Headlight won't light

[psorboy]

I have a 82 GS550L and the headlight won't work. I went to drive it one morning and the light flickered and then disappeared along with the guage lights. I checked the fuse and it was okay. I connected +12V to the headlight and both the HI and LO beam work. Turn signals, brake light, horn, position indicator, and neutral light works. Oil light works when you turn on the bike so I used that position to check the speedometer, high beam, and tach bulbs and they both work. I checked continuity and thought that I had a problem with the yellow wire. However, I unplugged every connector in the headlight housing and continuity checked out okay. I have a new turn signal switch (installed early this year) and checked that to make sure nothing was shorted. So basically everything works except the headlight. I traced +12V to the Orange-Red wire but when I plug in the 2 pin Yellow-white wire the +12V disappears. However continuity on the yellow-white wire appear okay including not being shorted to anything else. So, I'm currently beyond fustrasted and not sure what to do. I know one solution is to bypass the wiring and make my own wiring into the switch to the headlight. I know a snip here and there would fix the problem.

[cowboyup3371]

When you checked the fuse did you just look at it? The glass tube fuses can break under the caps. Bulb is still good?

With that said, are you sure you re-connected everything correctly? Do you have a copy of the wiring diagram? Don't just snip here and there, actually look at the thing and work from there. Basscliff will be along later with the official welcome; til then check out his site: http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

[psorboy]

The fuses were the first thing I checked with an ohm-meter. I do have a manual and was looking at the 82 GS550L (US) wiring diagram. The headlight bulb is good as that was the 2nd thing I checked. I've had other wiring issues with the bike earlier this year of which I had fixed those and those issues were traceable by a hard short. This one isn't adding up with a specific hard short. It also doesn't help that all bulbs are good and working when I plug then into the oil lamp socket..

[Steve]

Remove your headlight, but leave it plugged in.

Turn the ignition key ON, so that your light would come ON, if everything was correct.

Connect a test light or voltmeter (test light is quicker) to your headlight power wires, you should see them go ON or OFF, depending on the position of the dimmer switch.

Without changing anything, move your test light (voltmeter) to the GROUND wire for the headlight. If you still have power there, you have a bad ground wire.

Also be aware that using the turn signals/horn/brake lights as a tool to verify that the headlight should work is useless. They are fed by different fuses.

.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. psorboy,

Now let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS lovin'.

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Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

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BassCliff