Headlight out of action

Rode home in rain yesterday ... freakin biblical sh*t ... soaked to the skin .... boots filled with water. Not pleasant.

Washed the bike over as it was covered in grit and crap. Discovered the headlight and side light are now both out. I let it dry out over night and check again.

Reckon that could be a fuse? Mine is a naked S2. Just undo the four screws in the headlight bracket and I can access the bulbs right? Where might I find the fuses just in case it's that.

Any advice welcome as always.

The headlight bulb should be pulled out from the back and requires no tools - just medium to small sized hands. Unplug the wire, and then you can pull the boot from around the bulb off. after that push in and up to pop out the metal clip holding the bulb and then pull the bulb out.

If your contacts are bad then I could see you headlamp failing. Check the contacts if they are okay you may just have bad bulbs. Does the hi and lo beam work? Even if the connectors get wet that is no reason to blow a fuse. The voltage potential is too low for that but if nothing else seems to be amiss then go to your fuses.

I'm assuming you started the bike and found the headlight not working, just to be sure...

Thanks guys ... am off to ferkle with the lektrik bits ... wish me luck. This mustn't take too long as I want to watch the MotoGP. Also want to ride my new bike. I haven't shown you that yet. But I will it's sweeeeeet:thumbup:

Also check the switch, I had the same happen with my rear lights but never figured out the cause. They started working the next day. Only thing I've done since then is put some duct tape on the cracks of the switches on many handlebar

Fixed it .... ghost in the machine ... must've been moisture but I used the opportunity to upgrade to bulbs. Happy days.

The new bike is a Thunderbird 1600 ... Capt. America colour scheme. Loads of chrome and then some more chrome.

Hey Guys,

I pretty much have the same issue going on. I got caught in a down pour yesterday on my way home. When I finally got out of the rain (while still riding) I heard a semi loud popping noise. I soon noticed that I had no headlights (high or low). I pulled the bulbs out today and neither looked bad. No black marks and the filaments looked good. All other lights on the bike are working fine. So is it safe to say the fuse blew?

Nzero said:

Hey Guys,

I pretty much have the same issue going on. I got caught in a down pour yesterday on my way home. When I finally got out of the rain (while still riding) I heard a semi loud popping noise. I soon noticed that I had no headlights (high or low). I pulled the bulbs out today and neither looked bad. No black marks and the filaments looked good. All other lights on the bike are working fine. So is it safe to say the fuse blew?

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If you heard popping noise it may be a shorting wire and the fuse may have blown. Many people forget that you have to start the engine before the headlamp circuit energizes. The other light will light with just the key on. Are you starting the engine?

With it started neither headlight works.

Okay. You'll want to find where the short is. A good place to start would be the headlamp wires, tracing them back through any interim harness plugs. My 1st guess would be a chaffed wire. Find the short and repair the problem. Then replace the fuse. Water wouldn't cause this type of short unless it was very, very salty.

Sent from Moto's Droid using Tapatalk 2 :mikebike:

Today after letting it sit outside in the sun for most of the day. I started it up and both low and high beams worked. So I went for a short ride. At some point during the ride the lights stopped working again.

Nzero said:

Today after letting it sit outside in the sun for most of the day. I started it up and both low and high beams worked. So I went for a short ride. At some point during the ride the lights stopped working again.

Click to expand...

Well now the symptom sounds like an intermittent open. Again trace the wires back toward the harness and plugs. There is a headlamp relay that operates when the engine is started. Key on provides 12 VDC to one side of the coil on the relay. The ECU provides the ground for the relay coil when the engine starts. All of the filaments in both headlights operate using a ground. The common ground for this circuit may be intermittent. Check all wires that are grounded to the frame or engine. IIRK the headlamp relay is under the left side plastic cover by the seat.

See attached picture that is courtesy of another member that was having an electrical problem. The relay on the left is the headlamp relay. Turn the key on and you can make a jumper with a paper clip and jump between heavier red with yellow tracer wire and the heavier green wire. This should light a properly working headlight circuit. If it lights the headlamps with a jumper then either the relay is bad or the signal from the ECU is gone. If you use a paper clip hold it with pliers in case it gets hot.

Since it seems you have working high an low beams when things are working I don't suspect the headlamp plugs because both sides go out at the same time. This seems to be either a ground or supply voltage to the headlamp circuits.

Thanks for the info!:thumbup:

It turned out to be a blown headlight fuse. I would suspect that water got in the relay or something, because I got dumped on. I'm not sure what popped the first day. There must have been some moisture in there since it worked 2 days later that caused the fuse to blow.

Nzero said:

It turned out to be a blown headlight fuse. I would suspect that water got in the relay or something, because I got dumped on. I'm not sure what popped the first day. There must have been some moisture in there since it worked 2 days later that caused the fuse to blow.

Click to expand...

Okay..I'm confused... I can understand that if the fuse blew originally and a piece of the element that creates the fuse bridge reconnected it might re-energize the circuit. Water will not blow a 12 volt headlight fuse. Just not enough current at that voltage unless it was submerged in really salty water.

If you found a blown fuse it blew because of a mechanical short circuit. Example: A chaffed or shorted wire or a lamp failure. There is a high probability the the fuse will blow again until you find the culprit.

Water will mess with small sensor signals, creating crosstalk and small enough current/voltage paths for making problems but not a problem for the headlamp circuit. Although water is conductive it isn't conductive enough unless it is full of a lot of particular contaminants like salt for example to raise it's conductivity and lower resistance.

I'd want to find the problem before it finds me stranded without lights.