lighting issue
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Joined: Feb 2015
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From: St. Louis
lighting issue
so, my headlight and taillight does not work on my 93 883. The headlight bulb looks good, but couldn't find out how to test it with the three prongs? The brake light works as it should, and the blinkers have been removed from the bike before I had it. I hear a click coming from under the seat while the key is on the on position about every 15 seconds, and when the bike is running . The tail light will start to light up before the click, and what I am assuming the click is a breaker resetting? I am leaning towards some sort of short in the wiring. Is the head and tail lights on the same breaker as the blinkers? If so, then I will probably try to reinstall the blinkers and go from there. I can feel cut wires under the rear fender that I believe went to the indicators. I googled pictures of 93 sportsters to try to find the location where the front blinkers should mount, but couldn't figure it out since almost every Harley is customized
I tried to put up pics but the image resizer site is down.
I tried to put up pics but the image resizer site is down.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 15,428
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From: Beyond Fucital
Sounds like your tripping the breaker. They're auto reset, so the first click is it tripping the second is the reset. Look for a pinched or frayed wire shorting out.
Or it could be a short INSIDE the head light
Or it could be a short INSIDE the head light
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From: St. Louis
Thanks Ranger, I have been feeling around for stuff like that. I did discover that the harness that goes into the headlight has 4 of the 5 wires cut and taped, the only one that is not cut is the middle top wire (3rd pin from the left). I am guessing the cut wires are for the blinkers? I haven't found anything pinched, but I have found six wires that have been cut (two rear blinker wires, and these four up front. The other pic shows the dashboard that I have. The backlight for the speedometer doesn't work, but all the indicator lights do. I have the headlight pulled out now, and it is still doing it. Wiring problems really bother me, since there are so many possibilities. Could this breaker be tripped by all these wires being cut, even if they are not grounding out anywhere?
Club Member
Joined: Sep 2010
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From: Beyond Fucital
the wires in the bucket are usually for aux. lights. If your cut wires are just taped, remove the tape and install some small heat shrink on the ends to seal them, pinching the tips closed with pliers. One or more could be grounding out.
If that doesn't work start tracing. Also but rare, it could be a bad breaker.
If that doesn't work start tracing. Also but rare, it could be a bad breaker.
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Novice
Joined: Feb 2015
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From: St. Louis
Solved!!
So, I found out which breaker it was and starting disconnecting wires til the breaker stopped tripping. The blue wire was the culprit. I traced it to the headlight, then I began unplugging harnesses til it stopped tripping. I was a possibility of 3 blue wires from the single blue on one connector. In the manual I noticed one of the wires was grounded and the book didn't show the wire going to anything at all. I unplugged the ground and everything is good now. I bet I spent 5 hours hunting this down! The first pic shows the blue wire which was causing the reset, second shows the harness that when disconnected wouldn't trip the breaker. Third picture is the blue wire now disconnected that was causing all the headache. I wonder why it was hooked up? It looks like a factory connection to me? Thanks for the help with this
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