High Beam problem

[Duck]

Hey eveyone Duck again

When i picked my bike up the front headlight bright didnt work then the whole light went out

i got a new bulb and it works fine on low now but sometimes when riding around the white light flashes like it has a problem and the little light on the dash that looks like a light sitting near the gas gauge is always on

so i tried flicking the high beam on and it still doesnt work.

I dont know much about wiring but i know someone over the years took all the wires wiped there a$$ with them and put them back in backwards (the wires are all messed up and covered with tape and cut in places

I want to try and get the high beam working again any thoughts

I see the fuses are all good under the the false tank but behind the light i see all the little boxes i think they are called relays but not sure how to check those and how much are they to replace if i have to just randomly replace some

Thanks guys

[Flyinfool]

The white light on the dash it to tell you that the headlight is out.

On these bikes there is a device called the RLU (Reserve Lighting Unit). What this does is if it detects that the low beam is burnt out it will automatically switch to the hi beam and light the white light on the dash AND turn on the indicator on the CMU panel and make the red light flash. It also works the other way round, If you have the hi beam on and it burns out it will switch to lo beam and turn on all of the warnings.

 

Now with all of that said, It is also possible for there to be a bad connection in the headlight system somewhere. Any brake in the wires will be detected as a burnt out headlight.

 

It is common to have the hi / lo switch get dirty contacts and cause this issue. There is a thread somewhere with instructions on how to clean this switch, I have to clean mine annually. It is also possible to have a corroded connector somewhere or a bad plug on the back of the bulb.

 

There is also the off chance that you actually have a burned out brand new headlight bulb. Check it with an ohm meter or continuity tester.

 

If the bulb is out, (or the bike thinks it is out) flicking the hi / lo switch will have no effect.

[KarlS]

Do you still have the factory original fuse block with the glass fuses? I had all sorts of headlight and other electrical problems with my 83 until I did the fuse box upgrade.

[Duck]

yes i still have the old school one

i am afraid to do it but i want to put all new wiring on the bike is this something i should wait till my electrical class at MMI lol

[StarFan]

Hi Duck.

 

Had the same problem. Was absolutely sure it was a loose wire or a somekind of a bad connection. Tried everything but it was not untill my son pointed out to me that maybe I had a bad bulb that the problem was fixed. The bulb was just giving inn, causing exactly this. Have a look at a thread I wrote about this:

http://venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=74172&highlight=flickering+headlights

I do though believe that you have a bad connection or something similiar since you have changed out the bulb.

[reddevilmedic]

Reserve lighting Unit might be the culprit, or like others said, wiring. The fuse block upgrade is pretty easy, Skydoc sells them, he even walked me thru a couple parts over the phone...try that with Yamaha!

[KarlS]

yes i still have the old school one

i am afraid to do it but i want to put all new wiring on the bike is this something i should wait till my electrical class at MMI lol

 

In my opinion you will be chasing electrical problems of all sorts until you upgrade the fuse box. In my case I had very few problems with the bike after I changed mine.

[Squidley]

Do you still have the factory original fuse block with the glass fuses? I had all sorts of headlight and other electrical problems with my 83 until I did the fuse box upgrade.

 

 

That looks familiar

[Condor]

One last thing that could cause the problem is cold solder joints in the CPU..or something like that. It's in the dash behind the center display. Resoldering the pins usually takes care of the problem. There's even a write up on the web somewhere... I was going to do that on my '83. Had hi-beam, but no low. The high has it's own circut.... Anyway I lived with it for a year or so and then found another mint dash on eBay and when I replace the original...wahlah.. I had lights again.