Xj 750 J headlight issues

Hey guys need some help i have been digging around for three days now trying to figure this one out. my headlight was running intermittently for a few days and now wont come on but neither will my dash light the neutral and warning and blinker lights all work but the light to see my speed or tach dont work and both my headlight and aux light no longer work. I checked the fuses they looked fine but replaced the fusses anyway. still nothing now i know that this bike DOES NOT have a headlight relay. went into the bucket and found the 5 amp fuse it was fine looked great. checked all the connectors in there and they seemed fine cleaned and connected the light bulb looks fine doesn't look broken or anything. so any guesses please thanks guys.

 

"checked the fuses and they all look great"

Original fusebox, glass fuses? If so, it's not the fuses that are the issue; it's the clips. They crystallize and can break all on their own.

Rebuild or retrofit a modern blade-type fuse panel.

Speedo/tach come on with the headlight; so you've got a problem in the HL circuit somewhere. Start at the fuse box. That and get inside the headlight shell and start looking for loose ground wires.

 

I checked the tabs and they are fine i checked for voltage on the fuse to make sure. but i do plane on converting to clips this winter but i dont have the time to solder in the conversion right now. and i went all through the bucket looking for ground issues. havnt found one yet i guess ill keep looking.
and when you said the HL thing that reminded me when the headlight was on before i hit the high beam switch one time and the light shut off instead and came back after reving the bike. if its any help..


THANKS FITS BTW

 

OK got a big question i was checking that the yellow/green wire was conected to the positive side of the battery mainly just poiking around now. but found out that if the light bulb is in and i check from the yellow/green wire to the black there connected in the bulb is that supposed to happen?

 

Maybe the high/low beam switch contacts are preventing the headlight circuit from working?

 

how would i cure that i also checked and every ground wire in the buck is grounded. Thanks Fits

 

SO i have been through every ground lead and there are all working. i have cleaned and checked all connectors in the bucket and the switches on the handlebars. still have not found any culprit or reason why this is happing. anybody else think of anything.

 

could the problem be the headlight bulb would that cause these issues?

 

also i am only getting around 4.23V to the yellow/green wire nothing to the green/red wire. but when i put the light bulb back in the 4.23v goes to 0v is that normal...also this is not a sealed beam it has its own halogen light bulb could this be causing an issue?? thanks guys

 

what you need is a continuity tester. with one, you can test the headlight bulb, the high/low switch and all the rest of the wire harness. you can buy one or make a simple one with a 12v bulb and a battery and some wire, or use an ohm meter. for that matter, you can test the headlight bulb by just running a couple pieces of wire to a 12v battery to test it.

CN

 

Soo still have not gotten the head lamp to work at all. i have checked and cleaned every connector and ground in the bucket cleaned and checked the high low switch even replaced the aux switch cause that could be the issue but nothing yet I'm really struggling here guys if anybody could take the time to help me id really appreciate it. Thanks guys.

 

my start button was sticking on just enough to keep the headlight off but not enough to keep cranking the starter had to clean the start button contacts

 

i cleaned all the contacts in the left and right handle bars and redid it twice lol. I also cleaned the connections in the bucket. Thanks for the advice ill probably double check em still.

 

I have been over every thing of the headlamp rout i think the problem is in the computer console part that i can't get to the wires go and in and come out but i can't go in a fix it.

What i think i want to do i wire a new wire harness for just the headlamp? going from the ignition wire to a relay then to the high low switch. I have a bike that has no headlight relay, but to wire a new one i think i need to install a relay is this correct? cause i can't find any specific directions to do this on a bike that dosnt have a relay. any help would be amazing thanks guys.

 

you need to make up a test lamp, and work through the diagram checking for power at each point, its not hard if you go about it in a sequential manner, instead of checking individual parts on their own.
I see you've been at this since last October,?
make up a test bulb using the bikes headlamp bulb, get 2 pieces of wire attach one wire from the bulbs case or ground terminal to the battery -ve.
attach the other wire to one of the bulbs filament connections.
now work through the circuit, touching the end of the test wire onto the live circuit, starting with the battery +ve
the bulb should light.
next go to the fusebox (ign.on) touch the test wire on the incoming side of the headlight fuse, then on the outgoing side ,red/yellow wires
the bulb should light each time
then work through the rest of the circuit
i.e.light switches ,connectors etc
when you get to the point that the bulb doesn't light ,
you've found the fault.
stu

 

if you don't have the diagrams here they are in 2 parts, but you can print them off and stick them together


part2

 

Hey thanks i have the service manual but this one in color is way nicer thanks dude and ill try what you suggested and see where it goes.

