OK, by now you are all likely used to my pattern of posting what is to me a REALLY perplexing problem that has me stumped and then turning around to answer my own question, after appropriate sweat-equity. Here I am again, with a recap of my 2000 ZX900E-1's potentially complicated headlight problem. Since I am new to Kawasakis (coming from a Honda & Yamaha background), what may seem trivial to many of you is frequently a real 'stumper' for me, given the differences between cycle marques.

Classic case in point: My 'new' old 2000 ZX900E-1 came to me with non-operative headlights. The bulbs were new, so I knew it couldn't (not likely, anyway) be defective bulbs. As for the rest of the ZX9R's electrics, as you know, they can be a bit problematic for the uninitiated (especially those who don't feel comfortable with a modern multimeter). After much manual background reading, recurring scans of the wiring schematics and niggling residual worry about the headlight/ignition interlock, various relays, fuses, etc., I tried ordering a few 'Used but good condition' fuse junction boxes from on-line parts suppliers who recycle bike parts. Since I had also received several previously used fuse junction boxes WITH the bike, I tried all of them, being inherently su****ious of the hidden headlight relay that is incorporated in that critical nerve center of the bike's electrical system. None of them resolved the issue, but I figured (wrongly) that it didn't stand to reason that ALL of them were defective (and it didn't occur to me that perhaps they had all been used and rejected as defective by the previous owner...duh!). The on-line-ordered 'used but good' (love that euphemism!) fuse junction boxes (3 of them at about $30 a pop) ALSO turned out to not resolve the headlight issue, which by this time was prompting visions of expensive $$$$ visits to a cycle shop for proper diagnostics of this issue.

Finally, with all the enthusiasm of a Scotsman doing the 'Twist' dance in front of a public pay toilet after a particularly busy evening at the local pub, I bit the bullet and ordered a NEW OEM $130 Kawasaki fuse junction box from Parts Fish.

Installing the new OEM box without much expectation of a resolution (I am, like the small A.A. Milne donkey character Eeyore, a natural-born pessimist), I was ecstatic to see the lights snap on normally when the ignition switch cycled on! As the Germans would say in moments of either extreme frustration or excessive jubilation, "Scheiss in der Lederhosen!"

Problem solved! OK, my message here is this: When there's a problem that may seem in one's darkest moments to be absolutely Sisyphean (i.e. 'irresolvable' or Heculean), it always helps to keep the parable of Occam's Razor in mind: that is, the simplest solution is usually the most likely one. If the relays, fuses and bulbs are all fine, and if all those 'used but good condition' recycled fuse junction boxes you ordered prove to be defective, go the distance, get a brand NEW OEM fuse junction box and chances are excellent that the problem all along was that bloody little built-in headlight relay that is infuriatingly hidden in the recesses of that assembly. Why they didn't install that relay somewhere outside the fuse junction box is beyond my powers of logical thought, but Kawasaki obviously felt that was the proper way to go about it.

The cost of a brand-new, OEM Kawasaki part is not cheap, but when it comes down to it (about $130), what's more expensive? Hours of frustration taking a chance on several $30 questionably 'used but good condition' recycled parts or taking care of things once and for all? The answer, I feel is fairly obvious.

OK. Thanks for all the vicarious suffering through this problem with me. Hopefully in future, some equally poor benighted 'new' Kawasaki owner will stumble across this revelation in his moment of need and benefit from it!