Position / clearance lights not working

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labsy
Posts: 289
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:26 am

Position / clearance lights not working

Postby labsy » Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:44 am

Hi,

I am having an issue with ALL position/clearance lights, front and back, both sides, not working. I pulled out IPDM, re-seated all connectors, knocked few times on IPDM housing (because there are soldered relays inside) and when I put everything back toghether...woah, yes, all lights worked!
BUT for the diagnosys purpose I had front lamps pulled out, had just 12V tester connected. Then when I re-inserted front position (LED!!!!) lamp back to where it belongs, I heard like a spark, snap...and all lights, front and back, went OFF again.

I checked all fuses and IPDM soldered relays, they DO HAVE 12V there and proper voltage goes from IPDM out towards front and back lamps, but does not reach ANY of light sockets, neither on front, not on the back.

What else should I check? Is there any wire distribution inbetween IPDM and front & back position lamps?


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VStar650CL
Posts: 501
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 6:19 pm

Re: Position / clearance lights not working

Postby VStar650CL » Thu Aug 11, 2022 5:18 am

Assuming your tail and marker lamp circuit is the same as a USDM R51, the only thing the front and rear markers have in common is the taillamp relay in the IPDM. See EXL-107 here:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... %2FEXL.pdf

Past the relay the circuit splits front/rear, each with its own fuse, and the individual marker lamps each use a different ground with the fronts also having separate power. So your statements about "all the lamps being out front and rear" and "proper voltage from the IPDM" are incompatible, only one can be true unless you have three wires broken downstream from the IPDM. That is of course very unlikely. So it's likely you're measuring the wrong wires out of the IPDM, and either both fuses are blown or the taillamp relay is crapped.

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labsy
Posts: 289
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:26 am

Re: Position / clearance lights not working

Postby labsy » Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:40 pm

Well, thank you for scheme, which helped me a lot, despite it also being NOT the right one. I have one for V9X precisely, but that one is not right either.

How I SOLVED was actually having 2 (both wrong) schemes there, and testing fuse by fuse, relay by relay. Found out that original relays and fuses are NOT USED and all wiring for position/clearance lamps has been manually rewired through DTRL, whose functionality was canceled and DTRL relay now has +12V on one side of spool ALL THE TIME, even if I lock the vehicle!? So, long story short - I found quite some wires bricked together by electrician, found quite some contacts physically removed from connectors entirely (instead of only cutting the wire, that guy pulled out whole contact from connectors!!!), so I can only guess where that bricked or shorted wire was originally. All is one single line via DTRL fuse and DTRL relay.
I guess this lousy manual rewire was done to have lo beams always ON and rear positions too.

So, lamps work now, but I would love to wire it back as it was... this will be a project, for sure.

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VStar650CL
Posts: 501
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 6:19 pm

Re: Position / clearance lights not working

Postby VStar650CL » Mon Aug 15, 2022 2:39 pm

labsy wrote:
Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:40 pm
Well, thank you for scheme, which helped me a lot, despite it also being NOT the right one. I have one for V9X precisely, but that one is not right either.

How I SOLVED was actually having 2 (both wrong) schemes there, and testing fuse by fuse, relay by relay. Found out that original relays and fuses are NOT USED and all wiring for position/clearance lamps has been manually rewired through DTRL, whose functionality was canceled and DTRL relay now has +12V on one side of spool ALL THE TIME, even if I lock the vehicle!? So, long story short - I found quite some wires bricked together by electrician, found quite some contacts physically removed from connectors entirely (instead of only cutting the wire, that guy pulled out whole contact from connectors!!!), so I can only guess where that bricked or shorted wire was originally. All is one single line via DTRL fuse and DTRL relay.
I guess this lousy manual rewire was done to have lo beams always ON and rear positions too.

So, lamps work now, but I would love to wire it back as it was... this will be a project, for sure.
Jeeze, Louise! Gotta love backyard wiring jobs (NOT!)
:!:


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