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i basically took my bike apart. i put it back together and something strange is going on.
i turned the switch on and the turn signals flashed for a while, then turned off. i noticed none of the running lights were on, except the one on top of the front fender. No tailight or license pate light.
the brake and turn signals work, and so do the high and lo headlight beam.
i messed around turning the hazard light on and off, pressing the trun signals multiple times and stuff like that,
now the tailight and license plate come on.
everything works except the front running lights. (the turn signals are supposed to stay lit and mine dont) but the turn signals work when i press the switches.
The first thing to check are the front turn signal bulbs. They are a dual filament bulb; an 1157 bulb. The tall filament is for the running lights and the short filament is for the turn signals. Make sure the bulbs are good.
If the tall filament is broken and the short filament is intact you will get your situation where the turn signals work but the running lights don't. If you have a good 1157 bulb you can see if it works. That will confirm that your bulbs are bad.
Have you checked the bulb sockets with a voltmeter? Both contacts at the base of the socket should have 12VDC. If one of them does not then that is probably the contact for the running light filament.
i basically took my bike apart. i put it back together and something strange is going on.
.
What do you mean by, "basically took my bike apart"....?
If you mean that literally, than obviously you put something back together wrong or an electrical connector didn't go back together correclty....
I'd check to make sure all grounds are clean, tight, and properly attached where applicable...
Then while following Bone Doc's advice.. once you find the wire(s) that don't have power... follow them back to their 12V source, checking each and every connector along that path... It is not uncommon for some of the HD connectors to get a bent pin during reassembly.
One thing I would add.... I had my lights start doing weird things once... it turned out to be a 14 year old Run /Turn/Brake module. If you have one, I would disconnect it and see if the lights go back to proper OEM operation...
Good luck with your diagnosis... Bone Doc will help you find it...
First, hattitude has good advice for any electrical problem involving lights.
Check the cable connections at the battery and the frame ground to make sure they are clean and tight. With lights, if you have a run/brake/turn module disconnect it to eliminate it as the problem.
If the bulbs and sockets check out fine, it's time to look at wires and connectors and it becomes more of a PITA. I don't have a wiring schematic for your bike. You mentioned the blue wire has no voltage at the connector under the tank. Are you sure that is the wire that carries the 12VDC for the front running lights? If so, follow and check that wire from the connector to it's voltage source. Look for shorts, breaks in insulation, areas it can be pinched. If you find the voltage source you can test the wire for continuity and a short to ground via its resistance.
Thanks for all the advice folks. I hate working with electricity because you cant see it, and I have very little patience. most times I need to step away and think about it.
so i checked the blue wires at the connector under the tank, and TODAY I got power, NEXT i connected the connector and still no running lights, but the turn signals work.
so I pull the connector apart and I am pretty sure I put the ground wire in the wrong way and when I pushed the bulb in, the ground wire connector gets pushed back out and loses the ground.
I wiggled the black wire and boom, the running light comes on and stays on.
so no I need to look for the video to see hot exactly that black wire goes into its place, or maybe someone knows?
Now all this is rather straight forward and simple when you think about it.
EXCEPT for the fact that the turn signal filament in the bulb worked before I discovered this.
I would love an explanation for that, the ground is the same?
either way, the problem has been diagnosed, (I Hope) and I'm glad it wasnt the wires I put inside the handlebars because i really didn't want to pull those out.
here are a couple of pictures, and a link to some wiring diagrams that might help somebody in the future.
There you go... progress. Glad you got it figured out. When dealing with connectors it is not uncommon for pins to get pushed back, bent or somehow affected where no connection is made.
In an 1157 bulb, there is a common ground for the running light and the turn signals. At the bottom of the bulb is a separate contact for each 12VDC input. The metal base of the bulb (the part the glass goes into) is the ground for both.
I could not rest with the lingering question of why the turn signals worked.
so after some thought i came to realize I had the ground wire in correctly after all.
the problem I had was that the clocking of the little white plastic piece that hold the 2 other wires, the blue and purple wires, was wrong. the little white disc with 2 holes in it has a "tab" that must be aligned correctly.
installing this is not idiot proof, it can go in 4 different ways. the correct way to install it is with the "tab" in the "slot" opposite the ground wire.
Now i can rest easy. the problem has been solved and a valuable lesson has been learned.
the lesson for me is to pay closer attention to minor things like this when I tear stuff apart. I tend to think I have a great memory and that I "can always figure stuff out".
well I figured it out all right, but it would have been a whole lot easier and quicker if I had just paid attention when taking it apart.
below is a picture of the "white disc" in the socket correctly. hope this helps somebody in the future.
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2005 softail running light dont work
