple of glugs of oil should fix it. Adding about a quarter litre fixed it for me.

Thanks, all. I have a 6k service scheduled next week so oil will be replaced/topped off, and I'll mention it to them as well. Just wondering if there was any issue specifically with the indicator, or whether the sight glass might be less than informative.

greggsnider said:

Thanks, all. I have a 6k service scheduled next week so oil will be replaced/topped off, and I'll mention it to them as well. Just wondering if there was any issue specifically with the indicator, or whether the sight glass might be less than informative.

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Several riders have complained that the indicator is too aggressive at reporting low oil.

Yeah, the same thing happened to me; on a slope, the computer would complain about the oil level. I could see oil in the sight glass and the book said you're okay the as long as you see oil in the glass. I guess I now know exactly where the limit is for the computer's sensor. Anyways, since I could see oil in the sight glass, I think I did no harm.

If the sensor throws that warning only intermittently when riding and your sight glass checks later show oil in the glass, you probably have one of the bikes that's overly sensitive.- I've seen this on local club members bikes a couple times. Its only annoying, not significant. Some have attributed this to hung sensors and had it disappear with a sensor replacement- but not all.

Anyway, if there's visible oil in the bike the you have nothing to worry about. Oil pump failures are close to non-existent and there is no way to overheat the oil in normal riding barring a very major blockage or failure.

Worry less, ride more.....

Envying your sumer weather up there- where I once lived. Its our worst riding time of year in the SE right now...

I had this issue with my 05 Rt, use your sight glass. The oil level sending unit is about $90 and is located on the right side of the engine, not hard to replace but I replaced the Rt with an 08 GS which has a different oil level sensing system. That solved a lot of other issues I had with the RT design.
Sam