2005 Headlights

[markmoloney]

Turned onto a motorway tonight that had no street lighting and could not see a dam thing with the normal running lights. No option but to turn on the high beam which I immediately had to turn off as it was nearly frying oncoming traffic.

Remind me, on the '05 LT should both the upper and lower lights be on when the bike has normal running lights on ?. My upper light only comes on when I press the high beam switch. I assume one of the filaments is gone in the upper headlight bulb ( not the high beam one obviously).


Whilst I am on the subject, I noticed that turning the headlight adjuster when the highbeam was on made no difference, any comments ?

[meese]

The large upper headlight is the low beam, that one should be on all the time. The lower headlight is the high beam (on '05 and later LTs), it should only come on when you press the high beam switch.

If your low beam is off all the time until you turn on the high beam, I'd look at the headlight ground wires first. The wires are undersized and can cause all sorts of odd problems when the connections get flaky.

On the older LTs ('99-'02) there is a lever on the headlight adjusting knob that drops the whole high/low assembly down enough so that you can use the high beam full time to get you home when you low beam burns out. I don't know how this works on the later LTs with the dual headlight setup.

[zippy_gg]

You may simply have a blown low beam bulb (H9).

[sorchilla]

You may simply have a blown low beam bulb (H9).

I don't have manual with me but I thought the low beam was a H-7 and the high beam was an H-9?

I would not worry too much about blinding oncoming drivers with the high beam on the 05 - it's a crappy light that isn't very bright. I believe there is an adjustment knob for the high beam on the back of the light housing. I don't have my bike with me to verify.

[cfell]

My '05 has had 3 low beam bulbs...

Now it is HID.. and wow.. I can see again! just get one and you'll be amazed.

[Rockdoc]

I don't have manual with me but I thought the low beam was a H-7 and the high beam was an H-9?
Correct. I've found H9s are very hard to come by in car-spares outlets so I keep two in my spares kit when I do any sort of distance.
I would not worry too much about blinding oncoming drivers with the high beam on the 05 - it's a crappy light that isn't very bright. I believe there is an adjustment knob for the high beam on the back of the light housing. I don't have my bike with me to verify.
Correct again. The low beam is adjusted by the knob on the dashboard. The high beam is adjusted by a screw by the lamp itself. On my UK model, the low beam has a U-shaped gap in the centre of its spread and I've adjusted it so that the high beam fills that space. I certainly don't find it a crappy light and haven't felt the urge to change the low beam to HID. That said, road conditions in most of the UK and rural America are very different so my perception of how much light is enough is probably very different to yours..

Keith

[rodgtc]

Don't forget to check the fuse for the low beam.

Rodgtc

[zippy_gg]

I don't have manual with me but I thought the low beam was a H-7 and the high beam was an H-9?
Right you are Doug, the low beam is an H7.:o
I guess I got spoiled with my DD headlight with its 2 H9 bulbs...:D

[markmoloney]

Sorted, replaced the H7 bulb. "I've seen the light"