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'82 GS1100L headlight question.

  • Thread starter Thread starter whalford1
  • Start date Start date
whalford1 said:
Mystery solved...

I was looking at a download of the owners manual today for information about something else. I just happened to run across a picture of the left side switch pod. The turn signal switch slides sideways for the turn signals. And it slides up/down for the high/low beams.

The picture I saw showed the arrows and labels on the switch pod...which have long disappeared from the switch pod on my bike. So that explains why I didn't think that it had high/low beams.
Click to expand...

Good observation.

Ah... so... what you have is the stock switch, but the lable is gone so you did not recognize it.
(is a posting somewhere where a guys has made reproductions of all the labeling for controls and ignition switch)

You said it was definatly ON and Off.
BUt you thought it was up and down for On and off, but is really hi and low. SO if head light was in fact going on and off, then it must be like others suggested fairly soon, that have low beam burnt out (or other electrcial problem).

At headlight:
Yellow is High Beam
White is Low Beam
Blk/Wht is ground.
Check with meter or test probe.
Or try other headlight bulb.

.
 
Post #5 on the 26th
whalford1 said:
...
....
The headlight switch doesn't move up/down, but instead slides side-to-side. And it's clearly maked "on-off". Plus, there are no other switches for the headlight....
........
Click to expand...

? ? ?

.
 
Redman said:
.
(is a posting somewhere where a guys has made reproductions of all the labeling for controls and ignition switch)

.
Click to expand...

Found it.

Fellow member Frank Z from Austin TX.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=187936

fullset.jpg



He list these as being for 80-81 850 & 1000 & 1100.
But, from memory, I dont see what would be different as compared to my 82 1100GK, other than on 82 the choke is on the left controls, but on some 80s the choke is seperate in center of handlebars.
He says even the font is period correct. I dont know if that might be what is different 80-81 verses other years.

.
 
Last edited:
Redman said:
Post #5 on the 26th

Originally Posted by whalford1
...
....
The headlight switch doesn't move up/down, but instead slides side-to-side. And it's clearly maked "on-off". Plus, there are no other switches for the headlight....
........

? ? ?

.
Click to expand...

Yes, in that post, I was talking about the on/off switch on the right side switch pod. My recent discovery of the high/low beam switch is on the left side switch pod, and is built into the turn signal switch. Which no longer has the labeling.

Which still makes no sense, because after 1979, the headlight should be on all the time. There should be no on/off switch. And that, along with the missing labels, is what caused the confusion.
 
Ah..

Er..









whalford1 said:
....
.....on/off switch on the right side switch pod. .....
Click to expand...

That would be what we often call the "kill switch".
See the lable that I posted above.
THe switch is labled "Engine. OFF RUN" (rocks up and down, doesnt go sideways)

In the Off position It kills power to ignition (and starter button) only.
Does not effect the lights or anything else.

(I am refering to stock wiring of course).

.



.
 
Last edited:
No, that's not the kill switch. I know what the kill switch is, and the switch I'm talking about is a different switch. And the switch I'm talking about does indeed turn the headlight off and on. I've changed the position of both switches, and observed the results.
 
whalford1 said:
No, that's not the kill switch. I know what the kill switch is, and the switch I'm talking about is a different switch. And the switch I'm talking about does indeed turn the headlight off and on. I've changed the position of both switches, and observed the results.
Click to expand...

Oh. Okay.

Stock arrangment on right side is the kill switch and starter button, and that is all that there is on right side (electrically, well, there is the brake switch).

So, now that things are clarified, I suspect someone added the On-Off switch in the head light circuit.

(and left side, as discussed before, is the horn button and the combination up/down for hi/low and sideways for turnsignals, that you now understand.)

.
 
Last edited:
Redman said:
So, now that things are clarified, I suspect someone added the On-Off switch in the head light circuit.

.
Click to expand...

The switch wasn't added to the switch pod. It's built into it from the factory, just like all the other switches. Whether the switch pod was added later and came from another bike, well that is to be determined. But it is a factory switch. And at least one or two other people said that their 80s GS bikes also had on/off switches.

But regardless, it's a moot point now, since it's been figured out.
 
Yep, so you found main answer, and this is that you do have a hi-low switch (just that the lableing has been worn away) that we expect, and in addition you also have on-off switch (that we would not expect) on the right.

Looking at schematic of 79 GS850G (only one I have that has on-off light swtich), it appears that the on-off switch is on the left controls.


.
 
whalford1 said:
Mystery solved...

I was looking at a download of the owners manual today for information about something else. I just happened to run across a picture of the left side switch pod. The turn signal switch slides sideways for the turn signals. And it slides up/down for the high/low beams.

The picture I saw showed the arrows and labels on the switch pod...which have long disappeared from the switch pod on my bike. So that explains why I didn't think that it had high/low beams.
Click to expand...
Obviously you missed my post #4 from September 26. :-k

Steve said:
As far as the high/low switch, try moving the turn signal switch up and down. If that is what you are calling an on/off switch, it's possible that one of the beams is burned out.

.
Click to expand...
icon_shrug.gif


.
 
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