SS440 All lighting goes dim or out

BornYamaha

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
338
Location
Northern IL
Hi All,
I am working on a friend's immaculate "83" SS440 with about 1,600 miles on it. He bought it a little over a year ago. It starts and runs like brand new. The only problem is shortly after it starts running, generally after it warms up a little and at first only when you rev it up, all lights go very dim to completely out. In a little while they are all out all the time. It has had this problem ever since he got it. I have checked the wiring and I don't see any rub throughs or wires that look bad in general. It seems to be a function of running time. One more potential clue. It appears that at one time someone had handlebar heaters on this machine and took them off. I was curious if they could have stressed something out electrically. It runs great other than the lighting issue. I see all the lighting wires go directly into the CDI box. I was wondering if the lighting voltage section of it could be bad but still allow the machine to run.

Please let me know what you think.
 

well it is either the lighting regulator or the stator that could be the issue. usually most ppl tapped into the tail light/brake light for the warmers rather than the head lamp. there is one more place in the wiring to check. you have to pull the recoil housing and check where the wires come out for the stator. had a few enticers where the rubber there wore out and the wire grounded out on the engine in there.

a quick aside, has the motor plate had a ground wire added to it to go to the frame at some point? seen that straighten out some running issues on a few sleds.
 


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