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Check your headlight status and cause if there was a problem.

  • I had a starter switch problem.

    Votes: 82 55.0%
  • I had a problem with a large connector under a rubber cover in the left cowling.

    Votes: 25 16.8%
  • I had a problem with a connector on the radiator shroud.

    Votes: 26 17.4%
  • I had a problem with the high/low beam switch.

    Votes: 9 6.0%
  • I had a problem but don't know the specific area.

    Votes: 21 14.1%

Headlight problems?

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headlights
73K views 119 replies 63 participants last post by  Gert 
#1 ·
With all the reports of headlight problems, I thought it would be a good idea to gather some information on how big the problem is.
 
#3 ·
Mine's a 07 wee, 2 years ago at about 45K klms the starter switch started to play up. Did the "starter switch maintainence" that is very well described in this forum, fitted an EB relay kit, and have had no probs since :thumbup:
Do the lights become duller over time or is my old eyes, but the road doesn't seem to light up like it used to :confused:
 
#5 ·
2002 Vee with 48k miles, 38k mine. I've had it since 2008 and zero problems with the installed lamps.

In fact, this is the best headlight I've ever experienced on a motorcycle + easy adjustment.
 
#7 ·
I not sure how to vote. I had to clean my starter switch but this didn't happen until around 100,000 miles. My DL650 currently has over 125,00 miles on it and is running the original headlight bulbs, and this is with stock connections (no relay.) Throughout most of the year I commute to work and the bike sits outside in rain even if raining all day while at work so I am sure that this has sped up the process.

So I had a starter switch "problem", but it took 6 years and 100,000 miles to surface. If I was at the 60,000+ mile mark I would vote "no problems".

..Tom
 
#8 ·
My L. headlight plug melted around the bulb prongs at about 20,000. Installed the Eastern Beaver relay kit after that. No further problems. 60k now.
My vote was the problem with unknown origins, because the others didn't apply.
 
#9 ·
Pretty sure I just shot myself in the foot but as far as I know there's been nothing changed on the bike since new (headlights wise) and I'm just about to install a set of HID's as recommended by our own Greywolf. My guess is that electrical issues are not far away... We'll see. :confused:
 
#10 ·
Bump. The numbers are pretty low across the board.
 
#13 · (Edited)
After fitting a set of Xenon lights I was sent by a mate living in Guang Zhou from China in 2009..my Vee decided to snap a wire near the connector in that loom that hangs in the left fairing panel near that rubber covered connector spoken of..
My lights were going on and off intermittently..stuffed the ballast units on me though...so last year when I went to China I brought home a new set of HID Xenons .6000K units...about 18$ Australian...
with those neat little sealed ballasts half the size of the old ones..sweet again with twice the light..
I brought home a heap of sets of those grip puppy things at about 70 cents Aud a set why not ?
And billet mirrors and a top box etc ..all about a 1/4 of the Aust prices..

Just wish I could find out where the Suzuki parts are made before I go back next year after a Motorcycle tour of Vietnam we will be in China for 2-3 weeks again..
A lot of the small Suzuki stuff is made in China but I have not been able to pin the big stuff down yet ..
I believe a lot of the Big Suzuki bits are still made in Korea so may have to do a drop in there yet....

[IMG=http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3215/hidxenon003.jpg][/IMG]
 
#17 ·
? If you had stock wiring, that would fit

My Strom is >two years old with >20,000 miles and no headlight problems with stock wiring.
 
#18 ·
I did the EB thing right after hearing about problems, so far so good.
My only problem was my lights were hitting the tops of the power poles in lo beam. I didn't think I would ever get them cranked down so I could see the road and now on comming traffic has stopped flashing hi beams at me. Must be close to a 1" space between the plastic and the light refelctor. :)~
 
#20 ·
starter caput

Took my grandaughter to school,as always, and when leaving, the bike wouldn't start. Th cellinoid was clicking but no starter. Finally it started and I got home. I jumped across the cellenoid with needlenose pliers and nothing from the starter. pulled the starter, to check the brushes, and they were gone. The springs were all the way to the bottom. The Wee has 73000 miles and I hadn't seen this before, on this forum. Armature checked out good so I ordered the brush assembly and O rings. $61.00. Just wanted to pass this on for anyone else, who might experience this.
Have a great day
Fred
 
#21 ·
My 2K9 Wee developed this problem late last summer. I didn't search the forum first & took me a few days to find a bad pin socket on the connector on the radiator shroud. I had such a hard time finding the cause of the trouble because every time I'd get the tank off & start tracing & ringing out wiring it would mysteriously start working again. My quick fix was to just cut off the pins, solder the wires together, then cover with heat shrink. I probably should buy the wiring kit from Eastern Beaver though.
 
