GL145 electrical faults...

[Willdat?]

My 1988 Honda GL145 (Luxury Sport;)) Is still suffering from an interesting electrical fault, when I brake (ie the brake lights light up) my headlight glows brighter, but when I sound the horn, the horn does not sound and the headlight glows dimmer (almost not on at all). Is there one likely fault for this pair, or is it more likely to be a dodgy earth?

Thanks!

[notme]

..........or is it more likely to be a dodgy earth?

Yup.

Get a piece of insulated wire and connect it straight to the battery negative. Connect the other end to the earth terminal of your headlight, brake light, horn etc in turn and see if one of them has a dodgy earth.

If there's no joy there, you have to check, disassemble, clean all connections that you have easy access to. If the fault is still there you'll need to clean all the connections you don't have easy access too as well. Don't forget the battery connections, and connections to the frame for earthing if you have them.

These types of faults are almost never a faulty part as such, it's always a connection or dodgy wire.

My first cage had a problem one day where it seemed a bit lazy on the starter motor when i was cranking it over to start.....started ok but i found that the accelerator seemed jammed. Closer inspection revealed that the battery earth had come loose, and the throttle cable had been a temporary earth for the starter motor, so was now spot welded to several points on the firewall and engine!

[surfer]

Alternatively you could use a circuit tester and test each part of the circuit that earths the electrics, rather than cleaning all the connections. Start with the horn first. If there is no continuity on an individual circuit, then go through each part section by section.

Have a look in the handle bar switch block for a loose connection or a wire that is shorting onto something else.

Get the manual out and check up on the electric circuit to see if the horn is seperate or is hooked into some other part of the electrics. It will give you a place to start and a better understanding of what it might be that you are looking for.

Good luck.

[roadracingoldfart]

My 1988 Honda GL145 (Luxury Sport;)) Is still suffering from an interesting electrical fault, when I brake (ie the brake lights light up) my headlight glows brighter, but when I sound the horn, the horn does not sound and the headlight glows dimmer (almost not on at all). Is there one likely fault for this pair, or is it more likely to be a dodgy earth?

Thanks!

Easy mate
Dont use the brake and stop tooting at car drivers , yel at them and throw stuff.:msn-wink:

[craisin]

I feel a lot of problems can stem from using the steel frame as earth instead of insulated copper wires back to the battery or to the aliminium crankcase and or head. As copper and aliminium conduct power better eg faster. A horn relay is a good idea for less problems

[Willdat?]

Awesome, you've given me some stuff to try over the weekend!

[FROSTY]

I'd be taking the tank off and looking for munched wires.--around the headstock is always a good place to start

[Grant81]

Hi, My 88 GL145 is having same problems with headlight getting brighter with brakes applied. Please keep me informed & I too will try above solutions. You wouldn't happen to have a wiring diagram would you as NONE of my dash lights work especially annoying is not knowing when indicators are on or not. Have just bought this project. Good to know econohonda has parts for these. Mine starts missing about 6 tho , New points coming tomorrow I hope. Anyone know why a 1988 honda bike still has points? My XL's had CDI at start of 80's?

[Grant81]

Also, there is a little unit under fuel tank bolted to the frame 10mm W & high & 40mm long with a fine spring wireing inside. I thought this could be some of my problems. Anyone know whats its for? Thanks. Mine wire broken & not connected.

[Willdat?]

Well the horn turned out to be a low voltage problem, i'm hoping that a few hours on the charger will sort out the horn, and possibly the headlight too.

No wiring diagram sorry, these GL145s seem to be a bit of an orphan in terms of what is available.

No idea on mystery part either, hopefully it's a generic part that someone can shed some light on!

[bungbung]

XL125s wiring diagram is pretty close, honda pretty much used the same design for the commuter singles. The part is a resistor. When the headlights are switched off the resistor is used to crudely regulate the otherwise no load voltage increase.