225DX Lights Out!

[Frankencelery]

I convinced my wife to go riding with me last night, which is a rare and cherished event. We were out late, about 12 miles from home, and suddenly the 225DX had no lights. So I rode home with her lighting the path for both of us with the 250SX. She noted that "the taillight was going on and off on the trip out", but even if she had told me that, I would have thought it was just the taillight. It was still light out and I wouldn't have noticed the headlight going out until it got dark.

Anyway, I'm digging into it now, trying to figure out what's wrong. Do we have any YTM experts who can point me in the right direction? I know that on this machine there's a completely separate lighting circuit. The lights do not run off the battery like the 250SX does, but I'm not sure where to start. Oddly, when I started it this evening, the lights came on for just a second, and then went out. No amount of wiggling connectors brought it back.

I've got a PDF of the Clymer manual, but it's a poor scan and the wiring diagram is a bit hard to read.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Frankencelery]

UPDATE: I found that the red/yellow wire from the engine is the output of the lighting coil. It is not in a multi-pin connector, it's on a separate plug.

So I disconnected this plug and connected it directly to a 12v source. The lights came on. This is probably bad news, because the only thing left is the lighting coil. So then I connected my DVM to the output connector and started the engine. A DVM is not a good choice for trying to measure a changing frequency AC voltage, but I could see that there was something there, ranging from about 6 to 20 volts at higher RPM. Then plugged the lights back in, and....nothing. 10 seconds later they blinked twice and then just came on steady. Couldn't get them to go out again! Gotta love this kind of troubleshooting. I'm thinking it must be a bad lighting coil, with intermittent behavior like this.

[TecateDan]

Fabiodriven had very simialr problems . I'd look him and his thread up.

[Frankencelery]

There was a monster thread when he got his DR. I looked through it again (I admit I didn't read every single post). He did have some electrical problems but I didn't see anything about lights.

[TecateDan]

Hmmm. I didn't read his thread I was with him when they crapped out and it was a loose connector burried somewhere in the harness. No Offense but just get another SX
There was a monster thread when he got his DR. I looked through it again (I admit I didn't read every single post). He did have some electrical problems but I didn't see anything about lights.

[Yamaha3wheeler]

Hmmm. I didn't read his thread I was with him when they crapped out and it was a loose connector burried somewhere in the harness. No Offense but just get another SX

No offense taken as I own a sx, 225dx, and 225dr. My dx has been through much more hell than the sx. Much Much more hell. My sx has been nothing but headaches from the rear differential to the CDI. I would take not having a light work over not being able to drive my machine any day as a lighting problem is very minor and more of a luxury in my eyes. I didn't choose my name for just any old reason and I've owned many more Honda wheelers over yamahas. Run a seperate switch from lights directly to the battery may be a quick and cheap way to go . I doubt the lighting coil is that hard to change. Just get the manual and wake up early on a saturday. Bet you're done before lunch and that is if your are very slow like myself. :)

[Frankencelery]

Run a seperate switch from lights directly to the battery may be a quick and cheap way to go . I doubt the lighting coil is that hard to change. Just get the manual and wake up early on a saturday. Bet you're done before lunch and that is if your are very slow like myself. :)

I really wanted to do just that, hoping to make it more like the SX, which is in my opinion wired properly. :p But the Clymer manual has very specific amperages for the coils. According to this, the charge coil puts out only .7A at 3000 RPM. Well if you figure 45W headlight and 7.5W taillight, you're looking at 52.5W, which is more than 4A. You'd be constantly pulling down the battery.

TecateDan, I'm not offended. In fact, I agree! I'm torn between having a variety of machines. My SX is my rock-solid, always-ready, never-fails machine, and I would be thrilled to find another one at a reasonable price. In fact, I may decide to trade my Green Thing that tries to kill me every time I ride it (no offense TecateDan) for another SX!

I'm wandering back out there now to do some more poking at it.

[TecateDan]

u should try me and fabio's green 500. It like to hurt and mame people

[Frankencelery]

u should try me and fabio's green 500. It like to hurt and mame people

Thanks for the offer, but a man's got to know his limitations! :lol: