Haha when it rains it pours...

[Kronx]

Got a 2nd full time job. Pulling 80 hours a week.

I get off work Wednesday at 5pm... shoot home for a two hour nap and then load up the VMax for an hour night ride to the other job. Get about halfway out my neighborhood and my headlight goes out for a bit... comes back on about 10 second later... shit. I can't take the chance of that happening and it staying off on the ride to work so I turn around go home and take the car. Figure I got a bad connection happening somewhere. Put it on my list to look at it whenever I have the time. Not much of that when you're working 80 hours a week.

Drive an hour to Scott AFB... pull up to the gate... drop my driver window.... show my ID... they wave me through... I press the window up button.... nothing. Well shit. Get to the job. Spend 10 mins fighting that window back up so rain doesn't get in. Guess the motor burnt out. Maybe the regulator. Put it on the list.

Work my shift head back to the other job -- work it -- head home. Walk through the door and the girlfriend tells me the dryer stopped working. I figure must be the element. Put it on the list to buy and replace. Figure it will be a couple of days before I can get to it. Decide to preemptively do some cloths in the washer so they have time to hang dry. I start the load... and go to bed for another two hour nap. Wake up.... girlfriend tells me the washer wont spin. I'm waiting for someone to jump and say "Surprise" or something... this can't really be THIS many damn things failing with a 24 hour window. No one ever jumped out.

I'm really itching to get some free time... have a nice fast ride on the Vmax... go hit the range and put a few hundred rounds through the new .40 cal. But I'm gonna be spending it scrapping knuckles and cussing.

Just before I got the 2nd job, I went out on a 6am in ride... it was one of the most serene rides I can remember. Morning sun burning off the mist floating through the trees... curvy and hilly roads ahead of me and all to myself. Had to stop and take a picture. Seems like a dream now haha.

Any idea where I need to start to look about the light on the Vmax? It just randomly turned off as I was riding... came back on after I stopped. I turned around and it turned off again... then came back on again.

 

[dannymax]

I'd start with the connector the light plugs in, inside the shell....look for corrosion, maybe dob a little di-electric grease in as long as you're there....then do the same with the green connector that's along the left side (think it's in back of the steering neck cover), again keeping a sharp eye for corrosion and di-electric it.

 

[maleko89]

Kronx, I'd check/clean your starter button first. If it's dirty it won't retract all the way. Next, remove headlight from bucket and fiddle with the wiring with the key on and see if it flickers.

Mark

 

[Kronx]

Thanks for the help guys. I had planned to check connections, but I didn't think to grease whiel I was doing it. Thanks Danny!

And Mark thanks for the tip on the starter. Didn't think about that! Would be great if that was it.

Here's to hoping!
:cheers:

 

[alorio1]

I'd start with the connector the light plugs in, inside the shell....look for corrosion, maybe dob a little di-electric grease in as long as you're there....then do the same with the green connector that's along the left side (think it's in back of the steering neck cover), again keeping a sharp eye for corrosion and di-electric it.

Kronx, I'd check/clean your starter button first. If it's dirty it won't retract all the way. Next, remove headlight from bucket and fiddle with the wiring with the key on and see if it flickers.

Mark

Both good ideas......if the washer is kinda on the old side, you might find a broken wire on the solenoid that engages the spin cycle and can only be accessed by laying the washer down to crimp on a new spade connector.

 

[bikedave99]

Kronx, I'd check/clean your starter button first. If it's dirty it won't retract all the way. Next, remove headlight from bucket and fiddle with the wiring with the key on and see if it flickers.

Mark

I definitely second checking the starter button. I chased a erratic headlight on my '85 Virago (electrically very similar to the Vmax) for a whole day before spending some quality time with the schematic and finding out the headlight pulled power through the starter switch, which had a weak return spring. (also a good reason to put the headlight on a relay... need to do that..)

 

[bikedave99]

Got a 2nd full time job. Pulling 80 hours a week.

I get off work Wednesday at 5pm... shoot home for a two hour nap and then load up the VMax for an hour night ride to the other job. Get about halfway out my neighborhood and my headlight goes out for a bit... comes back on about 10 second later... shit. I can't take the chance of that happening and it staying off on the ride to work so I turn around go home and take the car. Figure I got a bad connection happening somewhere. Put it on my list to look at it whenever I have the time. Not much of that when you're working 80 hours a week.

