04 fjr

[Fjryder]

i have an 04 fjr with 45k. love my bike.

while riding the other day, i noticed the low beam had gone out. i plan to use either the Sylvania Silverstar Ultras or the Phillips Vision 50 to replace the OEM.

can anyone tell me how to replace the bulbs? cant find any threads on the steps necessary to replace the bulbs. i am fairly handy with my tools...

 

[schrecke]

It's fairly simple.

Unplug the connector

Remove the rubber boot

Unlatch the spring clip. One end of it hooks under a tang on the assembly and thats what holds the bulb in.

Remove bulb.

Install new bulb and reverse procedure.

Note the left bulb is fairly easy, but the right one either requires some hand contortion and patience, or the removal of C + D dash panels.

I run the OSRAM Nightbreakers which are noticeably brighter, but only last me about 7K miles.

Available on eBay all the time from aftermarketbulbshop

 

[Newfie Bullet]

i have an 04 fjr with 45k. love my bike.
while riding the other day, i noticed the low beam had gone out. i plan to use either the Sylvania Silverstar Ultras or the Phillips Vision 50 to replace the OEM.

can anyone tell me how to replace the bulbs? cant find any threads on the steps necessary to replace the bulbs. i am fairly handy with my tools...

On the left side just reach under the plastic, pull of the connector, remove the rubber boot, release the retaining clip and pull out the bulb. On the right side you will have to remove the plastic over the battery before you do the same. Just reverse the order when installing. Don't touch the glass on the replacement bulbs. If you do wash them with alcohol. It is also a good idea to spray some silicon lub on the inside of the rubber cups before trying to reinstall them. It also helps to have small hands.

 

[Geezer]

1) Gently pull the cable connector from the back of the old light. You have to wiggle it a bit to get it loose without damaging the connector on the lamp or the wire clamp that holds the lamp into the housing.

2) Pull the rubber seal off the back of the lamp. This is a big black rubber gasket that has a couple of tabs sticking out the back that make good handles to pull in off. I had to work my fingers around the edge of the gasket to get it loose before it woud come off.

3) There is a spring type wire holding the lamp into the housing. On one side is a folded over piece that serves as a handle. It has to be pushed towards the front of the bike, and then rotated counter-clockwise. After doing this, the wire spring assembly rotates out of the way (to the left) to give access to the bulb. Be careful, the bulbs don't have anything holding them in at this point, and can fall out/down from the housing.

4) Note the orientation of the lamp in the housing. You'll want to put the new one in the same way. The lamp will then pull straight out of the housing. Don't touch the glass part of the lamp with your fingers.

5) Put the new lamp in. There are three tabs on the base of the lamp and they aling with three notches in the back of the housing. You can see this from the front, through the lense. You can tell if you have it oriented correctly if the connector on the wire aligns with the connectors on the lamp without twisting or bending the wires, but don't press it on yet. You need to keep the wire out of the way for a couple more steps. The 3 tabs on the back of the bulb, when inserted into the housing sit on the left, top, and right sides. There is no tab on the bottom when properly oriented.

6) Reverse the process above to reattach the wire retainer. How to do this is fairly obvious once you've undone it in step 3.

7) Work the rubber gasket on and press it in all the way around, making sure that the connectors are exposed in the center of the rubber gasket.

8) Plug the wire connector back on securely.

 

[Patriot]

yes, above is valid

do remember any bare touch of the glass of the new bulb with deposit body oil there and cause the bulb to fail prematurely from a hot spot produced

wear light blue nitrile (or latex surgical) gloves when handling the new bulbs. Gloves are available at any auto parts or Harbor Freight store.

first remove the "A, B, C, D" panels shown here https://www.fjr1300.info/howto/dashpanels.html

then pull the electrical plug from the prongs of the headlight bulbs

then pull the large round rubber boots from around the rear of the bulb

<edit: I wet with salava the boots to lube them for easier replacement>

then there's this wire "hook" thingy...the wire snaps into a little hood and then unhinges to let the bulb go

pull the bulb out

I purchased H4 name brand bulbs from the auto parts store - GE or Sylvania and the medium cheap ones ($25 a pair?)

The Silver Star, etc. expensive ones IMHO are not found to be robust enough for a bike and folks have had them fail in a short time

Also, the right bulb near the battery is a bitch unless you have small hands or great dexterity...more stuff is in the way there like the battery and a wiring harness

it's not rocket science and it helped a bit that I have changed them on my car/vehicle...that's how I learned how that wire hook holder works which was the most baffling part of it for me

Best of luck

let us know how it goes

EDIT: geezer is a better technical writer than moi - above post

 

[racer]

You don't need to pull the A,B,C,D panels on the left one. Don't know about the right one yet.

 

[Ignacio]

Don't know about the right one yet.

One can, but it's VERY difficult to get the boot back in place and easier just to pull the panels off.

 

[Harald]

Not much to add except I highly recommend using some dielectric grease on the rubber boot where it seals around the headlight housing. Makes it MUCH easier to change next time because the boot can be easily pulled off without getting a hernia! :yahoo:

 

[Fjryder]

i have an 04 fjr with 45k. love my bike.
while riding the other day, i noticed the low beam had gone out. i plan to use either the Sylvania Silverstar Ultras or the Phillips Vision 50 to replace the OEM.

can anyone tell me how to replace the bulbs? cant find any threads on the steps necessary to replace the bulbs. i am fairly handy with my tools...

On the left side just reach under the plastic, pull of the connector, remove the rubber boot, release the retaining clip and pull out the bulb. On the right side you will have to remove the plastic over the battery before you do the same. Just reverse the order when installing. Don't touch the glass on the replacement bulbs. If you do wash them with alcohol. It is also a good idea to spray some silicon lub on the inside of the rubber cups before trying to reinstall them. It also helps to have small hands.

thanks everybody