Headlight stopped working after tip over

I have a strange thing happening, and, as I'm just an electrical tyro, I wonder if someone could point me to a place to start looking.

Sometime after I had a few tip-overs, I noticed my left headlight was not working. Replaced the bulb, still not working. Checked the fuse and it was blown. When I replaced the fuse, it immediately blew again, even though everything was off and the key was out of the ignition.

Anyone had this happen before? Any ideas to where to start looking?

Bill

docw1 said:

it immediately blew again, even though everything was off and the key was out of the ignition.

Click to expand...

That is a great clue!

If you haven't taken advantage of the color wiring schematic over in the Articles section, now is the time.

Take a look at the two LH headlamp relays, and you will see that they are the only devices that receive +12vdc from Fuse G.
The fact that the Ignition switch is in the Off position, tells us that the relays are not enabled, thus the circuit from the relays out to the headlamp bulb should (barring a faulty relay), not be active.

1. To rule out a faulty relay, remove both LH headlamp relays and try another fuse:
   • If the fuse does not fail, this indicates the circuit from the fuse to the relays is probably not the issue.
   • Reinstall either of the headlamp relays in one of the empty relay locations.
   • If the fuse does not fail, this indicates that neither that relay, or that relay socket (and related circuitry) are probably not the issue.
   • Remove the relay, and install the other relay in the same relay socket.
   • If the fuse does not fail, this indicates that neither relay is probably at fault.
2. The problem has been narrowed down to the remaining LH headlamp circuit:
   • Remove the relay, and install it in the other relay socket.
   • If the fuse does not fail, this indicates that neither LH headlamp circuit is at fault.
   • Reinstall the remaining relay in the remaining relay socket.
   • If the fuse fails, then that is surprising, and means tracking down the issue is going to be a bit more tricky.
   • Check the installation of the replacement headlamp bulb.
4. If the fuse fails in step #1, this indicates the problem is most likely in the wiring from Fuse G to one or the other LH headlamp relay.

Probably the first step is to check the installation of the replacement headlamp bulb, look for damage to the wiring at the connector, look that the spring wire-bale is not shorting one of the conductors.

Anna'sDad said:

Probably the first step is to check the installation of the replacement headlamp bulb, look for damage to the wiring at the connector, look that the spring wire-bale is not shorting one of the conductors.

Click to expand...

I would attack this somewhat differently. Everything Anna's Dad said is right, but usually the last thing touched is what caused the problem. In this case, you tipped the bike over and you changed the headlight lamp. This is what I would check first, as A-D said in the above quote. A simple tip over usually does not involve the handlebar controls or anything else. If this is the case, it is unlikely that the wiring from the light switches was damaged. If, however, you managed to twist the controls on the handlebars when the bike went over (or someone overzealously helped you put the bike upright), then this might be the source of your problem.

Thanks for your replies. I'll be looking further into it this weekend.

SMSW said:

but usually the last thing touched is what caused the problem

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Sage advice.

BTW, the ABS schematic shows Fuse I for the LH headlights, while the standard bike schematic shows Fuse G.

And hopefully the 2006 and 2012 schematics are the same - anyone know?

After looking through the system and taking most of the panels off, I finally concluded that the wire bale that held the bulb in place had come loose, and somehow caused a short. I'm still not sure how it does that because the rubber boot should still protect the wiring, but with the side panel off, I could directly see to put the bale in it's proper place (something that seemed hard to do blindly) and everything seems to work now.