Tail Light Not Working Anymore.. =(

So I was out riding the other day and I just realized that I have got no tail light; the brake lights work though and I believe I know the reason why its not working but I can't figure out a solution. Anybody wanna chime in and help? =( I can't find the answer in the search.

A few weeks ago I changed out both my rear and front turn signals to LED's and simply just split the wires in and now they flash very fast which I don't mind and I also changed the license plate light to LED as well.

I can't figure out how to get my tail light working again... =(

Just FYI; my turn signals work, brake light work but I have no front running lights if that helps at all.

Leds cause rapid flashing because they use less power than the regular 1156/7 bulbs... You need an inline resistor to fix that... Did you use the appropriate replacement for the front signal lights (1157 bulb)? My '09 uses a wedge dual filiment bulb for the front turnsignals/running lights... Did you check the bulb in the rear light to see that both filiments are still good?...

TechnicalNonsense said:

So I was out riding the other day and I just realized that I have got no tail light; the brake lights work though and I believe I know the reason why its not working but I can't figure out a solution. Anybody wanna chime in and help? =( I can't find the answer in the search.

A few weeks ago I changed out both my rear and front turn signals to LED's and simply just split the wires in and now they flash very fast which I don't mind and I also changed the license plate light to LED as well.

I can't figure out how to get my tail light working again... =(

Just FYI; my turn signals work, brake light work but I have no front running lights if that helps at all.

Click to expand...

If your flasher is working then your running light circuit should also be live.
The original front directional lights were dual filament incandescent bulbs that were fed by the running light circuit and the flasher circuit. Most LED replacements don't use the running light circuit in the front so people just go without them. If your license plate light is lit then I suspect that your tail lamp bulb has a broken filament. There are also 2 filaments in your tail lamp bulb. The filament that lights from the running light circuit may have broken but the filament for the brake light in the bulb is still good.

If you find this is the case you should replace it with the Yamaha OEM replacement because the filament have a stronger mechanical bridge that give it longer life because if vibration on the motorcycle. You can also get a replacement bulb # 1157 at any automotive parts place but make sure you get a heavy duty replacement. Also keep in mind the regular 1157 lamp may not produce as many lumins of brightness as the OEM.
Hope this helps!

The best way to get your flash rate back to normal is swap out the OEM flasher for an electronic type This way you don't have to play with resistors (in parallel) to emulate an incandescent bulb current draw.

Here's a link to one for $8.95

LS1-S-Flat

Super Bright LEDs - Electronic LED Flashers Specifications

So I realized what the problem was. =/

I was being a little thick and looking for answers in all the wrong places instead of the obvious; turns out the tail light bulb was burnt out. -.- went ahead and replaced it with an 1157 bulb and its as good as well.

But thank you again for all your inputs; glad to know this forum has so many helpful members.

Motogiro said:

There are also 2 filaments in your tail lamp bulb. The filament that lights from the running light circuit may have broken but the filament for the brake light in the bulb is still good.

Click to expand...

Heya, I have a problem with my tail light (brake light works) and number plate lightning, flashers work. You mention a running light circuit, could you please expand on that, is this one of the relays on the left of the bike, above rear wheel?

There are 4 relays there, from left to right: turn signals, radiator fan, dimmer, starting circuit cut-off relay (biggest). Could you also expand on the function of dimmer and starting circuit cut-off relays?

Also, my high beam doesn't work, but that's probably because of the MT-03 headlight conversion I had done. Could someone please tell if high beam should work with ignition on, motor off? I can't start it at the moment.

Maybe high beam, tail running light and number plate light all feed off a single circuit/relay, mmm?

Thanks!

n0other said:

Heya, I have a problem with my tail light (brake light works) and number plate lightning, flashers work. You mention a running light circuit, could you please expand on that, is this one of the relays on the left of the bike, above rear wheel?

There are 4 relays there, from left to right: turn signals, radiator fan, dimmer, starting circuit cut-off relay (biggest). Could you also expand on the function of dimmer and starting circuit cut-off relays?

Also, my high beam doesn't work, but that's probably because of the MT-03 headlight conversion I had done. Could someone please tell if high beam should work with ignition on, motor off? I can't start it at the moment.

Maybe high beam, tail running light and number plate light all feed off a single circuit/relay, mmm?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Mystery solved.. it was actually:

* Faulty multimeter - did not show the voltage
* Faulty tail light bulb - lower powered thread was broken
* Faulty licence plate bulb - didn't notice at first.

n0other said:

Mystery solved.. it was actually:

* Faulty multimeter - did not show the voltage
* Faulty tail light bulb - lower powered thread was broken
* Faulty licence plate bulb - didn't notice at first.

Click to expand...

And yes the headlamp circuit needs the engine to start before the ECU enables the headlamp relay to operate. After the engine has started you can hit the kill switch to shut off the engine and then the headlamps will remain on as long as the ignition switch is on.