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Headlight and Tail light out

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Old Mar 29, 2010 | 08:53 PM
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Default Headlight and Tail light out
My headlight, tail light, and brake light are out but my front left running light and all turn signals work. I checked all the fuses and they are good. Any ideas what this could be? All my connectors are tight.

EDIT: BTW my neutral and oil light work but when I switch to high beams the light doesn't come on. (High beams don't either) If it means anything the other morning my high beams didn't come on but my low did.
 
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Old Mar 29, 2010 | 08:57 PM
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My list to diagnose (Sp?)
1. Fuses?
2. Connectors loose?
3. Shorts,tears,cuts in wires?
4.
 
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Old Mar 29, 2010 | 09:01 PM
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I checked the fuses and connectors, they were good. My only thought with the short to ground is that it should have blown a fuse. Does anyone know what the voltage to the headlight is supposed to be? I got around 9.5V and my battery was at 12.5V.
 
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Old Mar 29, 2010 | 09:04 PM
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Are your fuses too big, I believe they need to be 15's
Also list the type of bike you have, year/model, this will help as well
 
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Old Mar 29, 2010 | 09:06 PM
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1998 XL883

The fuses are all 15amp and I checked them with a DMM. The bike starts and runs.
 
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Old Mar 30, 2010 | 06:50 AM
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Bueller?
 
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Old Mar 30, 2010 | 07:00 AM
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Originally Posted by stlboarder
I checked the fuses and connectors, they were good. My only thought with the short to ground is that it should have blown a fuse. Does anyone know what the voltage to the headlight is supposed to be? I got around 9.5V and my battery was at 12.5V.
The voltage to the headlight should be the same as you measure at the battery, assuming you are measuring correctly, from the HOT wire to Ground, and not across the bulb.
 
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Old Mar 30, 2010 | 07:02 AM
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Yea I'm measuring across the 2. I figured it should be the same as battery since I couldn't see anything in the elec diagram that would step it down. So to me it sounds like I have a short. Does it sound like that to you?
 
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Old Mar 30, 2010 | 07:07 AM
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Originally Posted by stlboarder
Yea I'm measuring across the 2. I figured it should be the same as battery since I couldn't see anything in the elec diagram that would step it down. So to me it sounds like I have a short. Does it sound like that to you?
Across the 2 what? You don't test by measuring across the load (bulb).
 
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Old Mar 30, 2010 | 11:40 AM
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I had the same issue with my bike last year. It was the plug for the headlight on mine, corrosion caused a bad connection.

I would check there and clean up grounds.
 
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