cooling fan kicked on for the first time while riding at night andall the lights started to flicker. I noticed the fan sounded like it was strugggeling to run and when itdid run at full speed the lights came on strong. My guess would be a bad ground or a bad cooling fan motor. has anyone had this same problem? can any one tell me where I can find awiring diagram online. thanks

 

check the fuse under the seat first

 

I'm guessing you had a loose connection to the fan motor, or the relay was not pulling in fully (dirty contacts). In either case, the motor was constantly restarting. When any electricmotor first starts, the inrush can draw up to10x the full load amps, 2x at minimum. So that little fan motor was pulling down the wholesystem everytime is started. Enough to cause the coil on the relays for your lights to momentarily break theirconnection.

I'd clean the plug to the fan first, then check the contacts on the relays. Fuses are good or blown. They won't flicker on and off. I'm pretty suprised you didn;t blowa fuse in that situation. It's also possible that the relay that starts the fan, momentarily turn off the headlight to conserve power. The starters on many sportbikes do this intentionally because their batteries are very small compared the size of the starter and the load from the high compresson motors.