headlights quit working suddenly need help

[Tyler Oxton]

Ok i know anyone looking at this is immediately going to say blown fuse. So did I. Fuse looks fine even changed to the spare and still didnt work. So hears the deal. I had just messed with the headlights specifically the highbeam because it wasnt working. Found that where the ground wire connects to the metal piece inside the headlight housing was loose. push it and the highbeam worked. went for a short ride and came back home. went back out got on bike and now the headlights wont work period. i need some help please

 

[wrnglrx]

first thing I would do is get you a volt meter and make sure you are getting current to your connectors. Loose ground wires can cause some serious pain in the ass troubleshooting problems. if you've got 12v in the connector inspect the bulbs themselves that loose ground could have possibly caused the lights bulbs to short out. I don't remember if you have a relay for the lights or not if so do a quick swap of relays and see if that helps.

 

[Tyler Oxton]

i was already planing on checking with volt meter. any other suggestions would be great

 

[Macbuell]

ground wire was screwed up with mine. Fixed that, not had a problem since.

 

[Tyler Oxton]

but how would the ground wire on the high beam bein loose affect the low beam whatsoever unless a fuse was blown. which doesnt seem to be the case... i mean the only thing i can think of is another loose wire somewhere. on my display gauges it shows the light bein on and the high switch works so the problem is somewhere after that. im just trying to figure out where to start and what to do

 

[Macbuell]

When my ground was out, the high beam light was on all the time

 

[Tyler Oxton]

ive got no lights. at all

 

[Macbuell]

light on the dash, blue light, not the actual head lights.

 

[Tyler Oxton]

nope that not on. that works fine with the switch like it is suposed to. and when i refer to the ground i was refering to the one inside the headlight that the metal clip its attached to. but the only thing i can think that that would do is burn a fuse out. are the lights connected to relays in any way or just the light fuse

 

[Tyler Oxton]

so i still need help with this issue. ideas

 

[Tyler Oxton]

ok i tested and im for sure not getting power to the lights. this just screams blown fuse even though they look fine. should i just get a new fuse and see if this solve problem?

 

[Tyler Oxton]

ok how about this. do yall know which relay controls the headlights becuase the service manual is just plain confusing on the headlight

 

[wrnglrx]

if that doesn't work. you might have to make a quick jumper to bypass the switch on the handle bar. it may have shorted out.

 

[Tyler Oxton]

how would i go about doing that? i dont understand quite what ur saying. electrical isnt really my best area

 

[Rays]

OK, if the high beam indicator on the instruments comes on when you switch to high beam with the L/H handlebar switch then you are getting 12 volts via the LIGHTS fuse switched through the H/L switch. Unless you have a break somewhere between the junction of the wires that go to the headlight connector and the instruments that should mean you are getting 12 volts to pin 2 of the 4-pin headlight connector.
The first thing to check is the voltage at each of the headlight connector pins with the headlights disconnected and ignition on.

Pin 1 - Running Lights (you may not have these in the headlight in your neck of the woods but I think the looms are common so there should be 12 volts on this pin with reference to pin 4 and to another ground (battery negative for example).
Pin 2 - High Beam. Again you should measure this (with high beam selected) with reference to pin 4.
Pin 3 - Low Beam. Again measure this with reference to pin 4, from what I can see this should be 12 volts with the ignition on.
Pin 4. Ground.

I'm doing a bit of guessing here as I have a couple of Ulys and have never touched a Firebolt - the circuit diagram for the 2005 Firebolt that I have looked at shows the Low beam being on all the time (except when cranking) and the High beam being switched. Is this correct? On the Ulys the standard set-up is Low or High.

Can you confirm exactly what you measure at these 4 pins (on the loom side of the headlight connector? It is very important to measure these to both pin 4 and another good ground point as that would show up a break in the loom side of the ground it it was present.

 

[Tyler Oxton]

ok that is great advise and i appreciate it very much. the only thing im slightly confused about is what u mean by the word "looms". please calrify this for me and i will test and let you know. thanks so much

 

[Rays]

The 'loom' is reference to the bunch of wires that are taped together as a single item and connected to the frame. While it is replaceable, it is normally considered 'fixed' and the bits and pieces that plug into this at various points can be considered 'components' or 'assemblies'. There may be slightly different terminology between countries with some of these things but I'm not aware of any major differences.

So in reference to the headlight what I'm referring to as the point to measure is the electrical connector that the headlight assembly plugs into. I'm not familiar with the exact location of that with a Firebolt but I'm guessing the wiring for the headlight assembly wouldn't be more than a few inches long.

 

[Tyler Oxton]

ok on the plastic connector that the headlight plugs into "the loom" im getting power. so what does that mean

 

[Tyler Oxton]

this is a pic of the connector im dealing with. i went ahead and tested the wires with a volt meter on the back side. i got power by puting the ground on the ground and then high, low, and running had power. however when i try to do the same thing on the front side i get nothing. so i put the test needle in the high and low and put it on the negative of the baterry and theres power. So what im trying to figure out is what that means. Does that mean something in that connector is bad? caus i cant get the connector apart either so maybe corrosion?

 

[Tyler Oxton]

ok. stupid connector wont come apart. i push the clip in and it should pull apart. am i bein stupid and missing something. please help