Melted headlight connecter and a blown fuse!

Hey everyone.

Purchased an 81 XJ550 in June. PO has done some iffy stuff that I am now slowly correcting.

While out on it's longest ride yet today, the bike just completely shut off while sitting at a light. It started right back up, but I had lost the headlight and IP lights. It was dusk, so I hightailed it home to take a look at it.

When I got home, I checked the fuse and sure enough, it was blown. Which lead to my next step of trying to determine what caused it to blow. PO put on a smaller bodied circular headlight at one point, so I thought maybe that was the problem. Pull the bucket apart to find that the molex connector for the bulb was completely melted off and sitting in the bottom of the bucket! I put in a new fuse, and everything works still, but clearly something else is amiss.

The headlight uses an H4 bulb, which I understand should work fine for these bikes.

Any ideas on why the plug melted and ultimately blew a fuse? I'm not much of an electrical guru!

Thanks!

-Dave

 

Check your fuse box for a melted connection there too. It's the weakest link. That bulb may be over the wattage as the one made for the bike. It makes the most sense why the connector melted. Of course, the connector may have shorted out and melted that way too. Buy a new bulb that you know is 60/55w and install that. You'll want to go through that wiring and also switch out the original fuse box for a new aftermarket 1 or inline fuses like I did. I'm no real mechanic. Other may have better advice.

 

The PO did switch everything over to inline fuses, and nothing looked melted around the wiring at the fuses.

I will double check the wattage on the bulb, as well as the connections.

Thanks!

 

The headlight is rated for a size bulb the bike doesn't care. There are ceramic connectors for high wattage bulbs