BX2200 Headlights not turning on

[appleton]

Hey all, long time lurker, haven't posted since I asked for advice when buying my beloved BX2200.

So after a long weekend of digging out brush & trees, my headlights suddenly stopped working. I figured i blew a fuse, etc, but haven't been able to deduce my issue yet.

I've done the following troubleshooting thus far:

I have verified the fuse is good. Both by replacing it and swapping with the hazard light fuse

I have verified the switch is functioning. I am getting 12v with it turned on and have also swapped it with the hazard switch. The switch works when turning on the hazards.

I have swapped out the headlight bulbs. Puzzingly shortly after i did so, they turned on for a few seconds, I toggled the switch, and they would not turn back on again. The bulbs are still good. I have not been able to get them back on since.

I have removed the dash and verified that all of the harnesses are correctly plugged in, etc.

The hazards, turn signals, etc all work correctly. All fuses are good.

The other clue is that the indicator light is not turning on as well. Even when the front bulbs came on above, the indicator light was still not turning on. However I have confirmed the bulb is working by swapping it w/ the hazard bulb.

I'm guessing that I have a short somewhere, but am not sure how to go about troubleshooting it. I'd rather not start tearing apart the wiring harnesses, wiring, etc. But i know i need to test it in smaller fashions. ie, does it have 12v here, here, then here. if not, here is your problem, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm obviously new to troubleshooting BX electrical problems and my BX2200 shop manual only suggests checking the fuse, bulbs, and harness. I do have the electrical diagrams within the manual if that helps w/ my troubleshooting.

Thanks in advance!

 

[radioman]

since you are having electrical issues with both headlights, either you are having a ground issue or switch issue. there been alot of reports of thos switches failing on BX's. try taking yours apart to spray wd40 or simalar to displace moisture and corrosion.

 

[gwdixon]

Use a voltmeter/ohmmeter to check the wiring all along the harness. Since you have a wiring diagram it should be fairly easy.

I'd go with radioman in that, if the switches are good, then it must be a ground.

BX2200 switches are notorious for being bad.

However, the switch only energizes the relay so checking and testing the relay is an important step. A malfunctioning or corroded relay could cause the intermittent problem.

When tuning on the light switch the relay should have 12V going in and then the output to the lights should show 12V. It will have 0 V before the switch is thrown. The ground side should have no resistance to ground both on the input and output sides of the relay (if there are two ground terminals).