Headlight doesn't work

n0other · Mar 28, 2013

I've noticed my headlight doesn't work - no low/high beam, running light works though. With ignition ON, I've checked the 3 pin connector coming to the bulb and there's no voltage in there. The manual states to check the wiring from bulb to dimmer switch, the dimmer switch itself and headlight relay under the fairing.

The wiring I've no idea how to check, it's all wrapped up and tight, but it doesn't look like something's severed (and the lamp worked before winterizing the bike!). Dimmer switch - when bike is running I can light up high beam indicator in the dash, when ignition is ON I can only light high beam indicator when pressing the passing/flasher light button, horn, turn signals work so I think it's pretty unlikely something's wrong at the dimmer switch.

Now onto the headlight relay, my manual states to check resistance/connectivity between red/yellow and green wires, should be none with no voltage applied to the other two pins - that is what I get. I also get voltage in the relay connector..

Fuses are all fine.

Any ideas how to approach headlight high/low beam connector not having voltage?

Thanks

Motogiro · Mar 28, 2013

Both filaments may be broken in the lamp or the ground has been lost. Motor must be running for the headlamp relay to be operative. I have seen members loose the ground path for the headlamp relay. This path is provided through the ECU.

n0other · Mar 28, 2013

The connector that attaches to the lamp does not supply voltage, without that I didn't even check the bulb. If I remember correctly, motor can be switched off and low beam would work, it needs to be running only for the high beam to work, is that correct?

Could you expand on your last sentence please? Do you mean the green wire from the headlight relay doesn't have connectivity to the ECU?

Motogiro said:
Both filaments may be broken in the lamp or the ground has been lost. Motor must be running for the headlamp relay to be operative. I have seen members loose the ground path for the headlamp relay. This path is provided through the ECU.

Motogiro · Mar 28, 2013

n0other said:
The connector that attaches to the lamp does not supply voltage, without that I didn't even check the bulb. If I remember correctly, motor can be switched off and low beam would work, it needs to be running only for the high beam to work, is that correct?

Could you expand on your last sentence please? Do you mean the green wire from the headlight relay doesn't have connectivity to the ECU?

Unless the earlier years were different. The motor should be running in order for the headlamp relay to work. If you have a European bike you'll have a passing button for the high beam and I believe this circuit to be momentary voltage supplied the to high beam filament regardless of the headlamp relay. I have a Suzuki and it also has the passing light button but my headlamp circuit is different from the FZ6. A quick easy confirmation would be to start the motor and check for voltage at the lamp and if present check your lamp.

If there is no voltage you'll have to trouble shoot backwards toward the headlamp relay.

n0other · Mar 31, 2013

Okay, so here's the deal.

The bulb is H4 type, voltage is passed to the bulb connector when the engine is running. Bulb is structurally intact and there's connectivity when testing with a multimeter between legs, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Bulb connector has three wires: black, black/green, black/yellow. According to the wiring diagram black/green is high beam, black/yellow is low.

When the low beam is ON, voltage is supplied to black/green (high beam??) wire, when the high beam is ON, voltage is supplied to BOTH, black/yellow and black/green wires. Also, when the bulb is plugged in, no matter what beam setting on the dimmer switch, high beam indicator is light up in the dash.

Now according to this H4 pinout "diagram" I've found my understanding is that voltage should be supplied to either high or low beam wires and never to both, is that correct?

In this case, am I likely to have a faulty headligh relay? Visually headlight relay looks identical to the radiator fan relay, I'm entertaining the possibility that these were mixed up and I'd try to switch them places, any thoughts on that?

EDIT: the relays are identical as far as their appearance and all the codes written on them go, I've switched them in places and nothing changed, I'm a bit lost now.

n0other · Mar 31, 2013

I'm now thinking it's the bulb, will buy another one and see if it helps. I've found a test procedure with a multimeter

no resistance between eighter beam pin and ground
infinite resistance between beam pins

I get no resistance between them all.

Motogiro · Mar 31, 2013

Black with the green is your low beam and black with the yellow is your high beam.

Looking at the back of the plug:
Left side is ground-black wire.
Center/top is black with green-low beam
Right is black with yellow-high beam

n0other · Mar 31, 2013

Motogiro said:
Black with the green is your low beam and black with the yellow is your high beam.

Looking at the back of the plug:
Left side is ground-black wire.
Center/top is black with green-low beam
Right is black with yellow-high beam

Motogiro is correct, the manual is wrong.

Heya Motogiro, that is not correct at least for 2004, black/yellow is low beam and black/green is high beam, part of the problem was that I've mixed them up in my naked conversion last year, full problem was the bulb. Black/yellow should be the top wire of your bulb connector.

Yes, embarrassing as it is the bulb was faulty, even though when testing the working/non-working bulb with multimeter I get all the same results and the faulty bulb didn't have any filaments broken.

To anyone reading this - swap in a replacement bulb first regardless of what you think of your current one and save yourself the troubleshooting!

