Oil pressure gauge Idea

[Foxhound013]

So I was talking to my dad the other night about the quad and he had a really good idea. Why not wire in an oil pressure gauge and when it gets so low it will kill the bike. This way if you poke a hole in the oil radiotor or start leakin oil somewhere it shuts the bike down so the engine dosn't get ruined. What do you guys think has anyone ever done this before. Any help would be appreciated.

[Miami_Vice454]

i thinks thats a very good idea. my friend put a temp gauge on his front fender, it looks awesome, except mine would be an oil pressure. im intrested on the subject.

[honda400ex2003]

i think that it is good idea also. give it a try. steve

[Foxhound013]

Any ideas on what I should get to try this.

[honda400ex2003]

nope...


sorry lol. a guage, a switch, and a thermostat i guess would be a good starting point. steve

[Foxhound013]

If I ever do manage to get this done I'll be sure to post a guide so everyone else can do it too.

[honda400ex2003]

EDIT before posting. I am not sure which one you are still doing. the temp guage or the oil pressure guage. this info is for the temp guage. i would look into a thermostat from something like a rancher or a foreman since they have fans on them with an oil cooler. this would have a relay to be able to turn a fan on or turn a motor off if it is wired correctly to do so. it turns on the switch once it gets to a certain temp. this would be the critical temp of those motors so why not on ours too. this may cause a problem though since it could get too hot too fast depending on where it is placed. i would suggest putting it after the cooler and right before the tank to monitor the oil that is supposed to be cooled the most. wire it in so you can have it reroute the energy from the coil to the ground like a kill switch. this could be done by having it normally open hooked up to the coil then once it turns on, it kills it. the only problem would be that it may do it quite often.

this is for the pressure guage. you will have to find a pressure switch that triggers under a certain lower pressure than what the line normally runs at. this may be a bit harder to find but i am sure there is one out there. you would have to wire it the same way as described which would be either in line and normally closed or normally open depending on the switch. this could be a simple thing if a pressure switch can be found easily. then you can set up a pressure guage independently of the switch and monitor that way also. this way once you know where the lowest pressure setting is you can notice it possibly too and not need the switch. the switch could then become a back up procedure to make sure nothing happens like you wanted in the first place if i am not mistaken. steve

[honda400ex2003]

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this looks like it would be a prime candidate for a switch. it shuts off at 15psi. i am not sure how much they are normally though. i would venture to say that it is more than that though. this in conjunction with
[URL=[URL=http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hobbs-Oil-Pressure-Shutdown-Switch-15lbs-NOS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3a539755e3QQitemZ25 0510530019QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAcce ssories] (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hobbs-Oil-Pressure-Shutdown-Switch-15lbs-NOS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3a539755e3QQitemZ25 0510530019QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAcce ssories)
would work good since it is designed for smaller engines. this could be T-ed off at the motor or anywhere along the lines to see what it is at that spot. I would suggest that the best place would be right before it enters the motor since this is where you will see hthe signs of low pressure first and not cause harm. just a couple of quick search options for you but they look like a winning combo to me.

links dont work but i have to go. try to paste them into the browser.
steve

[clemsonteg]

To further your idea what I would do is get a gauge with a low oil pressure light. Usually what happens in the wiring of that setup is there is power to one side of the light, and the ground is made when the pressure sensor does not see enough pressure. Then what you can do is tie that ground into the CDI, or even the kill switch on the handlebars and when the ground is made it will not only trigger the light but it will also shut off the bike. The only thing you would probably have to do then is wire in a jumper for when your starting the bike and it hasn't built up pressure yet so that way you can actually start it.

This idea is used in some baja bugs, so that way you not only have an idiot light telling you why it shut off, it does so before major damage is done.

[fishnfergie]

The thermostat would have to be around 290 degrees if you didnt want it shutting down all the time.

As for the oil pressure cut off it is a great idea but remember it will make the bike take longer to start because it wont let it start until the higher oil pressure is achieved which could take a little turning at slow cranking rpms.



Oops, didnt read the post above me all the way. What he said^

[clemsonteg]

Originally posted by fishnfergie
The thermostat would have to be around 290 degrees if you didnt want it shutting down all the time.

As for the oil pressure cut off it is a great idea but remember it will make the bike take longer to start because it wont let it start until the higher oil pressure is achieved which could take a little turning at slow cranking rpms.



Oops, didnt read the post above me all the way. What he said^

Yeah I am assuming you have electric start, but what you could do is put in a relay (Normally Closed) along with the push button for the starter so that when it is depressed it breaks the connection for the oil pressure cut off allowing it to start up.

[jdog75]

just a little bit of help for the oil pressure idea there is a oil pressure hole under the 2 oil cooler lines if you didnt know already