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I don't know much about the bike's history or previous owners. What I do know is that some wiring is funky.
When the ignition switch is in the on position, the front blinkers come on (not blinking, just on) and no headlight comes on (high or low). With the blinker switched pushed right, I get right (rear and front) blinkers working. When I push it left, I get nothing, except the front left blinker stays on.
I pulled off the harness and reconnected everything to double check everything was right. I ended up with the same results.
Do I now go for the control or should I unwrap the harness to make sure everything lines up? Where to begin--again?
Thanks Tim, I appreciate the help and links. All four bulbs do work at some point. Everything else seems to be working fine. But I still have no headlight (high or low) that's when I thought someone maybe wired the headlight to the blinkers or something haha. Thanks for clearing that up. Maybe a new headlight bulb is order? Wish I had another to try out.
I ran some test with my multimeter. The battery is at 11.81 v, and my control is a 12v/black wire, which was 10.96 (20/DCV) and -1 resistance.
low beam (white wire): 0.01 (DCV) and +1 resistance
High beam (blue wire): 0.01 (DCV) and +1 resistance
I'm assuming the headlight just isn't getting juice. When looking at the wiring diagram, it apprears everything is there (minus indicator/gauge cluster which was removed). Does the headlight get its power from the cluster somewhere? Any other test I should run?
Does your bike have an on/off switch for the headlight? I don't know about yours, but my CL350 does. And the rest of the lights work as you described. My left blinked but not the right. Turned out the right rear bulb was out. Once I replaced that they did what they were supposed to do. Fronts on all the time and blinked when needed. Rears off except when blinking.
Fuses aren't busted, but bent. I've put the battery on a tender for now, and I've tried different switch positions. It's strang that I was getting next to nothing when testing the wires. I think I might take off the wiring harness wrap and make sure everything goes where it's suppose to. The more I look at it, the more I can tell someone else has done electrical work to the bike.
Does your bike have an on/off switch for the headlight? I don't know about yours, but my CL350 does. And the rest of the lights work as you described. My left blinked but not the right. Turned out the right rear bulb was out. Once I replaced that they did what they were supposed to do. Fronts on all the time and blinked when needed. Rears off except when blinking.
1976 Was the Year US DOT required headlights to be on at all times when the engine is running. No bike built for the US, in original condition, has a headlight on/off switch. The front signal lights are duel element, running light and signal.
Ok, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I just figured out why the headlight wasn't recieving any juice. According to a wiring diagram, the right controls have an on off switch for the headlights. This 76 550 appears to have the same right as an earlier 550 and/or 500 with no headlight switch.
This seems to be the correct righthand control switch.
Or is this the correct diagram (which I think it is). From what I've gathered, including what has been said here, is up to 75 there was an on off switch on the right side and in 76 the light came on when the bike came on. My question is, where does the headlight get it's power? I see that the white and blue wires go to the left main control, but that's all.
What control is actually on your bike? Would be useful to see some pics of the bike - often there are clues as to how much the previous owner(s) did to it.
Also the headlight likely runs through the starter button. It turns the headlight off when the starter is engaged and back on when you let it go, this is to help let the starter have more of the available power. sometimes it gets corroded and won't pass the power to the headlight. Take it appart and clean the contacts all up.
Don't lose the little spring that pushes the contacts together.
Cheers
Maritime I'm so glad you said that. When looking at the diagram, the only source of power I could possibly see would be from the starter wire, to the instrument wire that routes to the left main control--if I'm looking at this right. So that totally makes sense. This is all "new technology" to me, as I've never worked on any electrical components older than 75.
Here are my controls and I think we will all see what the issue is with this new bit of info about the starter button.
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