Incorrect, the manual is wrong! The reverse is true, ignore below

Excerpt from the service manual regarding high/low beam color codes.

bd43 · Mar 31, 2013

n0other said:
Okay, so here's the deal.

The bulb is H4 type, voltage is passed to the bulb connector when the engine is running. Bulb is structurally intact and there's connectivity when testing with a multimeter between legs, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Bulb connector has three wires: black, black/green, black/yellow. According to the wiring diagram black/green is high beam, black/yellow is low.

When the low beam is ON, voltage is supplied to black/green (high beam??) wire, when the high beam is ON, voltage is supplied to BOTH, black/yellow and black/green wires. Also, when the bulb is plugged in, no matter what beam setting on the dimmer switch, high beam indicator is light up in the dash.

Now according to this H4 pinout "diagram" I've found my understanding is that voltage should be supplied to either high or low beam wires and never to both, is that correct?

In this case, am I likely to have a faulty headligh relay? Visually headlight relay looks identical to the radiator fan relay, I'm entertaining the possibility that these were mixed up and I'd try to switch them places, any thoughts on that?

EDIT: the relays are identical as far as their appearance and all the codes written on them go, I've switched them in places and nothing changed, I'm a bit lost now.

The H4 side should only have two wires going to it unless you have done a headlight mod to it. The two wire colors are black and black/yellow. The black is battery ground so if you were to measure the voltage from that black wire at the connector to the negative of the battery, you should see 0v. Anything more and that tells you that the ground is bad.

When the bike is running, and the high beam selector switch is on high beam, there should be voltage from the black/yellow wire to the black wire or to the negative of the battery.

What did you find?

bd43 · Mar 31, 2013

n0other said:
Heya Motogiro, that is not correct at least for 2004, black/yellow is low beam and black/green is high beam, part of the problem was that I've mixed them up in my naked conversion last year, full problem was the bulb. Black/yellow should be the top wire of your bulb connector.

Yes, embarrassing as it is the bulb was faulty, even though when testing the working/non-working bulb with multimeter I get all the same results and the faulty bulb didn't have any filaments broken.

To anyone reading this - swap in a replacement bulb first regardless of what you think of your current one and save yourself the troubleshooting!

Excerpt from the service manual regarding high/low beam color codes.

The manual is wrong, they fixed it in the 2007 edition.

n0other · Mar 31, 2013

Yeah, I'm using an MT03 headlight with H4 bulb, unless I messed remembering the voltages supplied are as specified below (running engine)

When the low beam is ON, voltage is supplied to black/green wire, when the high beam is ON, voltage is supplied to BOTH, black/yellow and black/green wires. Also, when the bulb is plugged in, no matter what beam setting on the dimmer switch, high beam indicator is light up in the dash.

I'll be able to recheck a bit later since the headlight's been reassembled now and works as intended.

n0other · Mar 31, 2013

bd43 said:
The manual is wrong, they fixed it in the 2007 edition.

Are you sure? Having connected this way (according to the manual) I get high/low beams as per dimmer switch setting. Maybe 07 bikes have different wire color codes as well as changed manual?

bd43 · Mar 31, 2013

n0other said:
Are you sure? Having connected this way (according to the manual) I get high/low beams as per dimmer switch setting. Maybe 07 bikes have different wire color codes as well as changed manual?

If you follow the black/yellow wire from the bulb back up to the switch in the wiring diagram, it connects to the high beam side of the switch. This is the same wiring diagram for all the years. The label would appear to be wrong for the 2004 and 2006 manuals.

n0other · Mar 31, 2013

bd43 said:
If you follow the black/yellow wire from the bulb back up to the switch in the wiring diagram, it connects to the high beam side of the switch. This is the same wiring diagram for all the years. The label would appear to be wrong for the 2004 and 2006 manuals.

That makes a lot of sense and was the cause of my confusion seeing voltage always supplied to the "high beam wire" (if the manual is wrong it should be low beam as you state). I'll go and fix this now.

By the way, any place where these revisions/errata are documented?

EDIT: you were right, thanks for letting me know now, you guys saved me a failed MOT test. No idea why I thought hight/low beam configuration with black/yellow as low beam feed was correct, not enough clearance in garage to see properly maybe...

Motogiro · Mar 31, 2013

n0other said:
That makes a lot of sense and was the cause of my confusion seeing voltage always supplied to the "high beam wire" (if the manual is wrong it should be low beam as you state). I'll go and fix this now.

By the way, any place where these revisions/errata are documented?

EDIT: you were right, thanks for letting me know now, you guys saved me a failed MOT test. No idea why I thought hight/low beam configuration with black/yellow as low beam feed was correct, not enough clearance in garage to see properly maybe...

Now that you've got the correct configuration, test your low beam to see that it turns off when the high beam is activated you should not have the high and low beam filaments turned on at the same time unless you using the momentary passing button. Your high beam indicator light should also go out if your wires are correct.
Yes I knew the earlier manual was wrong!

Headlight doesn't work

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