82 heritage special- no headlight or turn signals!! HELP!!

tatt2dragon

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I recently bought a 1982 Yamaha XS650 Heritage Special that has been sitting awhile. If you charge the battery the electric start works and it runs strong, but the battery is not recharging on its own. Also the headlight and turn signals do not work. The tail light comes on with the key like it should, but when you hit the brake, one bulb gets brighter the other goes out. Light mechanical work, I can do, but electrical loses me. Any clues on where to start would be appreciated
 
Sounds like a few gremlins to me. I tore apart my whole loom like that.
FIRST, I would check fuses. Then I would check behind the headlight... it MIGHT be a mess in there. Earthed out. Often if you dont have voltage, the brake will make the tail light dim a bit.
It could be a poor earth also poor connections.
Will take time to sort unless you get lucky.
With the bike off, just the wiring, trace the tail light wire and the brake light wire to the switch (brake switch) then, take them both (positive wire) and connect it DIRECTLY to the fully charged battery positive terminal. Does the light do the same thing? ie, put the tail light wire on first, then while holding it there, put the brake light wire on the positive. This will tell you if its in the wiring... if its perfect, then look at the brake light switch, could be poor earth or poor connections.
Headlight could be as simple as blown globe. Could be the headlight switches on the bars.
Again, I would personally open up healight, connect neg to neg on batery and pos onto pos on battery... if it works, its not the light. I would then trace back.

First thing I would check though is the earths... tail light/brake light and the headlight.
I have seen in the headlight chopped wires, hacks, etc and they short out causing all sorts of issues.

As for charging, thats a whole other issue. Alt bushes or other...

Reminds me so much of my 81... which now has only about 3 wires total :)
 
oh, and turn signals, I doubt all 4 globes would be cactus (blown) its probably the flasher unit or again, poor wiring/earth.

Was the bike super clean when you got it? Maybe they washed it (pressure washed) and fried a few things.
Obviously, the coils, start, running electrics work ok... so its not all that bad.

Pete
 
I recently bought a 1982 Yamaha XS650 Heritage Special that has been sitting awhile. If you charge the battery the electric start works and it runs strong, but the battery is not recharging on its own. Also the headlight and turn signals do not work. The tail light comes on with the key like it should, but when you hit the brake, one bulb gets brighter the other goes out. Light mechanical work, I can do, but electrical loses me. Any clues on where to start would be appreciated

if the alternator isn't charging it won't trip the lighting relay, = no headlight, brake light is probably a bad ground, turn signals clean connections and check bulbs, check flasher
 
Read the charging guides, worn out brushes are common easy and cheap, but it can be a more expensive problem too.

As Jayel says; if the charging system isn't, the headlight doesn't.

A random chunk of knowledge. If your charging system is working, with even a little charge in the battery, when you kick start it, the headlight will come on, even if the motor doesn't start. Not sure if it works this way on the early bikes. A handy thing to know when looking at a non runner. "it runs great, just needs the carbs cleaned" LOL.
 
Read the charging guides, worn out brushes are common easy and cheap, but it can be a more expensive problem too.

As Jayel says if the charging system isn't charging the headlight doesn't light.

A random chunk of knowledge. If your charging system is working, with even a little charge in the battery, when you kick start it, the headlight will come on, even if the motor doesn't start. Not sure if it works this way on the early bikes. A handy thing to know when looking at a non runner. "it runs great, just needs the carbs cleaned" LOL.
Yes, you should believe everything the PO tells you :D
 
In the headlight bucket. The ground pigtail has two bullet connectors. A double plug and a short pigtail from it with another double plug. Test the last female. Sometimes the short pigtail has a broken wire. Hook up your meter to the last one and wiggle the short wire in between to see if you gain or lose ground.

I think it breaks there because people tend to grab the first one to pull the connection loose fron the second.
But that may be bullshit. Anywho a break in the short wire will drive you bonkers because the first plug tests as a good ground.
 
I have the same type of problem, now this is probably a big part to explain, my bike is currently not running i have all the oil/gas/ any liquids out of the bike. so im just talking about a battery and turning the KEY to ON.

With the key on most of my lights work (tail running light, break light, plate light, neutral dash light) BUT my headlight and all 4 turn signals will not turn on or anything? is the due to the bikes engine not running? or could it be something else?
Thank you!
 
I have the same type of problem, now this is probably a big part to explain, my bike is currently not running i have all the oil/gas/ any liquids out of the bike. so im just talking about a battery and turning the KEY to ON.

With the key on most of my lights work (tail running light, break light, plate light, neutral dash light) BUT my headlight and all 4 turn signals will not turn on or anything? is the due to the bikes engine not running? or could it be something else?
Thank you!

the headlight will NOT come on until the alternator start producing voltage to the center tap yellow wire, it will trip the relay that lights the headlight, turn signals check for voltage on the brown wire coming from the fuse to the flasher, check for voltage on the brown/white at the flasher then the brown/white at the turn switch this diagram is pretty much common to all years the only difference will be dual or single indicator lamps
 

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Hey thank you for the response! So the headlight and turn signals must be part if a different system then the tail, brake, plate lights? Because they all turn on without the engine Bering on? Does that sound correct?
 
yes some of it is split off at the main switch and some thru the separate fuses depending on the year and/or modifications, your 82 has the horn and brakes on the turn signal fuse, tail light license plate split off at the main switch (Blue wire) headlight and Ignition separate fuses/circuits
 
if the alternator isn't charging it won't trip the lighting relay, = no headlight, brake light is probably a bad ground, turn signals clean connections and check bulbs, check flasher
I just wanted to thank you all for your responses and advice. I spoke to a buddy of mine who is a mechanic at a local bike shop and he gave me the best suggestion for me....$60 plus parts to rewire the whole lighting system!:bike:
 
I just wanted to thank you all for your responses and advice. I spoke to a buddy of mine who is a mechanic at a local bike shop and he gave me the best suggestion for me....$60 plus parts to rewire the whole lighting system!:bike:

Rewiring the lighting system won't help at all with the fact that your alternator is not charging the battery.
 
The charging problem may have been the battery. I took the old one out and had it tested. It was most definitely bad, the tester came back with an immediate "replace battery" response. I bought a new one and it has started perfect every time, and doesnt seem to be losing charge. Upon removing the headlight, I found that every wire in there has been cut and taped back together. Also under the left side plate there is an empty 4 prong plug and a rubber strap on the frame that is the same as the one that is holding a relay on the other side. These are the reason for me to take it to the bike shop:banghead:!!!
 
The lights on the rear of the bike all have a black wire for ground. All these blacks plug into a black wire that runs forward. This is a harness ground.
All the lights on the front have A ground wire. the turns and headlight hook into the harness ground in the headlight bucket. All the dash lights except the neutral light all hook together and plug into the harness ground in the headlight bucket.
All black wires of the stock harness are grounds.
Leo
 
Thanks XSLeo, to get to the ground wire harness for back light do I take the seat off to get to them? I do mhave the front turning light off waiting for I got on Ebay, would that effect the back light since it all apart right now?
 
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Yes, all the wires run to the rear come up under the seat where all the rear lights plug in.
Leo
 
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