greybeard52
New member
So last fall I went for a ride with my son and when we returned home, the headlight and tail light on my1986 R80RT weren't working. I turned the switch on and off. I can hit the flash function and the bright comes on. I decided to order a new relay from Wunderlich before I took off the gas tank to look for a short. Meanwhile winter set in, here in Wyoming, so today is the first day I have warm (53 degrees) weather to roll the bike out of the garage and drain the tank and take it off. I turned on the ignition and the headlight and tail light were still not working. I cranked the engine and the headlight and tail light came on. I turned off the engine and cranked it up again and they are on. I did this a few times and they came on each time. And the lights come on when I just turn on the ignition and don't crank the engine. And I can switch to high beam and low beam. So apparently the headlight cut out is working to use the power from the battery for cranking the engine.
It could still be a short somewhere, but before I drain and remove the tank, am I missing something? I did take the switch on the handlebar off and looked for any abnormal things lurking in the mechanism. It's pretty much sealed so I couldn't really clean anything. I did notice that the switch is not made in Germany, but in some Asian country. I forget which one. So it has been changed out at least once.
Two heads are better than one when solving problems. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
It could still be a short somewhere, but before I drain and remove the tank, am I missing something? I did take the switch on the handlebar off and looked for any abnormal things lurking in the mechanism. It's pretty much sealed so I couldn't really clean anything. I did notice that the switch is not made in Germany, but in some Asian country. I forget which one. So it has been changed out at least once.
Two heads are better than one when solving problems. Any thoughts would be appreciated.