76 GL1000 - no starter or headlight

[Johnie]

Okay you GL1000 guys...I have my first problem with this bike today. Appears to be an electrical gremlin. Starting up the bike she turned over nice and as designed the headlight went out during starter activation. Didn't start, but noticed after a couple tries the headlight would not come on anymore when I let off the starter switch as it should. Checked all fuses including the 30 amp main at the back of the bike. All electrical works as it should, but the start button does nothing and that headlight stays off (low and high) all the time now. It is a new HM right hand starter switch. Battery is new and at 12.95. Bike has 16,500 miles on it. Ignition switch contacts seem good. Maybe some contact spray? Ideas appreciated. Thank you for your expertise...
PS I did run the kill switch and ignition switch through some paces. I also put it through the gears to be sure I had a true neutral light.

[Old Fogey]

New or not, the switch is the problem. It's the only direct connection between the headlight and the starter.

[redglbx]

In my experience this problem has been mostly the starter button on the rh side. Grab the button and pull on it a bit and wiggle it to see if you can get the headlight to flash a bit. If nothing then most likely it’s as David above says and likely the ignition switch.

I ran a high output headlight bulb in my 76 for years that killed 4 starter buttons and also the ignition switch. The contacts in these really isn’t big enough to handle the load so I run my headlight through relays so the only load my start button & ignition switch see is the power needed to turn the relay on, the headlight runs on full battery voltage so it gets a bit of brightness boost as well.

[Johnie]

Got the problem solved. I inspected the big electrical loom under the left false cover which had a number snipped wires from the PO. I found a melted spot on a wire that I foolishly connected 2 wrong gauge wires together. (Basic electrical 101). They overheated and fell apart. Got the right gauge and she works good. Now I can easily keep an eye on the wire as time goes. I also made a spare wire as a backup to keep on the bike. Thanks again guys for the ideas and expertise.

[Old Fogey]

I ran a high output headlight bulb in my 76 for years that killed 4 starter buttons and also the ignition switch. The contacts in these really isn’t big enough to handle the load so I run my headlight through relays so the only load my start button & ignition switch see is the power needed to turn the relay on, the headlight runs on full battery voltage so it gets a bit of brightness boost as well.

This is a regularly repeated problem. Honda engineers are very clever but occasionally they do some thing that makes you wonder. The starter switch is one of them.
The relay is the best and permanent answer.

[Sidecar Bob]

Honda's engineers never expected that people would try to use headlights that draw 80W or more in a circuit designed for 50W. If you stay within the original power rating the switch should last until the contacts wear out mechanically.
And with modern LED headlights that produce more light for less power there is even less excuse for excessive current in the circuit.

Heck, even the HIDs that I installed on my bikes over 15 years ago (that now seen so antiquated) produce more light than the "high output" halogen bulbs for about the same power as the originals.

[redglbx]

Totally agree Bob ! I could never believe that Honda actually fitted the anemic oe headlight that they did to the GL along with the tiny contacts in the start switch because you were actually over driving that headlight at 60mph, just terrible! But I’ll add that even just putting the oe headlight on a relay setup to feed it full battery voltage is a huge improvement plus it takes one halogen bulb of the bigger loads off of the starter button anemic contacts.

Personally I would like to be able to use an LED headlight in my 76 but I haven’t found one yet that will fit in the oe headlight bucket and provide good output, but I feel like it’s just a matter of time. I plan if I can get to ride again to use the PIAA NiteTech halogen bulb that I have leftover from my FJR, these have a lower wattage and give a really white higher output, not sure how PIAA does it but they were great in my FJR . Just gotta get my butt in gear and do the work on my 76.

[Sidecar Bob]

The 7" sealed beam headlights that came with the GL1000 were the standard in North America when these bikes were made (most cars had basically the same design except 2 of them). They may not be up to today's standards but they were far better than (for example) the 35W "sealed beam" (actually a bulb soldered into the reflector) that came with the late '70s Suzuki I had.
When quartz halogen headlights that had become the norm in Europe finally received US DOT and Transport Canada approval a few years later they were a revelation. A friend had told me about the first time he took his Seca 650 on an unlit road at night and switched its 8" with H4 headlight to high beam. It lit up the road so well he looked over his shoulder expecting to see a transport truck.
Having heard that story I wasn't as surprised when I replaced the Suzuki's headlight with a 7" with H4 but after that I upgraded every bike I had until I got ones new enough to come with H4s.

Around 2008 I noticed how much better the lights on my wife's CR-V were than the ones on the bikes (even with a 50W halogen running light on Eccles' sidecar). It didn't take long to figure out that a lot of the difference was from the myriad of chips & scratches on the lenses and the tarnished reflectors so I bought a pair of automotive reflector/lens units.
They were a lot better but I drove at night a lot in those days so I wanted better. HIDs were the the latest technology and inexpensive sets for cars were available on eBay so I bought a set of H4s and a set of H3s and a pair of off road H3 spotlights (easy to convert to HID low beams).
The first time I turned on Eccles HID high beam at night it was as much better than the H4 than the H4 was better than that 35W headlight. When I added the HID low beam to the sidecar a few days later its lights were better than the CR-V's
I installed the same setup on Mr.H concurrent with adding its sidecar.

The only LED headlight I've tried is the cheap eBay/China one I bought to experiment with and installed in Eccles' sidecar headlight because it was easier than replacing the HID ballast. It seems to be OK but these days I almost never ride at night so I can't say whether it would have satisfied me when I did.

All of that said, if I was upgrading a headlight now I would NOT look for a bulb (or LED bulb replacement) to install in an ancient reflector/lens. Scratches & tarnish aside there is also the issue of fitting the back end of an HID or LED bulb inside the headlight shell (I had to bore holes in Eccles' fairing and Mr.H's headlight shell for the HIDs and some LEDs have huge heat sinks), not to mention the heat they give off and all the wires crammed into the stock headlight shell. And on top of that, converting an old headlight to LEDs will always be more of a compromise than installing a headlight unit that was designed for LEDs (not to mention that they are usually shallower so there will be more room for all those wires).
A good number of people on cx500forum have changed to proper LED headlights and I'm a little surprised at how seldom it comes up here.
Anyway, when the time comes to upgrade the headlights I currently have I will be looking for something like this
Note that this one does not include turn signals. Turn signals built into headlights are only effective if the headlight is turned off while the signal is flashing.
https://www.amazon.ca/Headlight-Brightn ... B0D9DR9KNG

[redglbx]

Yep Bob, I’m with you on this, when I had my FJR and was participating in that forum there was constant headlights upgrade talk, lots of LED’s tested with most being not so great,, the FJR had bulbs in the fairing that were fairly easy to upgrade and most LEDs fit easily but most didn’t focus the light at all making them not so good.

If I get to ride my 76 regularly again I plan to add the extra PIIA NightTech bulb I have which is an H4 but really good. When I changed the oe sealed beam out to the current H4 lense & reflector which I got waaaaay back in like 77-78 it was a “European” lense & reflector that was listed for off-road only use.. it had a laser cut lense that really focus’d the light , even though the h4 bulb was rated at 80/140w I got very few people flashing me on low beam but on high beam they’d be flashing me 2mi or more down the road. It was very different for that time,, I could actually see !

I will say that the Amazon unit you showed above looks interesting and at only $30 might be a heck of a buy….

Anyone actually tried one of these ? If so what’s your opinion on them ?

[Sidecar Bob]

Bulb to reflector compatibility is one thing I forgot to mention. If the bulbs were actually made to match the H4 halogen bulbs that the reflectors & lenses were designed for they would work in any of those reflector/lens units. Unfortunately many LED bulb replacement manufacturers don't understand (or care) that the distance between the base and the filament in an H4 halogen was carefully engineered so that the light source is at the focal point of the reflector so they just stick a bunch of SMD LEDs on a board and attach an H4 compatible base and think because it is bright it will do and a lot of people who don't know any better buy them.
I got lucky in that the ones I bought work well together but that is another reason I'll be looking for something that is all one unit (& doesn't have the useless turn signal function). Of course, I would also look for something that will fit in the lights on the sidecars too, maybe with high and low beams............