burnt headlamp plug

RADEMIS

Supercharged
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
Messages
201
Location
PLYMOUTH, INDIANA
One of my low beam headlight bulbs was burned out, so I bought a new one to replace. But what I found was that the plastic plug that plugs onto the bulb was almost completly burned up. one of the terminals coming out of the glass was melted off smooth. I would say this could have easily caught the bike on fire If the fuse did not blow. the plug is very contorted but it does still slide onto the new bulb untill the new plug comes in. Rademis
 
I read your subject line just before I went to school this afternoon. I'm wondering if the connections between the bulb prongs and the socket became corroded and resulted in a high resistance connection which on a 12 volt system will equate to localized heat. Sounds like a new plug is in order and a liberal application of di-electric grease to the prongs.

I filled all the connectors on my R3 with di-electric grease when I first got it as well as my T100, farm tractors and cars. Just good insurance and cheap.
 
I have had the connector (sub-harness ) melt twice...I have a 2005 Rocket. The first incident was Feb. of this year was told the harness was a "bad design" it was replaced under warranty ....The second incident 1 week ago ....same thing ...extended warranty will cover this one ... I asked why this happened AGAIN & was told I was the ONLY person to bring one back after the FIRST fix.....Hmmmmmmm
 
So it must be your fault :D... maybe your electrons are too hot and they melt the plugs.

If your (or anyone else's) bike goes out of warranty and this happens you can buy replacement pigtails at just about any auto parts store. This is a common problem in the car world also. Mostly caused by high resistance at the connector (for whatever reason).

If you have a melted plug I would replace the bulb also, as the male terminal on the bulb is probably cooked also and is now a new cause of high resistance. So if they didn't replace the bulb during your first repair they probably caused the second failure, not your hot electrons.

This bike had hot electrons...
 
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