hey everyone, here is the deal.

I have been working on my headlight after it went out a few days ago. At first I just picked up some bulbs because I figured it had just blown out. When I took out the bulb there was nothing wrong with it. The filiments were still in tact.

My next step was to check the plug to see if power was flowing through it. I have power flowing from ground (green wire) to low beam (white wire) but when I flip the low/high beam switch there is no power flowing through the ground to high beam (blue wire) connection. Do all of the connections have to be made for the headlight to work?

My understanding of electricity is if you have power flowing from the source to the ground the lightbulb should come on, so shouldn't my low beam at least work?

I am pretty new at fixing electrical issues so any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys!

Mitch

 

Are you using a meter or a test light ? You should have power at the white wire with the ignition switch turned on. You're only going to have power at the Blue wire when the High Beam is turned on. If neither is working, then the most likely culprit is the Starter Switch on the right Clip-On. The wires break loose from the contacts inside the switch housing. You can solder them back on. Here is what it looks like inside with a broken wire.

The Black/Red wire I'm holding up is hot side coming from the Fuse Block. The Blue/White wire you see that is still attached goes to the Dimmer Switch.

 

I am using a meter, there is 12V when I connect to the white wire and the ground when the ignition switch is on so I think we are ok there. However when I switch to High beams there is no power when i connect to the blue wire and ground.

Ive been really stumped as to why even just the low beams havent been coming on since there is power there. I've been messing around with the plug a bit trying to get the connectors out to see if there was any sort of short in there.

Thanks for the tips, if you would like any pictures of anything just let me know if it would help.

 

Update, I took out the connectors from the plug so I could test the voltage when the circuit was completed. There was no voltage flowing at all. This means there is a short somewhere correct? maybe somewhere in the ground wire from the headlight to the main harness?

 

Just for kicks, I took some spare wire and connected the running light connections to the headlight and it turned on. Still just stumped as to why if there is a voltage difference at the connectors for the headlight it wouldn't turn on.

 

I have to admit i should have thought of this in the first place but today I was driving home from work and thought to myself that I didnt try using the ground from the headlight plug and power from another source (running lights).

When I got home I did just that, and the headlight lit up. So my problem isn't with the ground, it is with the power coming into the headlight from the high/low switch. I am going to trace the wires back from the headlight and see where my problem might be.

iDoDirt, i believe my connections are fine within the ignition switch but i will be checking those out tonight when i trace the wires back. anything else to check? ideas of how to check if the high/low switch is ok? how to check if there is power through the switch?

 

If you have power coming to one of the wires to the bulb, either the Blue or the White wire, then you know for sure that the wiring to the Start switch and then over to the Dimmer switch is good. It has to be, otherwise you would not have any power to either of those wires.

So, your loss has to be from the Dimmer switch to the Headlight. The Dimmer switch is a simple rocker type of switch and is easily taken apart. Just disassemble the left switch assembly, 2 screws from underneath. The Dimmer switch is in the top portion. Most likely the switch contacts are corroded.

 

I dont believe i have any power coming through the blue or white wires to the bulb. The only connection that is working is the ground. I took the dimmer switch out previously and checked it but i think i will do a more thorough job now.

Thanks for the help iDoDirt. I also have to thank you for your toutorial on how to fix the fuel pump. I found the part that you suggested for about $33 at my local motorcycle shop and it saved me probably $150! I also had read that post before i had the problem and once the problem occurred i knew exactly what was going wrong.

 

The key to determining where the loss of power is, is whether or not you have power to either the Blue wire or the White wire (remember that only one wire is going to have power at a time depending on whether the dimmer switch is on high or low). If you don't have power to either wire, then the problem is with the Start switch (assuming you've checked the fuse). If one of the wires has power, but not the other, then it's the Dimmer switch. It's that cut and dry.

 

Good news, its all figured out and working. The contacts in the dimmer switch were just gunked up and needed to be cleaned. The first time I checked the switch I didnt take it apart I just made sure the wires were still connected. However, looking into it more closely the side where the wires connect actually detaches from the switch itself so you can clean the copper, i assume, contacts. Once you do this, just pop the switch back together and it should work just fine.

Thanks iDoDirt for all your help along the way. I'm sure I will be back on here at some point in time for more help. In the meantime I will be browsing around to learn all I can.