Intermittent low beam headlight

[zinmaker]

I have a 1981 Suzuki GS 750E 89,000 miles. My low beam goes out every once in a while, and I’m guessing it is the yellow wire. Noticed that when the bike is up on its stand, and turn the handle bars either right or left the headlight does go on and off, not all the time, just every once in a while. Last night while trying to trace the affected wire noticed that the oil light, and the neutral light also turns on and off, but not at the same time as the headlight. The high beam stays on all the time while switched to high beam, regardless of where the handlebars are. Think I’ve traced the bad wire in the harness where it looks like it is rubbing on the lower part of the headlight fairing. Has anyone had any luck pulling wires through the harness, or does someone have a better solution. Thanks.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Wow Zinmaker welcome to the site!

Bikes love to abrade wire and cause nasty things to happen.

Do you have the tank off as well as the headlight bucket?
Search for damaged wiring first. You can strip the tape from the harness ans replace it easily enough.

The electrical gurus will soon be here to help do not despair.

[zinmaker]

Looks like the abraded wire is just below the headlight bucket I can move the harness back and forth and turn the lowbeam headlight on and off. Going to try and peel back the tape on the harness and look for the affected wire. I'll keep you updated.

Wow Zinmaker welcome to the site!

Bikes love to abrade wire and cause nasty things to happen.

Do you have the tank off as well as the headlight bucket?
Search for damaged wiring first. You can strip the tape from the harness ans replace it easily enough.

The electrical gurus will soon be here to help do not despair.

[Redman]

Was going to say trhatg pulling a wire ouit of the harness probably not work becusae the harness is wrapped in adhesive tape. Would be better to cut open the harness in the areas you suspect a problem.

Seems like an abbraded wire would cause shorts to ground and blow fuse.

Whith head light going off and on, I would more suspect a bad connection at a connector.

.

[chuck hahn]

Cool product is that liquid electrical tape. apply a coat and let it harden and then apply another to thicken it up around the scrubbed area. Then re wrap the harness end.

[zinmaker]

Ended up taking off the headlight bucket and the gas tank, and removed a large portion of the tape covering the harness, from the bucket to where the harness goes back into the frame. There was a bullet connector with the yellow wire in the headlight bucket, and after disconnecting that the low beam stayed on, so figured it must be the white wire being affected. After wiggling the white wire near where the harness goes back into the frame, I was able to turn the headlight on and off. Replaced the white wire with some new 18ga wire everything works fine now. Just used regular electrical tape to rewire the harness, but might use some Gorilla tape or have to try some of that liquid electrical tape to reinforce around areas where the harness rubs. Thanks for the tips!