Headlight...woe is me.

Ok, I haven't been able to get my multimeter out yet (still looking for it) but since day one I haven't been able to get my headlight working.

I bypassed the relay with the blue/black connected to the red/yellow with no success. My fuse is good and replaced with a blade type.

The history of the bike that pertains to the headlight is that the previous, previous owner started to hook up the tour pack faring but never made it. I took all that jazz off and have been working on everything else other than the headlight so far. Now that i am happy where I am, I want to get this darn thing legal.

I know the bike is charging fine. Any ideas?

 

The Blue/Black also powers a bunch of stuff, like the High Beam indicator lamp on the instrument cluster and the Aux lamp. Do these work? If so, your problem is further up and more specific to the headlight itself.

If you can't find your meter, you might want to go to Autozone or some such and pick up another one for $20. It would really make this easier.

Anyway, let's make this as simple as possible.

1. Jumper a wire from the battery positive terminal directly to the Blue/Black. Does the headlight come on? If not, go to 3.
2. Connect the jumper wire to the Red/Yellow at the relay and then momentarily jumper Red/Yellow to White/Blue. Does the headlight come on? If so, the fuse box is probably your problem and stop here.
3. Connect the jumper wire to the Green wire in the 4 pin plug that's probably in the headlight bucket. If the headlight comes on, then the high beam/low beam switch is probably the problem and stop here.
4. Connect the jumper wire to the Yellow/Green wire at the headlight itself. If the headlight still doesn't come on, you probably have a bad ground for it or a bad bulb. If it does come on, then you probably have a bad connection to or in the warning center computer module.

Cheers,
Paul

 

Go get a multimeter. Doing electric jobs without - it's like a blind man climbing mountains, he'll need a guide all the way up.

 

Hey Gents,

I will be getting to these tests tomorrow after work. I found the multimeter but figured the jumping of wires test could point us in a general direction.

FYI, the indicator lamp for high beam does not light up. But, the cluster recognizes the headlight is not there.

Thanks, will report back.

 

Hey Paul,

So I did the jumpering test you described for me.

1. Yes, light came on. Even the Hi/Lo switch worked.
2. Nothing
3. Nothing
4. Nothing.

By process of elimination, it seems that my answer is in number 4 where I know the bulb is good because of number 1 but I must have a bad ground somewhere.

If I have a bad ground, then why does the headlight work when I take the black/blue to the positive terminal? Can it work without a ground?

 

Actually, from what you're describing, it sounds like one of your headlight filaments is burned out (or a bad contact in the H4 plug), AND your headlight relay is bad.

With the jumper as in step 1 (to Blue/Black), do both high beam and low beam work?

 

Yes, both high and low beam work. Scary, huh? LOL!

I could stand to replace the H4 plug anyway. There was some discussion about this as there are some that are better than others.

 

Well, something else is intermittent, then, or there were some problems with your jumper or something. If you're getting headlight illumination in step 1, you can't not get it in steps 3 and 4.

Try this:

Do step 1 again and make sure that still does make thing work.
Then, try step 2 again, and make sure that still doesn't work.

If 1 still works and 2 still doesn't, remove the jumper and apply a new jumper between Red/Yellow and Blue/Black at the headlight relay.

Let us know what you find there.

Thanks,
Paul

 

Hey Paul,

Tried step one from the blue/black straight to the positive terminal and it worked just fine. High and Lo.

Then I jumpered the blue/black to the red/yellow at the headlight relay and no dice. Nothing, zip zilch, nada.

Could there be something wrong with the relay wiring? I know that the blue/black works just fine at the relay. But the other wiring is suspect, right?

 

This by itself will not do anything.

The two additional test steps were:

A) (Step 2 from the original list) which requires jumpering to the Red/Yellow PLUS momentarily connecting Red/Yellow to White/Blue to latch the relay (as would normally happen when the engine is started). This is to check whether the relay is working or not.

B) With the ignition on (I probably forgot to mention that), jumpering Red/Yellow to Blue/Black at the relay. This is to verify that the fuse box and ignition switch are good and that you're actually getting power to the relay.

Thanks,
Paul

 

Oy! Ok, I did not realize I needed to do that with the relay still in. I was taking the relay out and doing the jumpering.

I will redo the tests with the relay in and report back. I am sorry I got confused!

 

Alright Paul...here are the results of the test.

A) Jumpered the Red/Yellow to White/Blue with the relay in and the ignition on. No luck.

B) With ignition on, I jumpered the Red/Yellow to the Blue/Black and the result is nothing.

No power to the relay. I think I need to go through the fuse box again. Am I correct that the Red/Yellow in the fuse box is the same Red/Yellow that goes to the relay?

 

Yes. The Red/Yellow from the "Head" fuse (Brown on the other side of the fuse) is the line that goes to the relay.

If it's original, its really worth replacing the fuse box regardless. I'm not a big fan of shotgunning, but these fuse boxes really didn't age well. Chacal has a nice little fuse box that takes five (I think) blade-type fuses, or you can buy single ATO fuse holders with pigtails at most auto parts stores.

 

It isn't original because I went through it and replaced all the fuses with the ATO fuse holders as you suggested. But I was in a hurry and didn't solder the connections and only used butt connecters (I think that is what they are called). I am going to solder them this weekend and see if my situation improves.

Thanks a ton for your help Paul.

Paul