#23 ·
My lights just didn't come on one day. I was so confused because I knew it wasn't any of the wiring behind the rad. and/ or the cluster behind the fairing. I cleaned out the switch too with nothing. I then found the problem to be that the nibs (in the starter assembly) on the plunger were not being pressed up to the connectors due to the the vertical spring not doing it's job.
 
#24 ·
About 1980 lost the headlight at night on a 1978 Honda; pretty scary; kind of changed the lighting rules for me; Got my DL in Jan.; about the first thing I did was install HID's and put them on separate circuits; the circuits are separated to the point that each has an individual ground path to the battery; also have aux 10 watt LED's on a separate circuit;

But still, all lights require the ignition to be on; so if the main 30A blows or a connection fails between the battery and the ignition switch, NO LIGHT; Plan this week to install a separate "night running only" light switch on the Aux light circuit that switches them off the relay and straight to the battery (fused); and maybe since it will only be used at night I will flip the switch off when I get off the bike and not kill the battery.

If it sounds like overkill (guess it is) try losing all your lights on a absolutely black night!
 
#25 ·
my story:

last night, at 33000 miles on my 07 wee strom, my headlights stop working. i cranked the bike and when i pulled out of the rstaraunt i noticed that my lights didnt seem to be on. it was getting dark out. i pulled over and sure enuf, lights werent working. luckily i was aonly a few miles form home and the flashers worked.

got on this site this morn after tearing the whole bike apart, lol. turns out, it was the starter button switch. took it apart and cleaned the contacts and presto!

thanks again to stromtrooper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#26 ·
Chances are it will happen again if you don't install relays and it can get harder to fix each time without them.
 
#27 ·
How did we ever survive without forums. After dropping my taxes off in the ritual last-minute ride, I noticed a lot of people flashing me. Odd, I thought... what happened to the wave. Then when I moved the bike into the garage I noticed no lights. Bulbs were good, fuses good and wiring all seemed to be intact.

D'Oh! Why didn't I think of the starter switch. That would explain the couple of groaning starts I had earlier today. I've had to do this with my '77 Wing, so it shouldn't be a big deal. For now, clean the contacts, but I think I'll go to a relay! Thanks for the advice. I'll post the verdict when I get 'er running.

At least it's raining for a couple of days, so I don't feel so bad.
 
#28 ·
"Cleaning the contacts" seems to be coming up alot latlely.

My opinion is the plunger spring is #1 cause of failure.
Snap off the post it fits on - problem solved.

#2 is contact legs bent. Straighten them out - problem solved.

The last problem is undersized wiring and harness connections.
EB relay kit will solve this.
 
#29 ·
It just happened to me, too

I came out of the building to leave work at 9-ish last Friday (the 13TH of course!) night and started my K8 Wee-strom, only to find that I had no headlight. I checked both fuses, ok, shined flashlight into the two bulbs, filments looked intact, wiggled wires behind them and underneath the fusebox, shut it off & re-started, worked the Hi-lo and Pass switches- still no headlight.

So, having little choice, I rode with flashers on, a bit puckered, & luckily didn't get hit or ticketed, or run into anything on the pitch-dark stretches. I stayed on back streets I know well.

Not something I ever care to repeat, not ever. There was one moment of hilarity (not really) on the way, the unlighted dip into a narrow S-curve under a very old RR trestle which we as kids called dead-man's-curve because there were in fact fatal crashes there regularly.

So, as luck would have it, there I am decending into this blackness with only flashers on, nobody ahead or behind me to light the totally dark road, and as I get to the center of the S, there's a transit bus coming at me taking up one and a half lanes. I had to laugh as I grazed my right elbow on the rock wall hoping not to be crushed like a bug.:furious:

I made it to my garage much relieved and swapped for the Jeep so to get back home. Lucky I keep a spare key on me. After taking apart the left-side switch assembly to no avail, I detached the right-side, cleaned out the dirt and cobweb and got my headlights back. Whew.

Then I read about it on the forums. Ugh. I'd no idea or would've done a preventative. :headbang: Eastern Beaver got my order the next day. It should be here tomorrow and I'll install on this weekend.
 
#30 ·
A headlight switch fail at 15K is pretty unusual for me. I'm used to 30 year old Goldwings with electrical gremlins, but not my new Strom! I pulled the starter switch, cleaned it and reinstalled it. Nada. I could wiggle the starter switch and get a faint glow from the lights, but nothing I'd rely on.

On the second disassembly, I pulled the switch completely apart. There's a tiny spring under the contact. I had to bend the fingers just a little bit so the contact could float freely. Before, it was stuck in a down position.

With the contact freely floating, a little bit of silicone in there for good measure, and all of the copper polished up, it went back together and everything works perfectly again.

Now that I've done this once, it's something that could realistically be done in a pinch on the side of the road. (Though I sure wouldn't want to chance losing those tiny little parts!)
 
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