Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech No headlight

Lack of riding and the bike sitting up have finally taken its toll...she's got no headlight. Got 12V at the connector in the bucket, relay okay and so is the spare relay, dimmer switch seems fine as it is switching the dash and the connector in the bucket. Fuse meters okay. Engine spins freely when started and fires right up (not that it matters because it doesn't have to dim the headlight). The new H4 lamp lights when voltage (from external battery) directly applied to tabs.

Ideas?

My last riding opportunity until Sept. 17th is tomorrow.

Seems like I am not the only one. Cinnamon Girl's has been out since this years GA Rally. Been running with the driving light bar only.


I can say that if I take the lens off and then put it back the light works for a time. Unlike you I have not tried to troubleshoot it further than that.

Does it work on high beam?

If everything else checks out OK, did also you try another bulb?

Since you have power at the headlight connector, check the ground lead also for continuity with the frame.

Ground was my first thought too.

Yep, poor ground was mine too. Got really bright light on both lamp inputs using the ground in the harness and an external wire from the relay input so the ground is fine. Can't find a scrape or rub spot on the harness around the bucket but I'm down to a broken wire or a corroded connector...

I'm getting voltage to the headlight socket but not enough current to light the lamp. As soon as I plug the lamp in the voltage falls to zero, gotta be a duff wire run. I'm going to build a wire to bypass the hi/lo switch today and see how that does.

EDIT: Even though the relay tested good and worked out of the circuit on the bench it was depleted...too much carbon build up on the contacts. So, a clean relay socket and a new relay repaired the problem.

O'Reilly Auto Parts: BWD brand #R3177 relay is a direct replacement.

Thanks for the update Ed. Only a matter of time before you solved it.

Maybe Jim will wander down to the local O'Reilly store and part with $12. Sure chased my tail this time because I didn't think to put the load into the bench test. Good lesson.