Pothole Shut Off My Lowbeams

Out riding with the lady friend yesterday and hit a moderate sized pothole going over train tracks. I didn't realize it until I got back but my lowbeams are no longer on. The highs still work fine. Anyone had the same thing? Possible causes or fixes? I've had the wiring harness upgrade from Honda...if it helps. I've still had the engine cut out when coming to a stop now and then. The connectors I can see look intact, but maybe I'll need to remove some fairing...

I've hit a good size bump and blew out a bulb. I would check the bulbs first.

[image: View Post]MotoDG, on Jun 29 2009, 05:11 PM, said:

Out riding with the lady friend yesterday and hit a moderate sized pothole going over train tracks. I didn't realize it until I got back but my lowbeams are no longer on. The highs still work fine. Anyone had the same thing? Possible causes or fixes? I've had the wiring harness upgrade from Honda...if it helps. I've still had the engine cut out when coming to a stop now and then. The connectors I can see look intact, but maybe I'll need to remove some fairing...

headlight bulbs use small, easily breakable filaments. That is my guess. You should even be able to look in there and see the broken filament. If not, they aren't too hard to get out, I can do it without removing the fairings, though some people with bigger hands have to take the fairings off to change bulbs.

Check your fuses first!

If it's a fuse, then I would suspect a shorting wire where the insulation has rubbed through and shorts over bumps! :huh:
IMO it's unlikely that both bulbs would pop from one impact! :mellow:

Did the lights really blow are were you just wanting to post a thread saying you were out riding with a lady friend yesterday and this was all you could come up with.

Bulbs, fuses and any obvious loose wires sound like a good place to start. I had a Triumph dealer in Decatur Alabama. Forget to plug my headlights back in after a service. While cleaning and generally screwing around with the bike when I got it back home I found one of the black rubber boots hanging out the bottom of the fairing. I know it will not be that obvious but give it the twice over anyway.

Well, to update my post, I went out today and tried a new bulb...no dice. Then I checked the fuses and again, nadda. I'm a good deal stumped and electrical is certainly not my forte. Anything else I could try before I have to man up and take it to the local dealer?

This might sound way out there, but it could be possible that the wiring contacts for the low beams inside of the bulb socket aren't hitting the connection with the bulb. I was having trouble with turn signal bulbs not making contact after I upgraded to the clear lenses.

Sorry, it's the only suggestion I could come up with....

But, wait a second... are you still having trouble with your engine cutting in and out every now and then too? I did just re-read your first post. If so, I'd concur that you've got an electrical short somewhere.

[image: View Post]MotoDG, on Jun 30 2009, 03:10 PM, said:

Well, to update my post, I went out today and tried a new bulb...no dice. Then I checked the fuses and again, nadda. I'm a good deal stumped and electrical is certainly not my forte. Anything else I could try before I have to man up and take it to the local dealer?

I am assuming that you've checked fuses, bulbs, connections...

IMO, it has something to do with both bulbs. I find it unlikely that both bulbs went at the same time.

If you have high beams and not low beams that means either you have a bad contact connection in your hi-lo switch or your low beam relay is bad or that you have jarred its connection loose. If you don't have either, then the culprit could be your handle bar starter switch. Under normal operations, your starter switch will simultaneously activate your starter solenoid/starter and deactivate your headlights (by actuating two sets of contacts simultaneously) to make more available CCA(cold cranking amps) to start your engine. This is what happened to me and had to replace the entire starter/kill switch assembly. I have a 5th gen but the reasoning should be the same.

On my 5th gen, most times I switch from hi to low beam, I get "no-beam" I smack the switch and low beams come back.

see if you can unplug the hot after the switch and put 12 volts to it. If you get lite, it's the switch.

Thanks for reminding me that I reall need to replace that switch.

good luck.

Check the main connector that connects the main harness and the subharness. If that's loose, it'll cut your lights and the bank angle sensor(which would kill the motor).

But, my real vote is that when your dealer did the recall, they did a quick job of routing the subharness, which now has worn through and shorted out the low beam circuit(the wire going to the relay, for example) + one or more wires going to the Bank Angle Sensor.

You'll need to remove the upper fairing to confirm.

Spoke with my friendly (...uhh) local Honda dealer today--the one who performed my harness recall. Took a good 15 minutes but finally spoke with someone who knew something. Service guy informed me that they replaced the subharness only when performing the safety recall. He tried giving me a long story about how my battery could be my problem with the engine occasionally cutting out. I replaced the battery earlier this season with a sealed AGM YTZ-14s and have had zero battery trouble--the thing is a champ. Besides that, it doesn't explain the lowbeams... So then we investigated the possibility of it being my starter switch (as syjang40 suggested in his post), but he said that would kill my highbeams too (while mine still function). I don't think it's the low to highbeam switch as I haven't had any trouble with it in the past. I thought the lowbeam relay seemed like a really good possibility, but he seemed to dismiss that rather quickly. Now I'm scheduled for an appt. on the 9th. The tech said he'd look at it first and then see if he needed to have the District Service Mgr come look it over. I'm starting to believe they half-assed my recall, but we'll see. :huh: I'll keep updating.

[image: View Post]MotoDG, on Jul 1 2009, 10:13 AM, said:

I don't think it's the low to highbeam switch as I haven't had any trouble with it in the past.

:blink: There's never a problem with anything until it breaks! :huh:

Easy enough to check, if nothing else just sit on the bike flicking it from Hi to Low beams for a few minutes and see if anything happens. Pulling it apart to give it a little cleaning sure beats a trip to about any Dealer! :blush:

Hey MotoDG
Did you ever resolve this problem? I came home from a 6200 mile trip and noticed the same problem. my low beams are dead. I havent had so much as a hiccup with the bike since I bought it ( oct 06)06 model. I had almost 11000 miles on her b4 I left and all was working when I left. I do tend to ride with high beams during the day and dont ride much at night. I have checked all my fuses and their ok. everything else works, horn, flashers, hi beams ect... she is an abs model and being an 06 I thought the harness issue wasnt relevant. I havent had any engine problems though, just low beams...........................ARC3

ok I took it a step further. I pulled the low beam plugs and plugged the high beam plugs in to them and flipped the switch to high beam. the low beam bulbs are fine glowing like champs. I put things back the way they should be. I opened up the left handle bar control and flipped the switch a few times and high beams does what it is supposed to do but low beams are still dead! I took a small piece of metal and closed the circuit and I can force the highs on. but there is no power going to the lows. I pulled the lower cowl ( need oil change any way) does not look like anything is melted, didnt see anything loose.............More to follow
ARC3

This has happend to me 2X now.. starting to get a little worried. New bulbs fixed the problem both times though. Still odd that both would go at the same time twice... Hmmmm......