Low beam relay

[Pluggy]

Sorry, I don't KNOW if Sylvnia LEDs are the very same as the Osram over here.
Just an educated guess based on same Manufacturer and similarity to product pictures.

Sylvania doesn't exist over here  that's an US based brand only.

Good luck anyways.

-mike-

Hello, Mike.  In the US, Sylvania is on the package and Osram is on the product inside.  Does the US package contain the same part as in Germany?  That's an educated guess that seems to indicate a good choice.

[Jess from VA]

Thank again guys, I do appreciate it.  Rather than trying something on Amazon (maybe several times) I think I will just bite the bullet and buy the Sylvania LEDs for $100 a pair.  For you who don't have Interstates, I tell you it is no fun getting the bulbs in and out from under that fairing.  Sometimes you get lucky and can do it in a few minutes, or sometimes it can take an hour or more, each.  

Now for the rest of the story.  New Honda light relays in hand, I went out and pulled both bikes out of the shed (the daily rider has to come out first, before the one against the wall will come out at all).  The bike with no low beams had been against the wall since last August.  Got it started yesterday, no problem.

Pulled the seat and side covers, got the radio out of the way and pulled the battery cover.  Checked the 5 and 15 amp headlight fuses again, and they were fine again.  Unbolted the coolant reservoir (and hose) and that thing is a real Rubics cube to finagle out of the frame.  The bike is a permanent trunkless Interstate and there are several extra electrical boxes wired in there to make the taillight, signals and led plate light run-turn-brake, and they had to be moved out of the way too.

I keep my bikes spotless, but the wiring harness in there had 25 years of fine dust and crud everywhere, and it's not like you can take a power washer to it.  I used soft brushes and swept it off the best I could (and should have worn a mask).  Then I had the bright idea of using my Stihl gas blower (not wide open) to blow it off, and proceeded to cover both bikes with that dirty crud which stuck like glue.  But at least I got a lot of the crud off the harness to see better to work.  

The picture in the factory manual that shows both low and high beam relays, indicates the low beam relay is the very next unit ahead of the ECU.  There was nothing there like in the picture, but I managed to wiggle the rubber suspension electrical box holder off it's clip and pull the box out enough to look it over, but none of the four wire colors to that box matched the wire colors that are supposed to be on the low beam relay.  Another box was farther ahead and going to be very difficult to reach.

So I gave up and quit.  A good man knows his limitations. I had already pulled and stretched all kinds of wiring in there, and I don't know what I'm doing.  If I knew which box was the low beam relay I would have kept at it.  I carefully put everything back where it was, and buttoned it all back up.  Then I had to wipe that nasty crud off both bikes.

That bike runs fine, but had not been ridden since last August.  So I rolled the other bike into the shed up against the wall, put on some gear and took the no low beam bike for an hour shakedown and that was the only good thing about the day, it ran like a champ (except the radio will now not come on, I probably caused that).  I did not run those 100watt X 2 high beams, instead I ran the mini 70watt X 2 PIAAS under the fairing for headlights.  I will take it to my expert mechanic who does know what he is doing and get it fixed.

Cruising up my street to home, I see my neighbor/friend HVAC man outside, and I stopped to thank him for all his help when my furnace went out a few weeks ago in 9 degrees.  We talked for an hour about furnaces, filters, and motorcycles (he has a HOG).  His wife came home and we said goodbye.

I go out to the street and get on my bike, and it is dead.  It took me only a minute to realize, I had left those (separately switched) PIAAs on when I got off.  I never use them, and they don't turn off like the headlights when you turn the key off.  I am a big fat dummy.  I cannot ask that man for (any more) help or a jump, so I push that fat bastard down the street 8 doors to my house, then UP my driveway through the gate, and coast it down my backyard driveway into the shed and on my charger.  I only had to stop for a breather and rest 3 times, but it kicked my stupid ass.  

 

[Jess from VA]

I had not changed (or looked at) those off-road Hella 80/100 bulbs, because changing them in the Interstate faring is a big PITA.

I am working on getting the bike to my mechanic for electrical work (and a few other things).

But it occurred to me I have some good brand new 9003 H4 55/60s and I really should get the 80/100s out of there and make sure they both don't have a low beam filament burned out (which is unlikely, but if they were, then my low beam relay or harness wiring would not be my problem).  And if I stick the 55/60s in, then I can run the bike on brights with less draw than the 100 X 2 Hellas or the 70 X 2 PIAAs (or forget to turn them off again and drain the battery like an idiot).

So with high anxiety, I reread the good Shoptalk write-up on changing Interstate bulbs, then went out and put my bike up on the lift because it's so much easier to change bulbs in that fairing with the bike elevated, and stable, and easy to swing the bars back and forth.  Even on the lift, I HATE THIS JOB!!

You can only work one handed, so the job on the left is easier because I'm right handed.  The job on the right (left handed) was worse, especially after the bulb once unclipped fell through the bulb hole into the sealed fairing.  I'm not taking that fairing off, so I proceeded to make a stiff-wire long fishhook and fished for that son of a bitch through the bulb hole.  I had to work left handed from behind the fairing on my knees, but watch what I was doing looking through the front of the fairing.  Cussing, laughing, multiple tries coming off the hook, but I finally got it back out of the bulb hole (a miracle).

And BTW, those Hella bulbs are perfect, with no burned dim filaments, so it's absolutely the low beam relay, or some other burned up wiring in there.  

The story on the Valk Interstate is that it was a rush job by Honda in 1999, and a number of things on that bike show it (like bag lids on cable ties), but whoever designed how the light bulbs go in that fairing deserves a swift kick in the nuts.  

So I went on a little shakedown ride which at 62* you'd think would be pleasant, but with 20-25MPH constant winds, gusting to holy-sh!t, it wasn't that fun (or warm).

[WintrSol]

So, did the lights come on? Probably not, but I hate to assume.

[Jess from VA]

So, did the lights come on? Probably not, but I hate to assume.

Well the brights came on, but the dims didn't, like always.  (So it's the relay or worse, or both.)

And I figured that would happen, but needed to look at those high watt bulbs to rule them out for burned out low filaments (no such luck).

But the best result is I can ride around with 60 (brights) X 2 with no worry at all (unlike those 100 X 2 Hellas) in the meantime.  

Guys have been using auto parts 55/60s for decades (me too) with no reports of relay or wiring trouble (me either).

I will probably go to LEDs on both bikes at some point (when I'm sure which ones to use), but I had the new 55/60s on hand and stuck them in until I can get the bike into my mechanic.  I was hoping in Winter he wouldn't be busy, but I may be wrong.  He's ordered my new front tire for the other bike, but has not come back to me (with discussion or an appointment) on the electrical problems.  He's an hour away, doesn't answer the phone, so I'm doing email.  (lone wolf operation)

Patience has never been one of my virtues.

AND:
My mechanic is the best I've ever known; all makes and models, Metric, Harley, Ducati, all electricals, fuel injection, everything.  He was the lead tech at my big local Honda (and other) dealer for years until they pissed him off and he quit them and went on his own in competition with them.  His reputation is legendary in my region, and he stays busy.

And you may have heard, many dealers and bike shops have begun refusing service (maybe other than tires) on bikes of a certain vintage (like ours), even on bike makes they sell.  Saying their techs aren't trained on them anymore, but I think they'd just rather sell you a new bike.  And I'm desperately hoping he hasn't decided to do the same thing (I don't think so).  And my local Honda dealer service department has shown me they can't be trusted, with or without trained techs.