no headlight or instrument lights

[cywelchjr]

Well, the RLU shouldn't affect the dash lights, but if the bypassing was done correctly and the lights are still not coming on (you did check that the bulbs are all good right, it's rare but not unheard of for them to all go out at the same time), then it's likely a wiring issue and has a good likelyhood of being in the headlight bucket.

That said, I'm not a proponent of cutting the wiring harness if it can be avoided (there are times you can't avoid it, but IMHO the headlight relay and RLU bypass are not one of those) such as a simple jumper put into the connector in place of the original component. That makes it easy for a followup owner to put it back to stock if they wish without having to reconstruct wiring that has been hacked.
Just my own personal opinion mind you, but then it IS your bike right now, and you have the RIGHT and freedom to do with it as you will, even hardtail it and remove the front brakes if that's REALLY what you want to do .

[DavHil48]

Lighting:

I was having the same problem with my lighting, did you try the headlight dimmer unit, there's four wires going into it, I jumped the yell/red and blue/blk, and found the problem. That's assuming you have that unit on your bike. hope that helps

[xs11lover]

I had the same problem with the field bomb. My headlight was good,but it didn't work right....it was hot wired and would come on but only the low setting, when you switched it to high the dash lights and headlight shut off. When I wired it correctly it didn't work at all. It wasn't the reserve lighting unit. It was the little gold/metal box thing....under the tank. I took it off and bridged the gap with a wire...I didn't cut anything, I just tried a wire in the clip and tried the options until the light came on, taped it in until a new one fell into my lap..now my headlight comes on as soon as you turn on the key but at least the headlight and dash lights work. This is what I'm talking about if I remember correctly..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamah...item19c7bf4b8c
I think it was talked about already in this thread.

[3Phase]

This is what I'm talking about if I remember correctly..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamah...item19c7bf4b8c
I think it was talked about already in this thread.

Just a quick note: that eBay headlight relay is for an '80/'81. It won't work for Kev's '79 Special because the pinouts and internals are different and they won't interchange without modifying the wiring harness.

[kevxs]

hey guys, i'm still having trouble with my headlight/dash lights. it works some days, some days not. I bypassed my RLU but that made no difference. I cleaned all the connections in the headlight bucket even though they looked fine and that made no difference. I cleaned the ground where the battery connects to the frame and it started working everyday . . . until yesterday it quit again. can anyone tell me what other ground connections I can clean and where they are located?

i think i also my left turn signal has a weak ground and I sometimes have to rev the engine to make it come on. where is the ground connection for that circuit?

[crazy steve]

The RLU has nothing to do with the headlight coming on or off (unless the lamp fails), your problem is the headlight relay. That's located right behind the fork neck under the tank, over the coils and in front of the tipover switch.

Poor connections or a failed relay will both cause the headlight and instrument lights not to come on. You can bypass the relay by connecting the red/yellow and blue/black wires together. The red/yellow is power directly from the fuse panel, make sure you have power. The relay is powered by the yellow wire from your alternator field coil; if you're having any issues with your alternator, that could also be the problem.

For your turn signals, there's multiple grounds. Each light is grounded independently; inside the light by that little 'strap' that holds the socket in place, that's supposed to bond the socket to the shell. On your Special, the shell/stem is grounded at each light with a ground wire under the stem nut that connects to the harness grounds. Lots of places to clean....

[gryphon51]

I have this problem as well

the solution by the PO was to direct wire the headlight, but I would like to get the dashlights working, I will try this mod while the bike is apart... Thanks!

so much solid advice on here....