Dipped beam bulb replacement

[moto748]

748E, MY 2001.

Well, duh, how hard can it be?:)

I'd been told that it's necessary to remove the nose fairing and headlight unit, and access it from the front. Shurely a wind-up...? It has to come out "backwards" after being unclipped, surely? The Haynes manual doesn't say anything about front-ways, just remove the rubber boot, disconnect the lead, and unclip the bulb. Sounded straightforward enough. Haynes also said, no need to disconnect the earth lead.

So I popped into Halfords and got a halogen bulb, single filament and spade connector type, in readiness.
First thing I found was that, au contraire, I did need to disconnect the earth, to disentangle it from the live (white) lead. But I couldn't see how the live lead was connected to the bulb. Clearly a "flag" fitting of some sort, but I couldn't see where the bulb ended and the connector on the lead began, IYSWIM. It all looked shiny and tin-plated, with the lead disappearing into the side at the rear of the bulb.

One thing was clear; the new bulb I had, which had a round mounting flange with a locating flat on it, was the wrong type. I was able to unclip and remove the old bulb (still attached to the lead) without too much trouble, and could see that it had clearly blown, and also that it had a round flange with two locating lug-holes at six o'clock and 12 o'clock.

All I can hope it that if I return the bulb and swap it for the correct type tomorrow, it;ll be a bit more self-evident how the lead fits if I have a new one in front of me. Of course I was conscious that I didn't want to break the lead, as electrical connections can be quite delicate, so didn't want to tug too hard until I was sure I knew what I was doing.


Any useful comments would be much appreciated.

TIA.

[keefer]

you dont have to take all the front off you are nearly there.
but the wire stays attached to the bulb and is connected a bit further doen with a spade connector, you can get them from hallfords

[moto748]

Ha!

Over a pint tonight, the same thought occurred to me, that the bulb must be attached to a fly-lead (I've seen that sort in the shops). Trouble is, the spade connector isn't accessible from the "back". Hence, obviously, the "you've got to take the nose cone off" thing.

But I guess I could a crimp a female spade onto what's visible of the existing lead, and connect a new bulb to that (maybe with a new connector), as long as I made sure it didn't foul the rubber boot? Gotta be easier that dismantling the whole front end, anyway?

Thanks for your help. at any rate, keefer.

[antonye]

It takes 5 minutes to get the headlight out and is much, much easier than poking around and getting worked up about it!

Simply:
remove the top 3 Dzus either side
remove the 2 allen bolts in front of the airtube opening
remove the 2 shear bolts from the mirror
pull mirrors off
carefully withdraw top fairing
now for the headlight:
remove the adjuster bolt, counting how many turns until it comes out
pushing from the rear, slide the headlight out until you can access the single connector behind and disconnect it
done!

Swap the bulbs in the comfort of a nice warm house and then put it back together.

Don't forget to only turn the headlight adjuster screw back in by the same amount of turns it took to get it out and it should be roughly right.

Easy!

[moto748]

Thanks for that, antonye.

I'll have a look in the morning.

[NBs996]

Looks like a bit more than five minutes to me Antonye - but then you've missed out a couple of tea breaks!

But that's exactly the same way I did it, after trying for ages to get the bulb from the back. As the dear Antonye says, that adjuster screw in the middle of the light needs to be put in the same position else your aim is wrong. It's actually a good opportunity to get the tape measure out and make sure the beam's set right, but that would involve another tea break!!

[moto748]

"...now for the headlight:
remove the adjuster bolt, counting how many turns until it comes out
pushing from the rear, slide the headlight out until you can access the single connector behind and disconnect it..."


Ho ho ho!

Got the nose fairing off no probs, but when I went to unscrew the adjuster Allen screw, it just fell out! The thread wasn't engaged at all! So I guess I'll screw it in about half-way, and see how the light looks when it gets dark.

[moto748]

OK, job done!
I resisted the temptation to bodge it by hacking the lead around at the back; figured I might as well get used to taking the front off, which I hadn't done before. Took a bit of fiddling to re-align the headlamp unit correctly when putting it back together. I know you have to be quite careful with the shear bolts on the mirrors, can't force them into position if not lined up right.

At least I know now that it's do-able at the side of the road, if necessary.

It's only 3 allen keys, after all.

Coffee break now!:P

[antonye]

Yes, it really is easy to do and with practise it does take little more than 5 minute to get the top fairing off and the headlight out.

Next time you're ordering parts at the dealer, get a couple of spare shear bolts for the mirrors (about 2.50 each I think) as those little *******s are very easy to break!

The headlight is easy to setup once you've got it all back together, just poke the allen key through the hole in the fairing between the lights. I think, from memory, mine was about 6 full turns in to get it back to where it was.

Also remember that the spring goes in the gap behind the headlight, not in front. It makes it a real arse to align if you put the spring in the wrong side of the headlight ... trust me on this one!!

[moto748]

Ha! At least I'm up to speed on that one! Got a couple of spares in my toolkit! :)

[mike916]

Originally posted by moto748

Got the nose fairing off no probs, but when I went to unscrew the adjuster Allen screw, it just fell out! The thread wasn't engaged at all! So I guess I'll screw it in about half-way, and see how the light looks when it gets dark.


Mine never stays in, I always screw it in until its just engaging on the spring to stop it vibrating out but its never still screwed in the next time I remove the nose fairing - just seems to rest on the rubbers at the right alignment for dip beam - how convenient:sing:

But the screw and spring never fall out and you have all the bits to try again next time. I think a longer spring may be the solution:eureka: