Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > 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.