When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
So I have an issue with my 81. I can pull the headlight **** and the headlights come up turn on, however I do not get any instrument gauge lights nor do the rear parking or running lights come up. I still have brake lights and reverse lights, but I don't have any running lights so I can't drive at night. I think the first thing to check is going to be the instrument gauge fuse and tail lamp fuse, but I do have tail lamps and reverse lights. My next thought would be could it be the headlight switch itself be bad for the parking light circuit? I do have the shop manual for it. Any thoughts? If I didn't get any tail lamps at all I might think it would be a ground issue or something like that, but if I'm getting brake lights and such, then it's not going to be the ground for them I don't think. It's all right, I mostly just driving the day anyway, but in the winter when it gets dark early it would be nice to be able to drive it home.
The tail lights have their own fuse. I'd pull it, test continuity, and stick it back in. Sometimes the contacts are corroded.
The instrument lights also have a fuse. The headlight switch itself is a potentiometer, and can have a corroded spot. Try twisting it a few times. The flexible circuit boards are also notorious for failing.
I found a failed ground inside a tail light socket. Perhaps the input has failed in yours? You can pierce the insulation and test with a needle-tipped test light, or a test pin/Exacto blade and multimeter, and see if you can find where the power stops flowing. I ended up replacing all of the sockets.
And I'm sure there are other failure modes I haven't encountered yet.
Last edited by Bikespace; Oct 11, 2021 at 10:15 PM.
I'll definitely have to look at that. I just haven't had a chance to pull the fuses and check those first, then I was going to check the output coming off of that headlight switch to make sure I was getting power headed back that way. I have tried rotating the **** a few times to see if it might be that potentiometer sticking, but it hasn't helped yet. Thanks for the tips I'll check those out. I will try to post if I get everything running or not. I appreciate your response.
81 running light issue
