Bulb Replacement

Is there an easy way to access the back of the high/low beam sockets?
Do I have to take apart the fairing? Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

There is no easy way. You have to take the side fairings, dash panel, AND the front fairing off to get to the head light. I just did this about 3 weeks ago and it was not fun.

 

How long did it take you? Did you have a manual or did you just attack it?

 

What are you looking to do? You can take off the nose piece with out taking off the side panels but its not much more work to do the whole thing.

If you just want to replace the bulbs you don't have to take any panels apart. The manual does a pretty good job of showing you how to replace the bulbs.




Action

 

I picked up some piaa bulbs and want to replace the high & low beams.
I will try this weekend and see how I make out.
Thanks for the info.

 

I was going to point you to a VFRD link to download the manual for the 6th Gen VFR but it looks like they got hacked again! That site ticks off more people then any other site i know! :rofl:

 

I just followed the instruction in the service manual and it took me no more than 15 minutes to replace all 4 bulbs. Good luck.

 

Yes, I thought just the small side panels had to come off. I did the high beams very quickly but couldn't quite get the wiring harness off of the low beams. I tried squeezing them every which way but couldn't quite manage. Since I had the 600 mile service the next day I let the dealer do it!

P.s. Small hands help. Any why the @^$# doesn't the small "manual" (that comes with the bike) have directions like every other bike has? One has to buy or download the SERVICE manual to get directions. Bugs me...

 

You can download the Service Manual right here, its under VFR Wiki.

Action

 

Another thing I see a many times is, if your hands are any where the size of mine you need monkey hands to get to some of these places Honda says you can reach.

 

Like Nungboy said, the hardest part is getting the connectors off the low beams.

Action

 

My mitts are medium sized and I could get BOTH of my hands in there but still couldn't squeeze the conector properly to remove it. I wonder if it is tougher the first time. I haven't gotten back in there since I had them replaced but I can tell you those PIAA's are brighter and better. I use them in my Tacoma also (H4's).

 

I played around a bit today and realized with a bit of technique that small corner fairing piece comes off nicely. It's just a matter of freeing the aft lip from the side cowl... pivoting the corner piece back an inwards, then lifting it up and to the back to free the the two tabs that are connected to the dash piece. I bet none of that made sense.. what did I say? :blah: :blah:

 

It sounded like.....well, I don't know what it sounded like....but it was confusing. My old bike had one bulb. This one has four! I am expecting a big improvement. I found the low beams were okay...but when I flicked on the highs it wasn't much different. I had Piaa's in my last car and they were great.
I imagine four of them will cook a few retinas.

 

Comments were made about the difficulty of removing the connectors from the back of the sockets. They are locking connectors!! You need to squeeze the wide part of the connector. If done properly, they come off easily.

 

I’m afraid that’s not the case in 3 out of the 4 VFR's I've messed with. The only one I've seen come off easily was a 07 model. The other 3 (6th Gen) were a PITA! On some you can squeeze the tabs till you pass out and they don't want to come off. I was helping a guy at work and I thought we were going to have to cut the wires and break the socket to get it out.

Action

 

Bulbs replacement

Action is right, If you are just replacing the bulbs There is no need to remove fairings. The manual pretty clear, It is might be a little hard for some one with a big hands. It is took me about 30 minutes to replace them. As for the PIAA just a bit white (Brighter) not much diffrent. I love the HID look but not dare to change them yet.

 

Action, I've had problems with them too...recently with an 04, until I actually looked inside a connector to see what the tabs do. I've been having to deal with this lately as the front subharness is replaced as part of the recall effecting a large part of the 6th gens. I thought I had it figured out but maybe I'm wrong. I have another older one to do soon so I'll try to post on this. BTW...those of you that haven't had this recall done yet might just want to bring the bulbs to your dealer and ask to have them installed at that time. It should only take a few extra minutes to "pop" in some bulbs...the front cowl and the whole front harness get replaced anyway...so you're basically right there.

 

I did this last weekend, you only need to remove the Windscreen, and the side panels to the right and left side of the dash. There are two screws and one of those plastic retainers on each side for that. it is a little tricky getting those side panels out so be careful. one you remove the screws you have a rubber gromet connector holding the top of the side panel opposite the dash. Carefully remove those side panels and then pop the bottom of the dash out of another grommet connector and then the dash will lift up to give somewhat easy access. Have fun.

 

Diz,
No prob. I replaced mine last year and thought I had it down pat. The next one I did was a 07 and it was easy. Then last month a guy at work with an 03 wants to put in some silver stars. I was telling him no prob I've done it before, it'll only take a few minutes. Two hours later we finally got it done. Same thing with one of my Air Force friends, I could feel the tabs push in but it took a lot of back and forth wiggling to get them to release. Maybe I'm not standing on one foot or something. If your working on them regularly I'm glad you have the touch.

Action