no headlight!

[exquized1]

I just put in the ingnition switch so maybe I will no overcharge the battery. But I seem to have lost my headlight all together. There are some wires that are cutand capped off before I lost the headlight ot sure where they went. I have the wiring diagram but don't know how to read it and aso have no experiance in wireing. I need to get up and running to cut cost on gas any help would be appreaciated.

Ok Here is what I see

2 blue wires hooked together on the same side of a connector that go to nothing.

green/yellow and brown wire that are wraped together cut 2 inches after their connections

I took the connections apart and tried to clean them and put them bak together before undoing the next connection. I went through the whole bike. changed the reserve lighting. checked all the fuses. cleaned the grounds. What am I missing?


All the other lights work but no headlight high or low. I evern changed the bulb.

thanks

[mro]

some wires that are cut and capped off

Bummer...

A place to start...
What you want to check are the four wires connected to the head light relay, then the three wires at the head light etc.

Wiring diagram.
Wires in the diagram are labeled with letters.
The letters denote the color of the wire.
Next to the wireing diagram should be a "color code" .
B = black
R = red
R/Y = red with a yellow stripe
On the wireing diagram many lines cross but they are not connected to each other unless they have a "dot" where they meet. When you see a wire on the diagram which on one end has three little short lines that means it is "grounded" (generally attached to the frame or a spot on the engine. All black wires are grounds on the XS.

With the wireing diagram in hand, look at an electrical component on the bike you reconize and locate it on the diagram. Note colors on both bike and diagram. Most wires on the bike are hard to trace out as they disapear into the harness and are all taped together but by looking at the diagram you can see where the other end of the wire goes.

An inexpensive multi meter ($10, $12.00 bucks) is really helpfull.
Has a dial on it so you can set it for different functions. One function is Ohm which mearsures resistance but also can be used to check for continuity (check if things are connected) then MM can be set to AC or DC volts which you can then see if a wire is "hot" as in having voltage.

battery is 12V DC (direct current), the XS generator is AC (alternating current) The generator current goes to the retifier which changes it DC. Most everything on the XS uses DC volts (XSept maybe that one white wire going to the tack)

This post would turn into a book to describe electrical trouble shooting so think I'll end it here. Ckeck the XS manual. There is a section on trouble shooting the head light wireing, but may be a problem figureing it out with the cut wires.

good luck


mro

[boyat68]

This is the light schematic.

[exquized1]

ok after looking at the wiring diagram and my parts bike I figured out everything is connected the same. the green/yellow and brown wire that was wrapped together is for my front brake light switch witch is missing. going to check all the grounds. It seems that when I think I find the wiring grembilin he moves deeper in the wiring harness. Maybe thats why the PO disconnected the ignition switch.

[cruiser]

Matt,
Do you have a multimeter or a test light?
Start at your ignition switch and trace the Br wire to fuse to R/Y until you loose power/voltage.
Do the dash lights for your speedo and tach work?

[exquized1]

I just bought a cheap multimeter last night. I have no gadge lights or head lights but everything else works. My horn even works now

[DJinNH]

Mine wasn't working for a while. I kept searching and searching for a loose wire connection. The fuse looked good behind the right side cover but that was just a visual. My buddy checked it with a tester and said it was bad. I replaced the fuse and he played around some with the fuse holder so now at least I have a low beam, no high. Works for me!

My tach quit recently so I am thinking I should look for a replacement secondary lighting box.

Don

[cruiser]

No guage lights either. OK, the diagram shows the power feed to headlight AND gauge lights comes from the headlight relay and Headlight switch. Looks like the L/B (Blue,Black stripe?) wire see if you have power coming out of the relay at that wire and same wire out of headlight switch and to reserve lighting module.
Again, follow your voltage until you loose it and that will be your source....except for ground issue.

The other thing is the ground for the relay and reserve lighting unit.

Guru's help.
Is there a black wire to ground from relay and reserve lighting unit or are they grounded through the case to the frame?

[cruiser]

Back up from last post.
Since you now have the multimeter remember to START at Ignition switch Br wire and check for power there and to headlight fuse..then other side of fuse and on to R/Y wire to headlight switch and relay switch.

Also with meter, now would be good time to connect it to battery and start to verify it is charging over 12 volts but below 14.5 when running.

[exquized1]

Is the reserve lighting switch suppose to be grounded? it was ziptied on by the po and now just sitting under the tank. And if it is could that be my only problem????????????? I will have to go home and check tonight. Thanks arlan for you input I might be calling you tonight.

[boyat68]

The reserve lighting unit has a plug on it that has six (6) leads one of those leads is a black lead that carries the ground. The unit is also attached to the top of the frame under the fuel tank with two phillips head screws that is probably a frame ground (not for sure). However the black lead goes back into the harness and is connected to the frame somewhere. You can see this plug on your XS1100 wiring diagram found in either the Yamaha manual or the Clymer's manual. If you follow that black lead out, you will see that it is connected to all of the other black wires on the bike and of course that is the ground for all of the circuits .

[exquized1]

Help! Hands in the air!!!!!!!

Ok after many hours of trying to trace the wiring problem I am haveing with no luck. I found this little rectangular black box on the left side of the bike next to the battery has no power. the connector is melted away from the black wire. I spent 4 hours to find this.

So up went my hands and acroos the garage went the book! In 10 minutes I had the carbs ripped out and installed on my parts bike. Next I have to reinstall the primary drive that i gave Brent to keep him running. and add the exhaust and gas tank. change all fluids and plugs. I am hopping this bike motor runs. It only has 14000 miles on it.

Anyone in the area willing to help this weekend I am in desperate need!

thanks

[oseaghdha]

Re: Help! Hands in the air!!!!!!!

Originally posted by exquized1
Ok after many hours of trying to trace the wiring problem I am haveing with no luck. I found this little rectangular black box on the left side of the bike next to the battery has no power. the connector is melted away from the black wire. I spent 4 hours to find this.

........................................


thanks

That is the light checker unit.

FWIW