Headlight won't work after crash

[jonny five]

I have a 1981 GS750L that I recently wrecked but not too bad, just minor damages along the right hand side. Smashed the front right turn signal. I replaced the bulb, and the right hand signals still wouldn't turn on; the left hand signals would turn on but not flash. I then proceeded to replace the headlight bulb as the casing also contacted the road, which fixed both turn signals. The headlight however does not turn on! The high beam indication on the cluster does not illuminate either. I have traced the wires back from the handlebar switch and the headlight cluster and found no visible shorts or places the tank may have damaged a wire. Any ideas where the problem may lie?

 

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. jonny five,

Keep looking. It's bound to be a bad connection or ground somewhere around the headlight bucket. Maybe it's the bulb socket or fuse. Switches go bad too. Grab a wiring diagram and a manual from my little website to aid your troubleshooting. Now let me share some more GS lovin'.


I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", the Carb Rebuild Series, and the Stator Papers. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Redman]

Jonny Five,

Welcome to GSR.

Neither hi not low beam comes on....?
I will assume that is the case.

You say the high beam indicator does not come on. Good observation.
That makes me think the problem is not the headlight ground as it most likley is adifferent wiree from the ground to the instrument panel.
So then would suspect the power wire to the hi/low switch,
>>>>>
>>>>> (oh, you have 750L, I was looking at 850GL schematic)
>>>>> delete
>>>>> delete

Do you have a volt meter?

Where you located?


Tell us more what you find.

Headlight fuse also powers the instrument lights. You did not describe anything about if instrument lights come on.

>>Later Note
81 750L .... just to verify if I am now looking at proper scehemtic (BassCliff "GS750 16 valve").... you bike has an headlight On-Off switch?
If so:
the Org/Red wire from the Headlight fuse comes into the connector, and is Org wire on otherside of connector that goes to the the left handlebar controil unit On-Off switch.
Gry wire goes back out to the instrument lights.
Inside the left handlebar control is a jumper from the On-Off switch to the Hi-Low switch.
Yel wire goes out to the hi beam (and to hi indicator)
Wht wire goes out to the low beam.

If you have a volt meter, you can check for voltage at those points along the way.
I would suggest that you do not dissassembe the handlebar control unit untill you do determine the problem to be there. It has small parts that can go pawinggg and go to places unknown.

.

 

[jonny five]

Correct, neither the hi nor lo beam turns on. My bike does have a headlight on/off switch, sorry for not mentioning that before. I'm located in Wichita, KS. The fuse was good, and the instrument light cluster illuminated as well.

After studying the wiring diagram for awhile, I decided to dive in with the multimeter and start testing connections. Since the cluster illuminates but the high beam indicator does not, I ruled out the org/red wire from the fuse (even though I tested it as well). I figured it must be the yellow wire, at a minimum. After a few hours of tinkering around, testing, reconnecting, scratching my head, the headlight worked!! I don't know which connecting it was but something was bad apparently. Bummer that I didn't exactly isolate the cause, but I'm just happy it's working. Thanks for the advice and help; I was ready to give up but seeing you guys' willingness to help made me push on!