Headlight bulbs - fun times again

[marknetm]

Fired the bike up at the hotel 300 miles from home last week sure enough - pop goes the bulb. I was running the now discontinued Osram 65 w Ralley bulbs. Decided to change out both after returning home. My service record shows that I clocked 23k miles on these.  The original oem bulbs lasted almost exactly the same. Hmm.

In both cases the left (clutch side) bulb blew & both times I elected to replace both, based on advice in these forums.

this time I ordered up a pair of Philips Ultrabright h7, an everyday product. I don't believe I'm going to gain any longevity & since I almost never ride after dark, why spend more? My Motolights with superbrite LEDS make up the difference. And then some...

changing the clutch side bulb was pretty straightforward. Since I've done it before, I rewatched a YouTube video I had saved & was able to accomplish the task in ~15 working minutes. Pretty good for a noob like me. Being a lefty helps too!

However this time I noticed that the wire harness/connector had stiffened & was hard to remove from the bulb. No doubt due to age, time & the high heat these bulbs generate.

On to the right (throttle) side. Most acknowledge this bulb is more difficult to replace. Both access & clearance are much more restricted on this side Here's where the trouble began. After removing the circular puck I stood on the right side of the bike & reached through between the instrument cluster & gas tank with my left hand. Pinched the wire harness connector shell & pulled. Nothing. So I began pulling & wiggling it to remove from the spades on the bulb. Seconds later I felt the thing crack & break in half! Not good.

Well, it was off the bulb anyway. Got the wire bail freed & swung it up out of the way.

Next issue was that the bulb was stuck fast in the socket. Went to the front of the bike, got on my little rolling shop stool & reached up under the nacelle. Man, there is no space to work here. Managed to get ahold of one of the spades with finger tips & finally work it free. This is a right handers job for sure! FYI, The bulb had hazed over & compared to the blown one, looked like it was on its last few hours too. 

So, wearing a nitrile glove so not to touch new bulb I managed to get it  inserted properly ( tang straight up) swung bail down & got one side on. But, couldn't get the opposing wire hooked. Tried & tried & tried, but just could not get it far enough around to latch. Never had this problem & was fearful of breaking the thing. Heard you cannot get replacements, or even fit them to the dash. I even finally wrapped duct tape around finger to prevent pain from the damn wire. What. A. Hassle.

At some point I don't know how I pressured the wire as hard as I could & bingo. Ouch, that fingertip really hurt. Shoulder is halfway out of  socket too.

Not quite done though. Back to fractured wire connector. This one really made me nervous because if damaged beyond repair, maybe  I'm screwed? Trip to Dealer dancing through my head $$$$.

After examining it looks like there's enough of the plastic shell left to sandwich the two spade terminals together. I cut a small piece of electrical tape & somehow with one hand (left) managed to get one wrap around the whole thing while keeping it together. It helped that the wires had developed  a "memory" & wanted to stay lined up in their original orientation to one another.

I squeezed the thing tight & shoved it on the back of the bulb.

Held my breath & keyed the ignition. Let her go through the pre start cycle- I always do - & hit the starter. .

Well, it was lights camera action. Both bulbs came on full bright, no icons lit on MCM. Let her run , throttled up & down & so far good to go. Hopefully the first time I hit bump they would go dark! This bulb replacement took me a full hour. Wow.

 

Bottom line is that the many stories about bulbs, replacement challenges on this model are all true. Add one more...

Also, as these bikes age the problems are compounded by brittle & fragile components. I dread doing this again in 20k miles.

Hey, maybe by then I'll have decided to upgrade my ride to the latest. The only reason I haven't already is that in the 8 years I've owned her I haven't had any major problems or down time. Aside from these bulb hassles the only other thing was a (surprise) fuel strip.

Overall, I still really enjoy riding her. A great bike.....

 

'09 R1200RT Hexhead

'07 Triumph Bonneville T100

'19 Kawasaki z900rs Cafe

 

[Dann]

I got tired of replacing my low beam bulbs

I replaced mine 5 years ago with DDM tuning HID's

I replaced them again a month ago because the color was fading (they have a bluish tint)

They were still functioning fine (60k miles later)

 

YMMV

 

[dirtrider]

Morning  marknetm   

 

As a rule I do the L/H side from the rear & do the R/H side from the front reaching in over the fender.

