Hi everyone,

So this is how the cookie crumbled. I rounded off my drain bolt, ended up taking the oil pan and exhaust out. Ordered new bolt, washer, oil pan gasket, exhaust header gaskets. Put the oil pan back, put the exhaust back. Now i am getting this red oil pressure light on the dash after riding it for 20 minutes. It goes away once the RPM goes above 2000k. I checked my oil cooler and apparently after a 116 km ride it was cold. I drained it when I took the oil pan out. The bike took 3L oil, though I was told it takes 3.5L dry. What could be the problem here?

Air pocket in oil cooler? Why is it not working?
Screwed up something while taking the oil pan off?

Is the cooler supposed to be hot? How do I know its working? I changed my oil filter to a hi flow brand filter, someone suggested I might have put it the wrong way so it blocked the flow, i checked and it was just fine. Now I can't figure out why the light is on and how to make the cooler works.....Yelp,z!!!

Likely your sump gasket. With some supplied gaskets, oil transfer passages are inappropriately sealed. This allows oil to leak back into the sump and significantly reduces the bike's oil pressure. Solution? buy the correct Suzi gasket for yr model year.

And anyway, why take the pan off for a buggered sump-plug??? Tip: just dremel across the plug, slip in a flat bar, rotate, Bob's yer Uncle.

Where is this sump gasket? I bought the OEM gasket for 13$ from suzuki Canada...

Should I take the gasket out and put a pic?

Hi freak, it's also my money on the sump gasket, the pre and post oil coolers have different shaped gaskets that are not interchangeable.  I learned that lesson the hard way to compare old and new gaskets closely before use. Note the parts catalogues show the right part number but the wrong visual part in many cases for this item.
Regards
Brett


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So should I take the gasket out and cut it to size according to the shape of the pan? I remember now how the gasket covered certain parts of the oil pan which did seem odd but since I got an OEM, I thought its how its supposed to be. So much for OEM bullshit... if I order another one, it might just be the same one. I have a 2008 GS 500F. So basically that explains why the cooler is not getting warm and the pressure light lighting up at idle of below 2000k. So what's my best bet here?

You got a pre 2001 gasket is my bet.
Does the 04 bike also have a temperature sensor in the sending unit so it will light the red light when too hot ?
If not, you're likely to have some oil starvation related damage. Oil light anytime past 2 sec after startup = bad news.

Cool.
Buddha.

The oil light came on after 20 minutes when the oil had gotten to full temperature and hence very thin.

If you ran it for a long time I would think some damage also, if you stopped smartly, I think you should be OK, either way I would buy the right gasket or cut a new one from gasket stock (copying the old one) and I would ride the bike.

Chances are if there is any damage it would be to the crank bearings and that you can check at some point by an oil pressure test (damaged crank bearings = low oil pressure).

If I remembrer correctly the oil light comes on at 2 bar, very low but ok to provide some protection for short periods as the oil "wegde" that the crank rests on will still be present of there is some pressure. If pressure is a bit low a slightly thicker oil may be an option for the future.

If you closed off the flow only to the cooler, the pressure will be higher than otherwise. Yea sure it will be a bit thinner. But the cooler has a good amount of flow going to it. The non oil cooler bikes dont light their oil lights - ever unless they are over 1.5 qts low. My thought is tha tsome of the main galley flow also got blocked along with the cooler - BTW where does the cooler figure in where oil flow is concerned.
Cool.
Buddha.

So they had 2 oil pan gaskets, since i am from Canada I ordered the Canada/venz one. Does this make any sense? Anyways, I'll be taking it off and putting some pictures on. Hopefully I didn't screw my bike....

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The sump gasket shown in the fiche is not the one you need. This is for the unfaired/non oil cooled gs500 engine. The gasket you need has an extra oil duct at the rear which allows oil pressure to build up in the engine.
Sorry I can't provide a picture to illustrate what i mean, but i did something similar a few months ago. I ended up cutting my own gasket from a gasket sheet. It works fine and is much cheaper than buying a Suzuki one (at least here in the UK).

This low-res image shows the extra oil channel at the rear of the engine oil pan. The gasket in the fiche (and probably the one you were supplied with) doesn't have this feature in the gasket. Hope this explains what i was getting at

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Took the pan out again.. this is what the gasket stuck to the engine looks like

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The gasket

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Yep you can see that the gasket does not go around the egg-shaped oil channel at the rear of the oil pan. Oil pressure will be lost because of this. The gasket you have been given is for a naked (ie bike without oil cooler). You need a gs500F gasket. If the shop cannot order one for you, you could cut your own from a gasket sheet if you feel confident.

I got an OEM one from Suzuki for my model, can you tell me the part number? That's what the OEM oil pan gasket has for 2008 GS500F.

Can I just cut up the part to open up the egg shape?


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Actually you are right, the oil pan in the picture is not the oil pan I have...shoot....just looked at the picture closely.... so what's the solution? Cut open the gasket from the middle to allow full egg shape access?

This bit of info from Suzuki GB is floating on the net:

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Thank you for your emails and the additional details supplied.

The concerns outlined in your email's have been reviewed by our Technical Department and they have identified that the gasket that you have purchased is not the correct one for your machine. Part number 11489-01D00 that you have fitted is compatible with a GS500FK5, however; according to our records your machine, VIN VTTBK2112001*****, is in fact a GS500K5 and has a different sump pan to the GS500F. The gasket that is compatible with your machine is part number 11489-44110. This would explain why the part that you initially purchased did not fit correctly and subsequently resulted in a loss of oil pressure.

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The diagram on the Suzuki parts fiche looks as if it has remained unamended over the years.

Wouldn't worry too much about damage issues related to a low-oil pressure at this stage. Get the right gasket in place. Have a run or two and you'll be alerted to any damage. Fingers crossed. They are tough little units, these GS500 donks.