 

just a thought that might help, as the diagrams I posted are not very good, as in, there is no circuits shown for the interior of the console, so its hard to trace through that,
but,
does your bike have a "pass" switch for the main beam, " # 30 i think on the diagram" ,if so, does the high beam work when pressed.
this bypasses all the handlebar switches, and takes it power from the fuse box.
if it still doesn't work, and there is power to the fusebox,
then you need to look nearer to the headlight or console.
stu

 

I have never seen a pass switch the only switches it has is the high low switch i can't even shut the lights off if wanted (thought thats illegal to ride without one on) Maybe if someone else knows of this switch on the bike please let me know.

Further i do believe the problem is in the console but i could not figure out how to get the console taken down all the way to show the connectors. And have never found a diagram showing the connectors the manual i have shows a wire diagram but no diagram for the console. Thanks for the help though Bensalf Its very appreciative.

 

You won't have a headlight "on/off" switch nor a "pass" switch on a North American market bike.

 

ok, so you only have the high/low beam switch, No25 on diagram
high is yellow wire
low is light green, going from switch to console.
check power is available to the blue/black wire ,going into the handlebar switch,
then going out on the yellow and light green wires, when the switch is flipped, using the test lamp.
if ok ,then check yellow and light green wires at console, there should be a multi way connector for this, probably in headlight bucket.
stu

 

Thanks Fitz for the help. ill just keep working away at it. i might just rewire a whole new path to the headlight. or try i guess.

 

That shouldn't be necessary. The best next step would be to find a model-specific wiring AND circuit diagram for your bike. The Haynes' "one size fits all" philosophy tends to leave one wanting at times.

 

i have them clymer manual and it ha the xj750j specific diagram in the back it works great its just I've been through everything except the gage cluster and can't find any real issues.

 

Arch,

Make sure the earth ground is getting good contact. I had a similar issue which included replacing the harness only to find out later it was the earth ground not making good contact. I filed the paint off the frame under the ground. Haven't had any problems since. Hope this helps.

Roc

 

I've been testing the ground by touching the ground wire and to the positive part of my meter and the ground part to my frame and have it on the tone but i will check to make sure the connecting is good. thanks for the idea i didn't think of that before.

 

so i traced all along the route for the head lamp and i found something weird.

Coming from the main switch there are two white/red wires both have a voltage of only .6 is that what they are supposed to be.

and also I'm getting 4.3 at the yellow/green wire contacted to the headlamp but only .6 at the green/red

also at the high/low switch the yellow wire is at 4.3 and the black/blue is at .6

does anybody know if these volts are correct or not.
Mainly at the main switch if the wight/red wires are correct

thanks guys

 

white/red wires coming from the key switch are for the battery monitor.
you'll find the other end by the battery or if it's still hooked up to the sensor, in a fill hole in the battery.

 

So I'm starting to think the issue is in the computer monitor part. were a lot of the wires go. The voltage going into the monitor are at 12v or so but coming out of it to the yellow wire to the headlamp is only 4v and i can't get into the monitor part to check the connections do i just need to buy a new monitor part or is there some way to bypass that whole system but still use the high/low switch? thanks for the help.

 

yes you can bypass the console
you need to couple the incoming yellow wire to the outgoing yellow/green wire

then couple the incoming green wire to the outgoing green/red wire
the colours don't show up very good on the diagrams

you will probably loose the high beam indicator on the console, but try this first, then if you want I could show you how to install a separate indicator
stu

 

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! i hope this will work

 

Well thank you to everybody who helped cause tonight while working on the bike i GOT IT FIXED. i finally was able to figure out what was wrong.

For those who either have read the whole page or maybe run into the same problem heres what was wrong on mine.

The connectors in the right hand bar for the starter button were not connecting all the way. after taking it wart again "i did pull it apart before and cleaned the connectors" But what i didn't do the first time was pull the starter button off all the way and found out that there is a little spring that pushes the metal plate against the connectors i pulled that spring out to se that it was completely rusted and wasn't pushing against the plate very hard to i cleaned it and soaked it and got it rust free and pulled it just a little and put it all back and BAM i had 12V at the hi/low switch and at the light bulb which was now shining bright.

But thank you again to everybody who took the time give me advice and help out.

One good thing about all of this is now i know my entire electrical system really well and where every thing is located and how it flows together. WOOHOO for new knowledge and experience. Thanks again everybody i call this one a xjbikes win.

 

well done!, it shows that with determination , problems can be resolved.
although as I said earlier , a test bulb would have found that fault very easy.
well done
stu

 

Over your lifetime (not knowing how old you are), you just saved yourself a good couple of $grand via this experience. Now that's what I'd call a great "return on investment"!

 

Thanks Chacal. but Bensalf the test bulb i was using kept going off because i was still getting some voltage to everything but not enough to do the headlight. But thanks everybody.