| Author | Message | ||
     Tom_s |
I posted this question in the knowledge vault, thought I'd better put it here too. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=3842&post=1187749#POST1187749 I got the same problem tonight. Both headlights out, high beam indicator light on. Good thing my '06 Uly has aux lights. Sure enough, the ground, black wire, terminal that connects to the common connector that feeds both headlights does not have continuity to chassis or battery ground. Thanks for that tip Sparky. The manual shows this ground wire going to "GRD5". The wire runs off into a large group that goes... somewhere? The question is, does anyone know exactly where this 'ground 5' is? Or what route that wire takes? I looked at all the grounds I could find under the seat so far, all good. I have searched this board, and the manual with no luck. I think my '96 S1 manual is a lot better. The S1 is sure a lot easier to work on! W_s_logan, did you find the problem? I am going to PM you this post. | ||
| Rays |
Tom, the ground wire for the Uly lights goes to the lug on the lower front of the steering head. In standard '06 trim this is looped to the LH side of the bike and can catch on the rubber tab on the headlight weather seal. Over time this breaks the wire internally and can leave the insulation intact so it looks OK but if you pull on the earth wires slightly the internal break will be obvious. In the photo below you can see two repaired earth wires (I also had the horn earth lead break there) and how I have repositioned these to loop to the RH side which tucks them closer to the steering head and they don't get worked to and fro by the headlight rubber.  | ||
| Tom_s |
Thanks Rays! Looks like I fixed it & wrote this before I saw your post. I'll have to eyeball that rubber tab you mentioned. ************************************************** ******************** I found the ground. Below the triple trees, right up front, left side of bike. Poked around some more & saw it. Pulled up a loose wire. Kind of a pain to get the ground lug off without removing the headlights. Hard to get a torx in there. When I did get it off, surprise, there were two broken ground wires. Eventually did pull the headlights just to get enough space to pull the wires out enough to solder them back together. Then the lug came right off of the third wire that was still attached to the lug. The wires were actually broken, not just pulled out of the lug. Very strange as there is very little, if any movement involved when turning the bars lock to lock.  Stripped the ends of all three wires, spread the crimp on the lug, crimped 'em back in there to hold 'em, and soldered the whole mess back together. Fixed the problem with the GPS that the PO had installed, it acted as if it did not get power. (I'd have never put this thing on the bike, but I do like it for the big speedo readout. Location on the right hand bar sucks too, planning a relocate.) Also fixed a problem that I did not know I had before looking for this one. No power to the front Aux Power Outlet. Replaced the torx with a 1/4" hex head bolt. Be easier to get off if I ever have to again. Doubt I will, just re-crimped the other ground lug. Good to go. Thanks again to Sparky for that tip about the high beam indicator to be on when you lose the ground.  | ||
| Tom_s |
Ray, I can not see anything coming anywhere near those wires. Those tabs at the bottom of the headlight weather seals clear it with lots of room to spare. I think it just must have been a bad crimp job on my bike. Me in Alaska, you in Australia, we couldn't be much further apart. Maybe we will help someone in between. BTW, your bike is the RIGHT color.   | ||
| Rays |
Tom, glad to hear you are sorted.  The way the loom is positioned probably has a big bearing on whether or not the rubber tab actually hits. If you pull the flyscreen and drop the headlight assembly (leave the beak attached to the headlight so it doesn't hose the headlight angle and remove the two beak screws attaching to the lower triple), you will have a much easier work area. I see that your loom has been opened - blinker or power splice fail in that area? - I've had both. You can get the replacement cloth loom tape BTW - it is called friction tape. It took me ages to identify that stuff here locally. Yes, I really like my Black Uly - it is getting the 60,000km oil change etc today.  | ||
| Drogen |
This has happened on my 2007 Lightning XB12SS(Long)... I cant see the ground wires in the location of your photo... do they ground elsewhere on the Lighting? | ||
| Tom_s |
Drogen, that ground can be a bit hard to find/see at first. Might have to move your headlights to see it. Probably have to do that anyway to fix it. Those pix show the location pretty well, My 2nd pic with the arrow is from the left side of the bike. I have no idea if in the same place on the ‘07 Lightning. |
