Headlight Help

Hello,
Just took my newly purchased '00 VFR for a ride, however upon starting on the way back home noticed the front headlights both out.
With Hi beam on the lights work as does pressing the passing hibeam trigger, all indicators/brake lights work.
Swapped the fuse with the spare, no joy....
Checked the bulbs from the outside and they seem to be 12V/45W on both sides, is this correct for Australia?
any thoughts will be appreciated, hope its just gone bulbs and not any major electrics.
Thanks
j.

 

sounds like the bulbs/globes.
best plan of attack is to take one out and a visual should tell you if the low-beam filament is burnt out.
otherwise pop over to a burson or advanced jap auto and match up a replacement.
i have yet to change the bulbs in my 6th gen. but i did once in my AU 4th gen and remember buying an H4 bulb and simply snipping off one of the tabs to make it fit.
it was quite a simple mod and much cheaper than the actual honda bulbs. just match the tabs and slots on the new bulb with the old one.

 

Thats great thanks, will have a crack at it when Ive got some free time and sunshine.
j.

 

Sounds like globes to me.I have just changed my 5th gen ones to 55/65w h4 units.And yes you have to cut off the two bottom tabs for it to fit.But at $9 each is waaaayyyyyy better than the $38 odd dollars fro the oem ones!!
And also it will take you about 1 hr to get the job done.

 

Finally had time to look at my bike, closed my eyes and prayed to the god of headlights and electricals, turned the key fired her up, lo and behold, low beam lights are on!
I was thankfull for not haveing pulled the working bulbs out, gone and paid money for new ones, had to install them.....
The bad news is low beam is good, passing hi beam is good, full hi beam good, but on returning to low beam the lights turn off
I have to press hi beam about 5% down and low beam comes on again. Getting valves inspected soon so will get my mechanic to have a look.
Cheers
jimbo

 

Sounds like a sticky relay!

 

Jimbo,
Had a similar problem on my 86 vfr and it turned out to be the light switch on the handlebars was corroded. took it apart and cleaned the contacts with a pencil eraser(an old ET trick) and some contact cleaner problem solved. be careful when you dissassemble small springs and ball bearings inside mine. be sure you look at it real good beforehand, better yet take some digital photos. you do have digital cameras down under, don't you? LOL

 

I had the same problem last fall. It turned out to be the start switch. When you press the start switch on a Honda, there is a contact that removes power from the headlights. This is so all the juice can go to the starter. I cleaned everything inside the start switch housing & the problem is gone.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

Thanks for all the good advice, seems like a solid afternoons work, will need to make sure I got a full case of beer to keep me motivated.
And Danimal, a digital camera? Man Im typing this on a commodore 64 attached to "The Internet" through a router made out of tin can and piece of string......
Cheers
j.