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I got this LAMPF! warning recently, which was indicating that my primary headlight was out. It actually came back on after a restart, but days later cut out again with the warning reappearing. This has led me to believe that it's not the bulb. Any ideas?

ChaseH wrote:I got this LAMPF! warning recently, which was indicating that my primary headlight was out. It actually came back on after a restart, but days later cut out again with the warning reappearing. This has led me to believe that it's not the bulb. Any ideas?

I was getting something similar a few months ago. LAMPF! would come on, then go off after a few minutes. Headlight was fine. I finally figured out it was trying to tell me the "parking light" (a useless feature that exists mostly to drain your battery if you leave the key on--DAMHIK) was out. Sure enough, I replaced the parking light and all is well. No more mysterious LAMPF! warnings. According to the manual, LAMPF! means any front lamp (low-beam, high-beam, or parking light) is faulty.

Hi Paul,

I too am on a Orange 2009 GS, but unfortunately in this case, it's my primary low beam that's out.

So if the lamp is out and you get the LAMPF warning it's either the bulb or some problem that impedes the current flow between the bulb and the control module. My first possibility is that there's corrosion or other damage to the socket that plugs in to the bulb. Unscrew the cover behind the bulb and first inspect this. Sometimes the plastic on the plug itself suffers heat damage (maybe from an over wattage bulb) but you're really interested in the metal connectors that join to the tabs on the bulb. The connectors can also loosen over time and a little work with a needle nose pliers can tighten them up. An easy field cleaning approach is just to remove and reseat the plug several times and see if that fixes it. If that does the trick go back and add some Deoxit from Radio Shack. It's not hard to find replacement plugs that can be spliced in there.

Note that the bike keeps the lamp off until the engine is running, so an effective intervention won't be apparent until after you start the thing!

Bulb filaments can sometimes break and then fuse themselves back together temporarily, so check the bulb either visually (if you see a break in the filament it's toast) or with an ohmeter (should have nearly zero resistance if good, infinite if bad) or just by swapping it out.

Similar thinking if you have an HID conversion, but there's more stuff to understand between the plug and the element. Either way, if the current flow across the circuit isn't right you'll get the warning. A short might do the same thing, but I'm not sure of that.

hope that gets you started.

My low beam headlight bulb blows out about every 6 months. Let me know if you find a problem other than the bulb on this, as I'd like to investigate whatever you find on my bike as well.

T.Wesley wrote:My low beam headlight bulb blows out about every 6 months. Let me know if you find a problem other than the bulb on this, as I'd like to investigate whatever you find on my bike as well.

Have you tried cleaning the headlight connector really well? I had a problem some months (years?) ago with poor connections up front and I sprayed the headlight connector with AMSOIL Metal Protector--which among other things--displaces water and the problems went away.

Actually, I know for a fact that the headlight connector isn't dirty - because it's gone. The last time I changed the bulb, the connector disintegrated, leaving behind just the two wires. Now when I change the bulb, I just disconnect & connect the bare wires, then snap the bulb into place.

(the connectors are, indeed, clean)