Drive an hour to Scott AFB... pull up to the gate... drop my driver window.... show my ID... they wave me through... I press the window up button.... nothing. Well shit. Get to the job. Spend 10 mins fighting that window back up so rain doesn't get in. Guess the motor burnt out. Maybe the regulator. Put it on the list.

Work my shift head back to the other job -- work it -- head home. Walk through the door and the girlfriend tells me the dryer stopped working. I figure must be the element. Put it on the list to buy and replace. Figure it will be a couple of days before I can get to it. Decide to preemptively do some cloths in the washer so they have time to hang dry. I start the load... and go to bed for another two hour nap. Wake up.... girlfriend tells me the washer wont spin. I'm waiting for someone to jump and say "Surprise" or something... this can't really be THIS many damn things failing with a 24 hour window. No one ever jumped out.

I'm really itching to get some free time... have a nice fast ride on the Vmax... go hit the range and put a few hundred rounds through the new .40 cal. But I'm gonna be spending it scrapping knuckles and cussing.

Just before I got the 2nd job, I went out on a 6am in ride... it was one of the most serene rides I can remember. Morning sun burning off the mist floating through the trees... curvy and hilly roads ahead of me and all to myself. Had to stop and take a picture. Seems like a dream now haha.

Any idea where I need to start to look about the light on the Vmax? It just randomly turned off as I was riding... came back on after I stopped. I turned around and it turned off again... then came back on again.

Kronx, on the washer... if it won't spin, you also might check the lid safety switch. My grandparents washer did the same thing and it turned out the bracket holding the switch to the frame was broken. I just zip tied it back on and it has worked for the past 2 years.

 

[Traumahawk]

Check the starter button....I had the same problem on mine. You can physically pull the starter button out...and the light will come back on.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Fire-medic]

Bad ground on the headlight though you probably would have more than the headlight since the ground serves the entire electrical system. I would check the ground on the right side engine case above the footpeg, and the battery ground.

Sometimes the push-on headlight terminal will break wire filaments where the M-F spade terminals are and upon close inspection, you may find only a few strands are left intact.

I also went through a whole hassle w/my headlight when it turned-out to be a bad bulb, abd the replacement was bad, too! Not bad, as-in 'it won't turn-on,' but bad as-in, it isn't reliable. Sometimes the simple things are just-that. I cleaned my switch, checked my wiring, polished my ground, and spent time looking for a pinched wire to the headlight, only to find the replacement bulb was bad. It would work for awhile, and then shut-off. Had the same thing happen a couple of times w/a spark plug too.

A tip: if you get caught-out w/a non-functioning headlight, remove the lenses from your front turn signals, and the bit of extra light may be enough to allow you to get home safely. A good reason not to replace the stockers w/an aftermarket 'dinky' set. Or, you can carry a spare bulb in the headlight wrapped in bubble-wrap or foam.

 

[twistedmax]

Kronx, your luck will change. and that feeling you had while riding and that pic...................................that's why we ride.

 

[1st Shirt Maxer]

+1 on the starter switch cleaning and dielectric grease to fix the headlight issue. I had the exact problem 2 weeks ago and thought my HID ballast was going bad. I decided to start with the easiest and cheapest fix, the switch, and that was the problem. I work down a dirt road so my switches tend to get nasty pretty quickly. If that doesn't fix the problem, I would check the connection at the back of the light bulb.


David Justiss
USAF First Sergeant

 

[V-Four]

Kronx, I'd check/clean your starter button first. If it's dirty it won't retract all the way. Next, remove headlight from bucket and fiddle with the wiring with the key on and see if it flickers.

Mark

:clapping:

I chased my tail for about 2 weeks on this mystery...pulled the headlight about 6 times..cleaned connections..everythin that I could get my hands on..traced wires all over the place...

It was that silly starter switch. I hadnt thought that since the headlight goes out for a hot sec while pushin the button, that IT could be the culprit. And it was.

And as usual, it was someone here on the forum that mentioned it.




Good luck.

 

[Kronx]

Thanks for all the help gentlemen!

1> It was the starter button! Thanks again Mark!
2> It was the heater element on the dryer.
3> It's a coupler that broke on the washer.
4> Still havent taken the car door apart yet. Must sleep.