2000 R1100-RT head light issues

[milesandmiles]

Yesterday my low beam went out. Bought a new bulb but no help. Now high beam only works in the springloaded position, not the fixed position. The headlight wiring looks fairly straight forward on the schematic, and there doesn't appear to be a fuse for that circuit so I suspect the left multifunction switch. Any other ideas or similar experiences?

[Bob_Minor]

Been there, done that. It probably is the switch. If so, it can be taken apart, cleaned (you'll probably find a lot of shaved plastic in there) and lubed with dielectric grease. These switches are very serviceable.

[milesandmiles]

I took my left switch apart and other than spraying contact cleaner into the back of the assy. I really couldn't get futher. It appears to be a single unit next to the windshield adj sw. containing the left blinker/horn/headlight sw. The contact cleaner didn't work.

I'm stumped.

[KER]

headlight relay. we had the same issue with one of our bikes, and i believe it was the headlight relay that had gone bad.

[milesandmiles]

Thanks, I sure hope that's it. I've been flipping through my Clymers but I'm having a tough time locating that relay.

[milesandmiles]

Well, a call to the local shop and I found the headlight relay. It's called the load relief relay as it unloads the headlight during start. It's the black one right next to the big starter relay in the fuse box under the seat. They also said that a bad relay would render my entire headlight unit inop. But it would only cost $13 to get a new relay to test that statement. The shop said that it was most probably a switch unit $$$$. Just wondering if "KER" had this very same issue or was your whole unit out?

[KER]

Well, a call to the local shop and I found the headlight relay. It's called the load relief relay as it unloads the headlight during start. It's the black one right next to the big starter relay in the fuse box under the seat. They also said that a bad relay would render my entire headlight unit inop. But it would only cost $13 to get a new relay to test that statement. The shop said that it was most probably a switch unit $$$$. Just wondering if "KER" had this very same issue or was your whole unit out?

 

we had the same exact issue you are having. The light would not work, normal or high beam, but would work if you "high beam pass" down it would come on. Just the relay went bad, for $13 its worth a shot to see if thats whats up with yours. good luck.

[Lucas2Bosch]

Please test it before you start replacing parts. Look at your wiring diagram, and go over it with a test light or multimeter. I would normaly say start at the Load Relief relay, see if the power is coming to it(30), ground(85), if power is coming in from the ign(86), and then jump power to(87). BUT, if the brights are working, then I would not think it was your relay, seeing how the brights draws more power, and there are other things that gets power from it that you didn't say you were having problems with too. Jump yellow #4 (plugs into 56b) at your switch and if your headlight does not come on, start testing from there.

 

I just took off my ALL of my tupperware for the first time to do a 36k, and was amazed at how many points that the wiring was pushed against bare metal edges, with no added armor.

 

If the above is beyond your scope, is there anyone out there in his area that can show him, or with the same model that can walk him through it on the phone?

[Juan_in_a_million]

Yesterday my low beam went out. Bought a new bulb but no help. Now high beam only works in the springloaded position, not the fixed position. The headlight wiring looks fairly straight forward on the schematic, and there doesn't appear to be a fuse for that circuit so I suspect the left multifunction switch. Any other ideas or similar experiences?

 

I had the same problem (exactly the same) last week and I took apart the switch, cleaned the contacts with a q-tip and alcohol and it got as good as new. The contact had a lot of dust and grease on them. the mechanism is rather simple and there are not many things that can go wrong.

 

Cheers!

[Kwazimoto]

Same problem on my 95 GS. Does anyone have a pic of how the switch goes back together? mine came apart in my hand and I didn`t see how everything came out.