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no headlight,horn,turn sig, brake lights

  • Thread starter Thread starter fuelcat
  • Start date Start date
F

fuelcat

Guest
I have been going crazy for the past few days trying to figure this out. My head light, turn signals, brake lights and horn will not go on. Could it be the switches on the handle bars? I have a multi meter and I have the wire diagrams but I dont know were to start. It is very frustrating! At on point I wiggled the wires that were going from my handlebars to the headlight and the lights flashed on but then nothing after that. nothing looks loose nothing looks damaged.
 
fuelcat said:
I have been going crazy for the past few days trying to figure this out. My head light, turn signals, brake lights and horn will not go on. Could it be the switches on the handle bars? I have a multi meter and I have the wire diagrams but I dont know were to start. It is very frustrating! At on point I wiggled the wires that were going from my handlebars to the headlight and the lights flashed on but then nothing after that. nothing looks loose nothing looks damaged.
Click to expand...

How are the fuses?
 
Killer2600 said:
How are the fuses?
Click to expand...
I checked them and they seem fine. I am going to get new ones just in case. I have a volt meter that lights up and It lights up when I touch the connections at the headlight and the horn. I put new handlebars on and I was going to put new turn signals on but when I turned the bike on to look at the turn signals I noticed the head light did not go on. The signals on the right side flashed for a minute then stopped. I thought it was the handle bars because they are black and I thought maybe the controls were not getting good grounding so I changed the handle bars back and nothing changed.
 
fuelcat said:
I checked them and they seem fine. ...
Click to expand...
You can not rely on "seem". CHECK.

You then say you have a volt meter, use it. Connect one lead to the battery negative, use the other to probe various points. Check your fuses, if they are good, move to the contact in the bottom of the light sockets. If they are good, put the lights in see if you have voltage on the outside of the socket. If you do, you have a ground problem.

.
 
fuelcat said:
I have been going crazy for the past few days trying to figure this out. My head light, turn signals, brake lights and horn will not go on. Could it be the switches on the handle bars? I have a multi meter and I have the wire diagrams but I dont know were to start. It is very frustrating! At on point I wiggled the wires that were going from my handlebars to the headlight and the lights flashed on but then nothing after that. nothing looks loose nothing looks damaged.
Click to expand...

Hum. Headlight is a different fuse circuit (Head light fuse) than the other items (signal fuse) so you are looking for a problem that can effect multiple circuits at one time, like a loose connector that has multiple circuits in it.

Pulll out your headlight. Is a few connectors in there. Pull off tank, is a few connectors under there. Maybe start with the ones on that wiring harness that you mentioned.

You mentioned the brake light didnt work, you did not mention the tail light. THose would both have the same ground, so I do not suspect a ground problem in your case here.

You have multiple circuits that are not working,
Maybe pick one and follow that circuit and test around with your meter.
For example: The brake light and the instrument lights get thier power from the orange/green wire. And the orange/green wire gets its power from a jumper in a connector from the green wire. Maybe can find that connector with the orange/green wire and the green wire, and check for power there on either of those. Meter + on those and meter - on battery neg.

Or headlight low beam. Low beam is the white wire. Headlight switch gets its power from yellow/white wire that plugs into a orange/red wire that goes to ... ah ... the same connector I described above. Humm.

Tell us more what you find.
 
Mystery solved!!! Yay!

Mystery solved!!! Yay!

Redman said:
Hum. Headlight is a different fuse circuit (Head light fuse) than the other items (signal fuse) so you are looking for a problem that can effect multiple circuits at one time, like a loose connector that has multiple circuits in it.

Pulll out your headlight. Is a few connectors in there. Pull off tank, is a few connectors under there. Maybe start with the ones on that wiring harness that you mentioned.

You mentioned the brake light didnt work, you did not mention the tail light. THose would both have the same ground, so I do not suspect a ground problem in your case here.

You have multiple circuits that are not working,
Maybe pick one and follow that circuit and test around with your meter.
For example: The brake light and the instrument lights get thier power from the orange/green wire. And the orange/green wire gets its power from a jumper in a connector from the green wire. Maybe can find that connector with the orange/green wire and the green wire, and check for power there on either of those. Meter + on those and meter - on battery neg.

Or headlight low beam. Low beam is the white wire. Headlight switch gets its power from yellow/white wire that plugs into a orange/red wire that goes to ... ah ... the same connector I described above. Humm.

Tell us more what you find.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU REDMAN! THANK YOU STEVE! THANK YOU KILLER! I FOUND THE PROBLEM:D

I had disconnected a Ground wire that was grounding to the airbox when I changed the air filter. SHWWWOOO!! I am glad that is over! Now I can move on to the next thing. I appreciate every one that tried to help me with this. Now excuse me while I do a victory dance!
 
fuelcat said:
....
....I had disconnected a Ground wire that was grounding to the airbox when I changed the air filter. .....!
Click to expand...

Grounding the air box....?
Maybe battery box (by the starter solenoid)?
Maybe top of frame under the seat behind the battery?

Oh, you never did say what bike (and there are some differences.)

But congratulations.

.
 
Last edited:
Redman said:
Grounding the air box....?
Maybe battery box (by the starter solenoid)?
Maybe top of frame under the seat behind the battery?

Oh, you never did say what bike (and there are some differences.)

But congratulations.

.
Click to expand...
It is a 1981 gs550l. Yes weird there was a ground on the bolt that holds the airbox to a bracket on the frame on the carb side
 
fuelcat said:
It is a 1981 gs550l. Yes weird there was a ground on the bolt that holds the airbox to a bracket on the frame on the carb side
Click to expand...

Maybe someone added an extra ground and didn't think the frame or engine casing was cool enough. Some folks just need to be weird I guess. :p
 
Gonzo said:
Maybe someone added an extra ground and didn't think the frame or engine casing was cool enough. Some folks just need to be weird I guess. :p
Click to expand...

I was noticing that the bolt was getting pretty warm. Is that something to worry about?
 
fuelcat said:
It is a 1981 gs550l. Yes weird there was a ground on the bolt that holds the airbox to a bracket on the frame on the carb side
Click to expand...

Or...that is not grounding the air box ... that IS THE ground connection to the bike frame.

I do not know 550L, but On 850G and 1100G is a ground wire like that in about similar location but is on the frame just above the airbox (under seat, behind battery box, on top of frame). And this is were THE black/white ground wire in the wiring harness is connected to the frame. So it could be said that if the ground wire is not grounded to the frame it can not function as a ground wire.

.
 
Redman said:
Or...that is not grounding the air box ... that IS THE ground connection to the bike frame.

I do not know 550L, but On 850G and 1100G is a ground wire like that in about similar location but is on the frame just above the airbox (under seat, behind battery box, on top of frame). And this is were THE black/white ground wire in the wiring harness is connected to the frame. So it could be said that if the ground wire is not grounded to the frame it can not function as a ground wire.

.
Click to expand...

I will relocate it to the spot you are talking about because that make more sense to me.
 
fuelcat said:
I will relocate it to the spot you are talking about because that make more sense to me.
Click to expand...

Naw, dont bother, that is not my point.

My point is that wire is not there to ground the air box. It is there for the wire to be grounded to the frame.

.
 
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