Headlight bulb replacement (1990 vfr750)

I have a high beam headlight out on my 1990 vfr750. Thinking about replacing it myself.
The Honda factory bulbs are quite expensive, can anyone suggest another type of quality bulb to use?
Also, is this a job that can be done easily or would it be recommended to have a technician do the bulb replacement?
Thanks for the help!

 

If your bike uses the standard Honda style H4 bulb, the you should be able to use a regular style automotive H4 headlight bulb. The only difference on the bulbs is that the Honda style bulbs have slightly different positioning on the bulb locating tabs. If you buy a standard automotive bulb you just have to trim off the lower two positioning tabs and they will fit fine, and they are a heck if a lot cheaper. If you are replacing one bulb, it would be best to replace both. In order to realease the electrical connector from the bulbs, push the connector in toward the bulb, squeeze the sides of the connector to release the locking tabs and pull the connector off.

There is a large rubber grommet covering the back of the headlight reflector on each side. Once you pull off the connector, remove the rubber grommet, release the spring retaining clip that holds the bulb in place and then pull the bulb straight out. When you put the new bulb back in, be sure not to touch the glass on the bulb.

You should be able to replace the bulbs on the third gen without removing the upper fairing from what I understand. Here is a link to the Factory Service Manual that you can download if you need some help.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/files/file/2-vfr-750-service-manual/

 

Thanks for the tips! I'll give it a try on a rainy day!

 

There are, or used to be shims allowing the standard size lamps to fit the odd size Honda receptacles. Put them in my 91 years ago. As best I recall the Honda ST1100s had the same larger receptacle,

Trimming the ears too much could lead to vibration then premature failure of the lamps. As the the Zoom guy says, they are easy to change out. Ya might want to make up a template or even a gasket.

A piece of silicone from a silicone baking pan will withstand up to 600F. I like the red ones. Others might like the blue.

 

http://www.electricalconnection.com/non-electrical/h4_shim.htm

Get these, they work, end of story. I never saw one of the "proprietary" Honda bulbs until I picked up this latest bike aquisition. It would suck to have to pay good scratch at your local honda-stealer for some stupid H4 bulb. With these shims, you can get any H4 bulb, colour etc and utilize the stock set-up, it works perfect. Take it from someone that was tortured with misaligned bulbs for decades :loco:

 

Good find! I lost the paperwork on the shims I bought. The odd part is that the price is the same as when I popped for the one's in the mach 1 91.

My advise for anyone who want's a set of these is to call aboot shipping. The shims are aboot the size of a one peso coin and very thin. With the package the weight is about the same as a couple of sheets of paper.

If this outfit is shipping UPS or FedEx you are gonna get hosed on the shipping cost.

 

I often wonder how a company can keep the same price for 2 decades, reminds me of my "shameless plug here" Valentine One radar detector, it cost me $400 back in the ninties and is still the same price, makes you wonder huh. Btw, I had an older unit and was doing a big trip in the big T, "Texas" so I decided to upgrade the radar unit, they allowed me a trade in value and I got the latest technology from them. Long story short, we drove our arses off in TX and my bird dawg was picking up radar traps so far ahead it amazed me. Triple digits and the thing worked like a charm.

These people that run this "Shim" oot-fit are super personable and I can't see them hosing you for shipping. But, then again, anything is possible. Cheers, Now I gots 2 Mach 1s ound:

 

When I bought my shims from an outfit in SoCal years ago, I called the supplier. A young woman answered. I asked about shipping. It was over seven pesos. This is not the doing of the manufacturer or the distributor. FedEx and UPS waltz in to new outfits that ship stuff and make a deal. Many places now have free shipping. I deal with a NYC photo outfit that will ship a TV set free. Amazon has deals.. When I bought the shims for my bike UPS and FedEx were levering the shippers by telling then they could make money on shipping. UPS HQ is in Seattle and they got outed on this by then local consumer advocate now nations guy Herb Weisbaum.

I had the young woman put the shims in a standard envelope and a first class stamp was then less than fifty centavos.

If somebody orders a set the proof will be on the response if any or, with two of the oldtimers you will be needing another pair anyway..

A little trick on your detector is making up a visual with a couple of resistors, an LED the plug for the earphone, and a suction cup.. My radar detector is Velcroed to my tanks bag and the LED and suction cup go on the inside of my windscreen. Tried blue, then white and found yellow to be most visable. LED technology keeps leaping upward and there may be in future one that will give me a smoky alert and a tan all at the same time.

 

Funny, I just fought with my wife aboot taking the bird dawg on a company trip, seems that the "corporation" frowns on radar detectors. So, plain and simple, it was laid oot to her, if she wants me to go, she has to let me run my valentine. I mean; NJ did give me a nice going away gift in the way of speeding tickets etc etc etc two weeks before I left. It was not nice.

I had an ear phone jack that was an add-on to the Valentine which I ran to my helmet, they had two different sized plugs, the smaller one worked, larger one did not increase the volume enough. I may have had it warrantied in the past, but anyway, the other ear-phone jack which was larger, did not increase the volume enough to hear it in my helmet. The smaller one crapped oot. Truth be told, in South FL, you really don't need to run this stuff, its actually a liablitly as it rains alot and even with the "thing" velcroed to your tank bag, it could get wet, which spells "disaster."

Gona :flip: off all them pork products in NJ/NY for the up-coming week. Wish me luck...I wont drive as fast as I do down here,.. ; )

 

The detector I have is used mostly for trips to places where the lay of the land is unknown or when I'm anywhere in or near Seattle. The LED rig is visual. I tried the speaker in the helmet stuff too. A waste of time and effort. One outfit used to manufacture a similar device. Aboot 200 pesos as I recall. My parts came from Radio Shack and after showing it around at MC club meets, The electronically gifted made some up for about two pesos. One fine dry day exiting Seattle on I90 I got lit up at least half a dozen times before even clearing the city limits. The Washington State LEOs are headed up by a Chief that is a real moneymaker. The politicians in Olympia love the guy.

 

H7 to H4 shim and Sylvania Silverstars.

Real pain to change unless the fairing is on the ground.

Good luck.

Larry

 

A query box pop-up asks for year, make and model. Zip for bikes especially the 90-93 VFRS and the STs.

Would Bondo work?


Great specs on those lamps but since they are not really in wide use, they make targets for LEO's and do attract attention.