I hope the moderators will forgive me posting this here as well as in the tech forum, but this forum gets so much more traffic. I've got a 2009 Road King Classic with headlight problems.

History: Several months after adding my 16" PYO Monkey Bars, I realized that my headlight was not working in the low beam setting. Also a problem with the left turn signal. Took it back to the shop that installed the bars and they, after much checking, were able to locate a short in the internal wiring and get the lights working . . . at least long enough for me to pass the safety inspection. About a week later, however, headlight was once again not working in low beam setting (high beam worked fine). Left turn signal worked intermittently.

It comes time to register the bike again, and I once again must pass a safety inspection. The lights must be fixed. I decide that rather than going back to the same place, I ought to try it myself. I get the wires out, find the short, re-solder the connection, and pull the wires back through the bars. It appeared that the headlight problem was fixed, but there was a short somewhere else. I can't remember what the new short was. I pulled the wires back out, found the new short, re-pulled the wires and, now . . .

Current situation: My headlight does not illuminate at all, either in the low beam or high beam setting. I have had the lamp checked. It's good. I've check the fuse. It's good. I've tested the continuity from the switch to the housing. It's good. Have I failed to connect something? What would now be causing the headlight not to illuminate at all? Tailights come one. Left turn signal works.

 

check the ground on the headlight plug.

2.) soldered joints do not do well on motorcycles- the vibrations cause the wire strands to break right where the tinning ends.


Mike

 

Thanks for that suggestion. Can you help me locate the ground for the headlight plug?

Also, if not solder, how should the joints be connected? The shop the did the initial replacement soldered the joints, and that was the indicated procedure in the instructions from Yaffe.

 

yeah, great for show bikes...soldered joints do not hold up, which is why crimped terminal are used on cars and bikes.

I solder for a living and thought i was really ahead of the game when I built my first wiring harness in 1990...lots of really nice solder joints...and shrink wrap tubing which really only concealed the broken wires once they went.

starting about 3 months in I had stuff going intermittent

so then i made a 2nd wiring harness....it is still working

the headlight plug should have 3 wires, you shoul dhave 12 volts to the white and yellow ( low and high beam, when switch is the correct way) and the black goes to a solid chassis ground.

A poor ground is a major cause of flickering, then blown lights

mike

 

I really appreciate your help, and patience with my ignorance.

The switch has three wires: blue, yellow, and white.
The headlamp housing has three wires: yellow, black, and white.

Here's what my continuity tester does:

When connected to the blue wire at the switch, with the switch in the "Hi Beam" position: Illuminates only when touched to the headlamp housing where the white wire connects.

When connected to the blue wire at the switch, with the switch in the "Low Beam" position: Illuminates when touched to the headlamp housing where the yellow wire connects, and where the black wire connects. Also connects when touched to ground on bike frame.

When connected to the yellow wire at the switch, regardless of switch position: Illuminates when touched to the headlamp housing where the yellow wire connects, and where the black wire connects. Also illuminates when touched to ground on bike frame.

When connected to the white wire at the switch, regardless of switch position: Illuminates when touched to any connection on the headlamp housing and when touched to ground on the bike frame.

 

Crimped connections are faster and easy to install, which is why they are used. Solder connections are stronger, less resistance, and will hold for years if done right. Breaking is either a cold solder joint or too high of heat setting on iron making the copper brittle...
I did 12" extension on my internals on my Honda and never had a single issue, even with pulling and removing the wires several times over the years.

 

The situation is different now than it was this morning, and not better. Now -- nothing on the left side works: no left turn signal, no high or low beam, no horn, no cruise control. On the right side, the run switch and the ignition switch both still work, but not the right turn signal.

I have removed, inspected, and replaced (the same) lighting relay, headlamp fuse, and lighting fuse. I took the lighting relay over to my dealer, hoping they could either test it or replace it. The guy at the parts counter said they couldn't test it and that if my turn signals and tail lights were working, there was nothing wrong with the lighting relay. I therefore brought it home and put it back in. Other than that, I can't think of anything else I've done, besides more tests.

I picked up a multi-meter and tested for voltage at the headlamp housing -- nothing (not surprising). I have twelve volts in the blue wire at the left handlebar plug (both sides) and nothing at the switch. I re-tested the continuity and it appears that my earlier continuity test of that wire was erroneous. There is a short in that wire. Grrr . . .

I guess that means removing the wires . . . again . . . fixing the short . . . again . . . and pulling the wires . . . again. At this point I am inclined to take it to the dealer and let them do it. I just cannot seem to get the wires pulled without shorting out one or more of them. The part that really confuses me, still, is why the other controls (turn signal, etc.) worked this morning but don't work now.

Any ideas??

 

OK, I figured I might as well update this so that if anyone else happens to search the forum with the same problem, they'll see how I resolved it.

Regarding the loss of the turn signals, horn, and cruise control: I blew the fuse somehow in my testing process. The accessory fuse, not the lighting fuse or relay, was blown. Replacing that restored function of the signals, etc.

Regarding the headlight/wiring issue: I did give up and take it into the dealer. They had it done the next day. They rewired with a whole new wiring assembly. Set me back a couple hundred bucks, but worth the resolution of my frustration and still much less expensive than it would have been to send them to Yaffe and have them do it. Quicker too.

 

Are these the bars with the 90 dg at the top on each side going to the grips? If so, there may be your problem and it will pop up again. Where the two pieces of pipes are welded together, there are sharp corners that can't be debured once its welded. This is why I will never use the apes with the 90 dg welded bends. I use the mandrel bent bars and have never had a problem with chafing wire causing shorts. I've ha apes on every bike I've owned since the 60's, and that's been a lot. I must agree those bars do look good though.

 

Here are the bars --



They do have the 90 degree angles, top and bottom. I'm sure that's the primary factor, both in the difficulty pulling the bars and existence of the short.