 

If I can't easily get the wire pigtail removed from the bulb (I just remove the bulb with the wires still attached then pull it down where  I can more easily work on it. 

 

Never try to pull a stuck connector off with the bulb in place in the headlight housing as that can damage the bulb retainer clip or even damage the expensive headlight housing.

 

In any case, next time you change that bulb with the  broken connector just break the remainder of that crumbling connector off of the terminals then just install the bare terminals directly  on the bulb terminals.

 

Once the terminals are seated on the bulb they can't short together or contact anything & they are enclosed inside the headlight housing so they are perfectly safe  without a  connector covering them.

 

That tape deal is kind of iffy unless you used a very high temperature tape as those bulbs run very hot so can melt the tape adhesive & possibly cause problems. 

[marknetm]

Thank you for the feedback, dirtrider.

Hadnt thought about the tape melting. It's just basic black e-tape so I'm going to remove it as you suggested so I don't end up with a gooey mess. I think I can simply unwind it off the connector without too much trouble....

[Dann]

I've installed a ceramic harness between the OEM connector and the bulb.

It keeps the heat coming from the bulb from reaching/ damaging the plastic connector.

 

YMMV

[Ponch]

On 9/30/2019 at 7:39 AM, dirtrider said:

 

 

In any case, next time you change that bulb with the  broken connector just break the remainder of that crumbling connector off of the terminals then just install the bare terminals directly  on the bulb terminals.

 

Once the terminals are seated on the bulb they can't short together or contact anything & they are enclosed inside the headlight housing so they are perfectly safe  without a  connector covering them.

 

 

 

I didn't have good luck with that. I went to ceramic connectors and then to LED lights. BMW uses some crappy plastic in multiple places. 

[NoKick90]

Very similar experience to OP's recently. Fortunately, it went back together just as DR [Oracle] suggested.

 

What's the cheapest/easist way to increase high-beam power. Mine is very wimpy.

 

NoKick90 

[dan cata]

I wonder if the problem is the heat from the bulb or a poor negative connection. I have seen the plastic connectors fail on a lot of hexheads, but most of them had more melted plastic around the brown negative wire.

I think that wiring an aux good ground might fix this potential issue.

 

Dan.

[dirtrider]

1 hour ago, dan cata said:

I wonder if the problem is the heat from the bulb or a poor negative connection. I have seen the plastic connectors fail on a lot of hexheads, but most of them had more melted plastic around the brown negative wire.

I think that wiring an aux good ground might fix this potential issue.

 

Dan.

 

Morning Dan

 

The poor terminal  connection is part of the problem but that is a terminal issue not a ground wire issue.

 

The ground wire to the headlight & bulbs is a 1.5mm wire so that is plenty heavy to handle the current, it is a poor terminal connection to the bulb that mainly causes the brunt brown/black condition, can be either on the low (ground) side, or on the high (12v) side,  or both. 

 

I haven't been able to tell if the poor connection is just due to low quality terminals, or if they are getting damaged (opened up & losing spring tension) during heavy handed bulb replacement.

 

In any case, installing a new terminal on the existing wire usually stops the re-occurrence of the burnt connection, or just splicing in a new ceramic connector with included pig tail also works good.

 

 

[Sonor]

On 10/2/2019 at 11:46 PM, Ponch said:

 

I didn't have good luck with that. I went to ceramic connectors and then to LED lights. BMW uses some crappy plastic in multiple places. 

 

Where did you get the LED's?

[MBrockman5]

I just replaced my (weak) halogen bulbs for some Plug & Play LED bulbs. They cost me $68 and my God what a difference...

[Ponch]

On 10/17/2019 at 8:29 AM, Sonor said:

 

Where did you get the LED's?

From Amazon. 
CAR ROVER H7 LED Headlight Bulbs Conversion Kit with 80W 6000K 9600Lm(40W 4800LM Each Bulb) Super Bright CREE Chips for HID Halogen Light Replacement Cool White

[Woodie]

Do you have a link for that Amazon source? I was unable to find something with that search... and there are so many choices, trying to find one that actually will fit easily seems key.  This one seems ok: Mega Racer H7, as opposed to this one which seems to have retainer-clip compatibility issues: LAS fit H7