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Finally got the ZXR 400 running nicely after the oil pressure warning light came on when riding (I immediately stopped and switched off). There was a lot of nasty gunk in the sump, even though the engine was rebuilt by previous owner (have all the receipts for it and looks clean now)

The bike starts fine, runs great; it had a new set of pistons in, valve stem seals etc so I've been running the engine in, not going above 7000 rpm. The idle can be a bit temperamental, I'm used to about 1000rpm from my ZXR 750 but it'll idle ok around 1500rpm when it's fully warmed up.

My only slight concern is the smoke coming from it. This happens when it's warm or cold, but as far as i can tell doesn't happen when i'm out riding it as i see no smoke when i'm riding along. Am I worrying over nothing, do you think it's because it's a new engine that hasn't been ran since the end of last year and has been stood for a while?

I drained the old oil and swapped the filter, put a smidge of oil in the chambers just to ensure there was oil lubricating the walls, fresh V power fuel too

Click to play

I would say it is just burning off oil but...

with the oil light popping on and it burning that amount of oil...

Worrying, very worrying.

when you fitted the new pistons, did you use brand new rings, and did you hone the bores?

CaNsA wrote:I would say it is just burning off oil but...

with the oil light popping on and it burning that amount of oil...

Worrying, very worrying.

When the oil light came on I got the bike recovered home by trailor. The next day the light still wouldn't go off and found that in the oil pan there looked to be instant gasket and black paint blocking the mesh pickup for the oil pump. Cleaned it all out and the oil light went off straight away.

I don't know about the rings or the bores as it was the previous owner who rebuilt it, but judging by the amount he spent and all the other jobs on the bike I'd be highly doubtful if he didn't have the bores honed and new piston rings, but I shall message him and check.

im inclined to agree with cansa then, its probably just a bit of oil creeping past the rings due to the rebuild.

if its still there in 1000 miles its probably something else, keep an eye on the oil usage and go from there really.

banner001 wrote:im inclined to agree with cansa then, its probably just a bit of oil creeping past the rings due to the rebuild.

if its still there in 1000 miles its probably something else, keep an eye on the oil usage and go from there really.

Just checked with the chap and he said the bores were honed and brand new piston rings were used

Thanks for the information, I usually check the oil level quite often so hopefully i'll see if it uses much oil. Going to be quite a while until i rack up 1000 miles on the engine! Best go get riding