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I have a 1988 Yamaha FZ600 with a very strange problem going on with the headlights. Now, this is my first bike, so I'm not real familiar with it yet. So if you have any suggestions, please try to dumb it down for me as much as possible.

So basically, sometimes the headlights will come on, sometimes they won't. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. If they aren't on when I start the bike, a quick trip to 10 grand on the tach might turn them on. But then with situations as last night as I was changing the turn signal, I had the key switched on, but without the motor running. Of course the headlights weren't on, but then for no apparent reason after about five minutes or so, the just popped on. I'm really frustrated as to why this is happening.

I'm assuming it is a short somewhere, but if I just stick my hand back there and jiggle the wires, it has no effect either way. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

anybody with thoughts on this?

The short could be anywhere from the fuse up to the headlight itself, probably wouldnt hurt to run a tester through the works.

NorthernPete wrote:The short could be anywhere from the fuse up to the headlight itself, probably wouldnt hurt to run a tester through the works.

I'm not familiar with a "tester".

Try jiggling your starter button. If the switch thinks it's being pushed enough to kill your headlight but not enough to crank the starter, it could be your problem.

I'm not familiar with a "tester".

multimeter then, or a little circuit tester, (touch it to the wire, a little light comes on, looks like a screw driver with wires attached)

Skier wrote:Try jiggling your starter button. If the switch thinks it's being pushed enough to kill your headlight but not enough to crank the starter, it could be your problem.

Interesting thought. So, when the starter button is pushed, the lights are supposed to go out and come back on when released after the bike has fired up?

NorthernPete wrote:

I'm not familiar with a "tester".

multimeter then, or a little circuit tester, (touch it to the wire, a little light comes on, looks like a screw driver with wires attached)

Oh, I see what you mean. It will probably have to come to that, but I was just hoping there may be something less time consuming to fix it.

In regards to the other post, the starter button is a little sticky, so that could be the cause.

shouldnt take too long to trace one or two wires, good luck with it!

xgabriel wrote:

Skier wrote:Try jiggling your starter button. If the switch thinks it's being pushed enough to kill your headlight but not enough to crank the starter, it could be your problem.

Interesting thought. So, when the starter button is pushed, the lights are supposed to go out and come back on when released after the bike has fired up?

Yep. Some bikes don't cut the headlight, though - my '89 Suzuki Katana doesn't, but my '86 Yamaha Radian does.