I use a large pair of right angle circlip pliers available at any auto parts store.

Thanks, ended up using a pair of small needle nose spread wide that fit the holes perfectly. It popped loose with just a bit more pressure than I'd applied. Took it apart, cleaned it.

Now, if I could find the damn short. BMW certainly seems to complicate things electrically, it's turning into an education.

Thanks, John

I also found BMW wiring hard to understand during the first few months of ownership. But like everything else, you'll grow into it. An "acquired taste" you might say.

One bit is so strange though that it needs to be pointed out. Most Airheads have no "main" fuse. Many owners add one, but as issued, there is no fuse. Thus, every RED wire you see is continuously connected directly to the battery. You'll find these wires on the back of the ignition switch (making the spare lug on the rear of the ignition switch a favorite place to connect accessory items), and on the rear, "feeding" the dashboard clock.

No main fuse then also means the RED wire is also the prime candidate for generating shorts that occur when the ignition switch is turned OFF. If that is your case, then start by unplugging the clock and whatever accessory is connected to the spare terminal on the rear of the switch.

Hope this helps.

Yep, and I guess the diode board is a source of ghosty problems. The second hot on this ignition doesn't have anything feeding off it, the clock and the voltmeter seem routed around the ignition switch.

This started as the fuse blowing for the tail/parking/instrument lights, which made for an interesting night ride from Sedalia to Montrose. I couldn't make it blow sitting still and sometimes it'd last an hour. Couldn't find an associated action like brakes or hi/lo or bumping etc. Then, the headlight began to stay on when the ignition was turned off. Been tracking and cleaning, replaced headlight relay, yi yi yi. The ignition switch checks, but I'm wondering if under load it stays hot when switched off somehow, so I'll put it on an outside load and see if it shuts down. Otherwise it's hot coming from someplace else that doesn't shut down. An education.

Thanks, John

To clarify, after disconnecting and reconnecting battery, ignition off, the headlight is off. Turn on ignition, headlight comes on. Turn off ignition, headlight continues shining happily. Disconnect battery and reconnect, headlight is off.

Thanks Scott, I replaced the lighting relay but not the "load shed" relay. From Snowbum's excellent and exhaustive writings I knew about load shed when you hit the starter, but didn't realize the diode would be inside another relay but it makes sense. At least more than it did after the second Fat Tire on a 90 degree afternoon. I'll pull that one.

One time while working at a Honda dealership, I had a short on a 750 K5 that turn out to be inside the glass of the tail lamp bulb ! Now that was strange. Luckily, most shorts are not that difficult.

I'd start by shaking and tugging on the harness. The German harnesses are somewhat better than others I've seen, but still you can get worn places where the frame (or more likely a non-factory accessory) rubs into a harness wire, causing a short that only occurs during road vibration. IME most electrical problems are that simple, yet that elusive. The devil is always in the details.

Another common one seems to be tightening down on the front cover fasteners with the ignition wires trapped/ squeezed between the cover and engine. You can get an intermittent or dead short that way. Once those wires are pinched like that, they need to be covered in heat shrink or tape or they can vibrate against the inside of the cover and make a nice intermittent years later.

In talking about the RED wire to the clock, I did not mean to infer that the clock power came from the back of the ignition switch, because it doesn't. That RED wire comes in through the dashboard wiring harness. On my 1988 RS the clock shorted and smoked the entire dashboard harness. Thereafter, the clock was connected to the harness with an in-line 1A fuse. So there are multiple RED wires throughout.

One thing for sure, when you finish this exercise you'll be the Club's 1995 wiring expert !! 😛

Hope this helps.

Ha! Tracking Lucas electrical weirdness in a Norton many years ago, while young and stupid, made me less expert than psychotic. Headlight went out mid peg-dragger curve at night, came back when I got stopped. Never did manage to get that one nailed, replaced nearly everything and it wouldn't happen for a long time, then... Eye still starts twitching when someone mentions electrical in Brit stuff.

Thanks Scot. Boy, I did love that '73 Commando. Bought it new, Nortons will always have a place in my heart, but it was a real maintenance hog. Heck, all these bikes and miles later I still catch myself looking for the shift on the wrong side now and again.

I did pull the R100 ignition apart--possible but PITA--and clean and lube all the points and pieces. The longer cross brass piece seemed it ought to have a spring on the outer part but did not, and no explicit location or wear pattern that indicated one. You're right, I need to just go ahead and pull it all apart and clean and refit. The bike sat for nearly two years, until I just couldn't stand it sitting there gathering dust, and the friend who owned it for 21 years did go some stretches not riding. (Has 50k on it.) So, likely there's oxidation and dust everywhere, even in this dry Denver air.

Okay, headlight problem was the "load shed" relay which isn't even on the Clymer's schematic. Load shed relay $13 Oreiley's on the shelf, MasterPro 2ER13. Headlight relay $13 BWD R4725. BMW's price on the latter $46, probably same or more on the former as they seem identical plus a diode. Both located on the rack beneath fuel tank. If like mine light blue on the headlight relay, silver metal cover on the load shed.