electricians please help

[curtis]

I have an 88 venture. The headlight is not working. From what I can tell the headlight power wire comes from the fuse to the starter switch on the right handle grip. From there it goes to the headlight. I am getting power from the fuse to the switch but nothing out.

 

Is the starter switch a momentary switch that shuts the power off to the headlight when starting?

 

Is there a way that I can clean the switch or something I can do with it. I took it apart and it looked alright to me.

 

If not would it hurt anything to simply by pass the switch. I hate to get into doing thing like that but I have spent way to much on this bike and i am not spending anymore. I will sell it first.

 

Thanks for any help Curtis

[maindog]

I have an 88 venture. The headlight is not working. From what I can tell the headlight power wire comes from the fuse to the starter switch on the right handle grip. From there it goes to the headlight. I am getting power from the fuse to the switch but nothing out.

 

Is the starter switch a momentary switch that shuts the power off to the headlight when starting?

 

Is there a way that I can clean the switch or something I can do with it. I took it apart and it looked alright to me.

 

If not would it hurt anything to simply by pass the switch. I hate to get into doing thing like that but I have spent way to much on this bike and i am not spending anymore. I will sell it first.

 

Thanks for any help Curtis

 

Curtis, your bike has a reserve lighting unit that controls the headlamp not sure which 88 model VR you have but here is a link for a electrical drawing from the VR library. lots of things can cause your problem but I would check all Electrical Connections and fuse first ! then find someone that's good with a trouble light or volt meter. the electrical print will help a lot. also check the headlight bulb and its socket connection, wd40 or electric contact cleaner on the connections will clean them. I hope this helps , if you cant figure it out, and are going to freebirds maintenance day look me up, I will bring my volt meter.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42358

[dingy]

Curtis,

 

Are you getting any icons on the cluster display?

 

Does the display cycle through all icons when you turn the key switch on ?

 

Also check the fuse and verify that the fuse holder is tightly griping the fuse. Sometimes the holders deteriorate. There could be enough contact there to read voltage, but not enough to pass sufficient current to light bulb.

 

Do you have a voltage reading at the headlight bulb connector ?

 

If you unplug the headlight, you should then get a warning on the cluster display.

 

Post what you find, and I can try to narrow it down further.

 

How did fuel gauge end up?

 

 

Gary

[bkuhr]

had simular problem on 83 vr. took starter switch apart, contacts can be cleaned and fix my problem

[Evan]

I recently had what sounds like the same problem with my 88VR. In my case, everything worked except for the headlight itself and dash light. If that is the same for you, I would highly suspect the starter switch which has two contacts, one for the headlight and one for the starter. These contacts get dirty which causes the problem. In my case, I was able to cause my headlight to come on again for a while by just wiggling the starter switch. There is an outstanding step by step 30 page summary with pictures on how to take the switch apart and clean it in teh technical library. I was shocked by how much crap had accumulated around the two terminals on the starter switch, which is the bottom switch inside the housing that also contains the kill switch, cruise switches etc. taking apart the switch box and cleaning all these switches is tedious but very doable with the instructions. In my case, Marcarl did the job and I am sure he could give you any further advice that you need.

[dingy]

Curtis,

 

Below is link to switch cleaning Evan mentioned.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42433

 

I didn't suggest this in my earlier post because you said in your post you had opened the switch.

 

My bad.

 

Gary

[curtis]

I recently had what sounds like the same problem with my 88VR. In my case, everything worked except for the headlight itself and dash light. If that is the same for you, I would highly suspect the starter switch which has two contacts, one for the headlight and one for the starter. These contacts get dirty which causes the problem. In my case, I was able to cause my headlight to come on again for a while by just wiggling the starter switch. There is an outstanding step by step 30 page summary with pictures on how to take the switch apart and clean it in teh technical library. I was shocked by how much crap had accumulated around the two terminals on the starter switch, which is the bottom switch inside the housing that also contains the kill switch, cruise switches etc. taking apart the switch box and cleaning all these switches is tedious but very doable with the instructions. In my case, Marcarl did the job and I am sure he could give you any further advice that you need.

