Dim headlight when headlight fuse is removed

[3Phase]

My headlight was working normally, but it also came on - with severely reduced brightness - when the headlight fuse was removed.

Okay, that is not supposed to happen.

After a few false starts (like stripping out the entire wiring harness and creating a detailed, full-color, wiring schematic) a simple continuity test of the headlight relay uncovered a short circuit between the White wire terminal from the stator and the Blue/Black wire terminal to the Reserve Lighting Unit.



The latching diode was shorted internally. It was, effectively, just a fancy wire with a decorative ceramic bead in it. The relay cover was also full of corrosion:





I replaced the diode and



now the headlight does not come on if I remove its fuse.


Regards,

Scott

[boyat68]

3Phase:

Good job, nice to document your fix for others to use and show that it can be done.

[3Phase]

Thanks, boyat!

It's yet another successfully completed step in a ongoing troubleshooting process that's been exacerbated and complicated by the age of the machine and its components.

I have considered just lighting a rag in the gas tank as the days go by and problems appear and disappear like some absurd combination of a Camus story and a extremely expensive and time consuming game of Whack-A-Mole.

Then I go out for a ride... when I get back, the grin won't leave my face and I just resume troubleshooting with my handy phone-cam to document things when and if I find them.



Regards,

Scott