New Bike - 2004 R1150RT

[jaskc78]

Bought a 2004 R1150RT this past weekend in LA, rode it back to Tucson last night. So nice having a long distance bike with saddlebags again.

Weird problem, though--low beam headlights and instrument back lighting don't work. Hi beam works just fine, so do the other lights right next to the headlight. The warning lights still work, turn signals, and the gauges themselves work fine, but not the low beam or back lighting for the speedo and tach. Do they share a common ground that might be bad or are they on the same relay, possibly? Thanks for any help you can offer, will be ordering a Hayne's or Clymer later this week, I think.

[rider55]

it could be a bad fuse

[totalmotorcycle]

Congratulations on the new bike! Now we just need photos of it (if you put them up in the gallery then you can link them here to your message).

Could be as simple as a dead bulbs.

Mike

[Grey Thumper]

Congrats on the new (to you) bike!

Our bikes are pretty similar (similar enough to have the same Haynes manual at least). While the Haynes or Clymer is on its way, maybe this'll help:



Instrument backlighting uses the same fuse as your brake light, and that works, right?

[HYPERR]

Weird problem, though--low beam headlights and instrument back lighting don't work. Hi beam works just fine, so do the other lights right next to the headlight. The warning lights still work, turn signals, and the gauges themselves work fine, but not the low beam or back lighting for the speedo and tach. Do they share a common ground that might be bad or are they on the same relay, possibly? Thanks for any help you can offer, will be ordering a Hayne's or Clymer later this week, I think.

Doesn't sound weird at all. The headlight bulb is probably burnt out, perfectly normal for the low beam to wear out before the high beam if it is used more often. The little bulbs for the back lighting for the speedo and the tach are probably burnt out as well. The headlight bulb you can get anywhere. The speedo and tach bulb if I remember correctly is a strange size and hard to find other than a BMW dealer.

[sapaul]

Congrats on the new ride, I am sure you will enjoy.

I know of a similar problem on an RT, turned out as you though to be a bad earth

[jaskc78]

Checked all the fuses, looked up online how to get to and remove the headlight assembly if needed, will be calling the local BMW shop to see if there's any common issue they can think of that could cause it.

All the fuses are good, pulled them out and checked them. The headlight doesn't look burnt out, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't. Brake light works just fine, could see it reflecting off all the jackhole California drivers that were tailgating the crap out of me on the ride back.

[sapaul]

Sounds to me like a bad earth, the RT lights are not bad to get at. Rig a direct earth onto the terminal and see if that works then you know you have to trace the bad earth.

[jaskc78]

Have a general inspection scheduled at the local BMW shop for Saturday morning and asked them to take a look at the headlight/backlight issue and do a little troubleshooting. Hopefully it turns out to be something easy, would be nice to at least know what I'll have to do or how much it'll cost to fix it.

[jaskc78]

Turned out to be a bad earth on the headlight, burned out bulbs on the instrument panel. Rear brakes and rotor need replacing, front tire needs replacing before too much longer. Will order the brake pads and rotor today and get them done as soon as they come in, the front tire I'll replace after our weekend trip to Vegas on the 22d.

The tech also mentioned that it's running a little rough and sounds like it needs a valve service, so hopefully my Clymer arrives soon so I can start practicing that 6k valve adjustment. Will let you all know how it goes with racking up the miles.