 

 

Does anyone know the link or at least what it is under? I am sorry I should have put more in here. I know it is the switch I have chased it down that far, what I was looking for was a way to clean it which I hear is in the site. If someone could please let me know what it is under I have looked but can't find it. I knew I could by pass it but I was hoping that I wouldn't have to.

[curtis]

Curtis,

 

How did fuel gauge end up?

 

 

Gary

 

When I was asking about the fuel gauge I had just filled up so I had to run some of the fuel out before I could pull the gauge. I will work on it tomorrow. I will let you know what I find thanks.

[dingy]

Does anyone know the link or at least what it is under? I am sorry I should have put more in here. I know it is the switch I have chased it down that far, what I was looking for was a way to clean it which I hear is in the site. If someone could please let me know what it is under I have looked but can't find it. I knew I could by pass it but I was hoping that I wouldn't have to.

 

Look at my next to last post. I linked it there for you.

 

Gary

[curtis]

Do you see that pretty pike elephant? Well I just wanted to let you know that I got my switch tore apart and all put back, wow there goes a purple elephant, together and everything seems fine for today. I hope that cured the problem. I also got my fuel gauge tore apart and adjusted , now there goes an orange elephant with a green monkey, but when I raise it up it keep going wide open so I guess I need to fine a new sending unit.

 

Thanks everyone for all your help I am getting ready to take it for a ride

 

By the way I think I found the real reason he used starting fluid to clean the parts.

[syscrusher]

Curtis,

 

Below is link to switch cleaning Evan mentioned.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42433

 

Gary

 

Thanks for this, especially the up-front warnings about captive balls and springs.

 

I installed an LED, partly because I thought my HID was failing, it would turn off sometimes.

Then the Venture weathered a huge rainstorm with 70mph winds and all, thankfully on it's own. But after that the LED stopped working. A parts swap didn't work, wasn't the fuse, so I figured it was because the LED or the storm somehow ruined the RLU. I did the RLU bypass and the CMU bypass jumpers but that didn't restore the light. I did measure over 12 volts at the headlight connector with the bike running, but then by the time I had everything back together it was working until I clicked it into gear. I'm really glad to be able to find the information on the tricky starter switch wiring. I am wondering how many tricks this bike still has to pull on me, I had been feeling like I had a handle on everything so far. It just never lets you get too comfortable....

 

The little spring-loaded copper contactor that makes connection for the starter momentarily, but continually maintains connection to power the headlight otherwise, on my bike was covered with crud. I could only just barely see two little copper colored dots on the top of it. The contact bank that it slides under was almost as dirty, with only tiny bits of copper exposed on it. It's easy to see why it wasn't working well. I might add a bypass of those contacts to the relay that will run my auxiliary light bar thingy when I finish implementing it. It has a 48w, 16 LED, 3100 lumen, 4" square one of these on it:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NIHOZP8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The good thing is that I went ahead and did what's required for the LED headlight to not flag alerts or cause RLU malfunction. I'm not sure if my approach may have been a little easier than some accounts of the CMU jumpers anyway. I did already have the headlight lens and trim off when I started the bypass operations.

 

I removed the windscreen and the instrument bezel/shroud. The bezel/shroud is easy if you remove the two phillips screws that can be accessed and then use offset screwdrivers to just loosen the other two. At this point everything was exposed. I slipped in a socket extender with an 8mm or 9mm to remove the two Instrument Cluster (IC) bolts that go at an angle/diagonal, grabbing the washers with my finger and using them to back out the socket extension. When those two are out a couple of pins that lodge in rubber washers at the top is all that holds the Instrument Cluster in, aside from wire connections. Remove the two connections at the back of the CMU and raise up the Instrument Cluster enough to remove the three screws that hold the CMU to the IC. Roll the CMU out carefully, it has a plastic light guide piece that keeps it from coming straight out. Disconnect the plug on the side of the CMU that slides off it's pins like common computer motherboards often use. The CMU is now loose, there's lots of tutorials on jumpers for it so I'll stop here. The RLU is right in front of you and there are also a lot of write-ups for bypassing it.