Unable to build oil pressure

[ianthomo]

I dropped my 1995 ZX6R recently while it was standing and running in my drive. After picking it up and starting it I was unable to build oil pressure. I rang several mechanics with my concerns and found that this is a known problem with these models. Apparently air becomes trapped in the oil lines and remedy is to top up the oil to the correct max position and then lay the bike as far as possible in the opposite direction and then stand it up again. This should get the oil line full again and recover the pressure.

I have noticed that it is difficult to build pressure after an oil change and the recommendation is to drain the old oil and refill it as quickly as possible to avoid air trapping.

[matt76]

Ive never dropped mine in the driveway so I'm not sure on that one, but i have never had trouble building oil pressure after an oil change either. I just put it in, start her up and the oil light will go off in a second or two....

[Poyda]

Pull the oil filter back off, see if it has oil in it. If not, fill it with oil and put it back on, will be a messy job, but might do the job. Have also heard of packing the filter with vaseline to build up pressure.

[Neka79]

never heard of it mate.... ive dropped a few bikes and never had that problem...

how long are u running the bike ?? most bikes take..ohhh maybe a minute? to build pressure..if its not building pressure within 2 min id expect theres a prob...

[mike-s]

perhaps something was incorrectly put on when the oil filter was replaced? i would have thought draining the lot out and starting again would be the best way to tackle it if it occured, then again i've never heard of an engine getting an air lock like this in the oil lines.

[Barrabob]

I have heard of it in 03/04 zx6r where they have changed the oil and filter and the filter wont prime but cant say i have had the problem myself.

I would say undo the filter and manually fill it and see what happens.

[Chingrish]

they discussed this on kawiforums before but i cant find it at the moment, you might want to give it a try. basically they were having problems with air trapped in the system after an oil and filter change, and the oil pressure light stays on after the bikes been started.

[ianthomo]

Thanks for the feedback guys but I eventually bit the bullet and pulled out the oil pump and the sump. I replaced the oil pump rotors, shaft, pickup any o-ring I could find. It now brings up the pressure in seconds... oh and I changed from full synthetic to semi synthetic oil.

[mitch179]

its a common prob on the b1 / b2 636's (03/04) ive had it a couple of times but only when changing oil, never had a problem apart from that!

to get it pressurised again after an oil change you have to start the bike, undo the oil filter just a bit til it spits out some oil, quickly nip it back up and voila! oil pressure! then turn the bike off , top up the oil and you're done.

cause it gets an air lock somewhere around the filter and thats the way kawasaki say to get the pressure again, it was in some service bulletin from kawasaki themselves.

[ozten]

Its a good habit to get into to fill the filter with oil before installing it