this is the first time im posting, im sure its been answered, but i cant find anymore info. my wife rides a 2000 hugger, has about 25k on it. ive been trying to figure this out all damn summer, and have had no luck. after the winter i did the normal to all our bikes, oil change and general maintence stuff. well on hers, after it warms up at idle, the light comes on, and put a gauge on it also, and it reads 0, or damn close to it. its her first bike, and shes only been riding on her own since last summer, so im nervous for her, because at stop lights she has to play with the throttle and keep rpms up. i know may not see to hard, but its just an added thing shes got to do, and id rather have it fixed. i put a new sending unit on it, and also took to the dealer and they put a new pump on it. said it was fine, but within 15 mins of the ride, and at idle, the light came back on. im not about to just give them the bike back, and charge $2k in labor looking for the problem and $2k in parts, for a bike i paid $1900 for. there doenst seem to be any noise coming from the top end, and i have tried conv harley oil, the syn3, and now were running 60 in it, per service guys recomend. any help would be greatly appreacited. thanks guys

 

What RPM is it idleing at when it's hot?
Have you tried a different oil filter in case the one you got is too small of a micron rating or somehow defective and resticting flow?
What about your rubber oil supply hose? could have a kink in it, or at almost 20 years old may have boken down inside and is restricting flow to the oil pump?

 

If they charged you 4 K to replace an oil pump, you got took. Probably at best 3 hr labor. $200 to $250 for parts. If they did replace the oil pump, the bypass is probably stuck open with trash. That is external in the line coming off the pump.
Get you a service manual and read the oil lubrication system and follow the diagrams. It's best to know how to work on this older stuff and it's pretty easy to understand.

 

it idles at 1000 when hot, she has to keep idle between 1200-1300 for light to stay off, i have put 2 different filters on it, both from harley which is what i use on my bike, and have always used them, i havent checked the hose but will try that next weekend when i have time, ive been reading something about the check valve spring i was also going to check that out as well, but you would think that the dealer would of done that. i hate having dealers work on my bikes or my cars, simply because i dont trust them. and to other comment, i didnt mean they charged me $4k, i was using that as an example, for them to be paid hourly to search for a problem, fix one thing, then another, and another, then tell me all that **** was wrong. i have manuals for all my bikes, and have studied it, thats why im so lost as to what else it could be, and i dont want to pay $100 an hr for some kid to hunt down the problem. ive never had a sporty before this, the thing is also a dog, at least to me, so i didnt know if the top end needs to be redone, but i dont want to just do the top, if there is something that i could be missing in the bottome end, and still have the same issues, if that makes sense. shes gonna get a new to her bike over the winter and step up to a softail slim or deluxe. but i want to keep it for myself, and strip it down and make a bobber out of it, just for the short fast rides. thank you for your advice, i just wish there was a simple answer for it

 

also to add, when i look in the oil tank, it is circulating, at least appears to be, its got bubbles, i dont know if maybe its just got a crappy wire on it, i added a radio and speakers to it for her, and when i made a mount for her phone to go on the riser, her phone ended up blocking her dash lights, so i got a couple led lights for her, and when i extended the wires to mount the lights, the copper wire for the oil light was all black, looked like over the years the weather had gotten to it, but i dont see how that could be an issue, only happening after the bike had been warmed up and such. at least in my mind i dont see where a wire would act like that with the temp of the engine, that i would think to believe would be more of an any time/rpm issue, so i ruled that out myself

 

One of the most likely parts to go bad in the oil system is the oil pressure sending unit, resulting in a false oil pressure light. It's a standard automotive part you can get at almost any auto parts store for <$20.00.
The Sporty actually works on oil FLOW not pressure, so it's easy to be mislead testing with an oil pressure gauge like you would on a 4 wheeler.

 

no its not the switch, i replaced that with a new one before i sent it in for the pump, and it still came on, so i took one off a buddies bike that we knew was good and tried that, just in case i got a bad one, because its happened, and the light still came on

 

 

 

I'm no expert by any means, But, I do remember when I was doing my first oil change I bought syn3 and Harley's fine micron oil filter at the dealership and the parts guy asked me what type of bike I had. Told him I had a 1200 custom and he said that the filter I picked up wouldn't work the sporty because it didn't have enough pressure to push it through, said the fine micron filters were meant for the bigger twins. Went with the recommend standard Harley filter and had no problems.