Changing bulbs

First topic message reminder :

Just bought a 2008 Silver Wing. Wife followed me home in the car and advised that my brake lights are really dim. I can't fing any directions to access or change the headlight or brake light bulbs in the manual. Is it necessary to buy a service manual just to change the bulbs?
Surely this can't be that diffiucult.
Picure work a thousand words or just tell me how its done.
Any help would be appreciated.

I thought the grumpiness was from all that cold rain making it impossible to smile on account of a stiff upper lip,and riding with no underwear.

Winger61 wrote:

I'm with Meldrew. What's wrong with being a grumpy old git? Considering what my daughter bought for me last Christmas, I think I'm well qualified!!
http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/24172453/740459252/Grumpy-Old-Git-Caution-Cone/ListingDetails.html?_%24ja=tsid:13315%7Ccat:24172453%7Cprd:24172453&ef_id=MqhQDUnPJg4AAAP7:20130328115352:s

Couple of bits of string and you have a new helmet.

Cheers,

I want to thank all that responded, in the way you did. I sometimes have a way of putting my foot in my mouth side ways and then regretting it. :lol!:

I must say I do appreciate his knowledge and help in this fine forum.

John, Just send us some of your cheap petrol as a way of showing your appreciation. Best to use airmail as your gas 'goes off' if it isn't used within a week!

Cheers,

bikerboy wrote:

Meldrew grew up watching Sesame Street and like myself he has modelled himself on Oscar the Grouch, he just let's it show a bit more than some of us oldies!!

You had a TV!...I used to dream of us having a telly, the nearest I got was watching the Lone Ranger in black and white through Radio Rentals shop window. The manager used to come out and bollock me for leaving nose marks on the window!

I know what you mean. Bin there done that ,stood there for hours watching the image of a indian head for hours before the Howdy Doody show came on.

MikeO wrote:

Sesame Street? More likely Rag, Tag and Bobtail, Andy Pandy and Muffin the Mule!

I must explain to our American friends that here in the UK Muffin the Mule refers to a popular 1950’s children's TV puppet character, not the unusual and probably illegal sexual practice performed on equine animals in remote areas of Western Australia.

Next thing someone will name all the non-existent characters from Captain Pugwash.

Cheers,

tarmacburner2 wrote:

Next thing someone will name all the non-existent characters from Captain Pugwash.

Captain Pugwash
Tom the cabin boy
Master Mate
Willy and Barnabas the pirates
Cut-throat Jake

(Sorry!!! Wikipedia is your friend, - and I'm sat at work bored witless!!! )

Graham

And before you ask -
Pugh Pugh Barney McGrew Cuthbert Dibble and Grub!!

Dear God please let it soon be time to go home!!!!

Graham

Hugh, Pugh barney Mc Grew etc. not to mention Roger the cabin boy

Thanks bikerboy, edited my spelling.
(You Roger the cabin boy if you want to!!)

rollsroyce250 wrote:

The power wattage NOT consumed by installing LED running lights is insignificant compared to running a Swing with the high beam on continuously. As the electrical system is designed for operating with high beams and not discharging the battery, the last thing I would worry about is a few extra watts shunted to ground by using LED's. If your concern is valid, blown regulators would be much more common on Swings running only low beams as compared to owners who run high beams continuously.

The difference is that the regulator is designed to shunt X watts to ground (X being "base load without high beams but with normal other load plus a safety margin"). If you turn on high beams, you have a load on the regulator of something less than X, so you're still fine. If you lower your base load, however, you are using up some, all, or more than all (I couldn't tell you which) of the safety margin. Not something I'd want to do.

But, yes, if you replace your running lights with LEDs and then run with high beam on, you're probably fine. But if you don't, you're going to generate more heat than that part was designed for.

Who rogered the cabin boy?

BTW Meldie, It's called animal husbandry and I believed it was developed during the middle ages in England when the gentry tried to make the horses more intelligent than their serfs. Unfortunately it made the horses act like toffs and wasn't really a success and then they had to marry the horses off to the serfs to bring the intelligence levels to an acceptable level for both the horses and the serfs. Ever wonder why some English have long drawn out faces, when in fact they are generally of Saxon backround.

Well Kurt, that explains it all then. However the toffs were all Normans so that means these continental "French" practises were imported & forced upon those of us who were living in blissful ignorance - if only King Harold had done his job right, we'd have been OK!!

Atrick wrote:

if only King Harold had done his job right, we'd have been OK!!

"Should have gone to Specsavers"

Cheers,

Finally completed the bulb change today.
Obtaining the correct bulbs while living in a one horse town was the first challenge. Parts house had the correct tail/brake light bulbs. Not difficult to get to those.
Got the stock turn signal amber bulbs from Honda. Rear no problem. Front requires taking the front cover off, This entails the windshield garnish, the windshield, the lower cover, and then the front cover. I'm going to be hesitant to even use the turn signals now that I know whats involved with replacing the front ones.
This had to be done as the previous owner had replaced all bulbs except headlight with LED's. It might have been Ok if he had used LEDs designed for the Silverwing. The ones he used were way underpowered, didn't fit the socket, and the front ones were directed toward the sky and offered no illumination toward the front of the scooter at all.
Changed the final drive oil too while I was at it and set the idle speed to within specs.
Found a service manual on eBay that covers 2002 to 2012, and that was a big help.

AV-40 wrote:

This had to be done as the previous owner had replaced all bulbs except headlight with LED's. It might have been Ok if he had used LEDs designed for the Silverwing. The ones he used were way underpowered, didn't fit the socket, and the front ones were directed toward the sky and offered no illumination toward the front of the scooter at all.
Changed the final drive oil too while I was at it and set the idle speed to within specs.
Found a service manual on eBay that covers 2002 to 2012, and that was a big help.

If the previous owner had used the correct type, wouldn't have been an issue. There's a company V-leds.com that makes very good ones. Unfortunately, they ARE rather expensive. If you want extra brake and turn lights, can't go wrong with the Admore light bar with the DennisB perfect connector.

I've just been out and changed both headlight bulbs, riding home from Cumbria over the A66 Pennines section one moonless evening last week the OE bulbs or whatever I had in there seemed a bit weak and weedy. A road diversion in rural North Yorkshire directed me down a long section of unmarked road with full tree canopy that was literally "starless and bible black" (That's a quote from Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, and the title of the 1974 King Crimson album, but of course you all knew that.) made up my mind for me.

I thought I'll go for high-performance bulbs not the spare H7’s that live in my bulb kit under my seat that'll be more of the same.

So after a bit of ratching around online for recommendations from UK motoring and motorcycle websites and online bulb sellers. I chose a pair of Philips X-Treme Vision that should deliver 130% more light on the road if manufacturers and consumer reviews are to be believed. I used a seller over in West Yorkshire so the package was delivered within 24 hours.

Fitting them was straightforward enough, even though the lower high beam bulb I'd never disturbed before and was a bit of a fiddle. A Schwinn bike mirror and a LED lamp helped visualise what was up there.  The top dip beam bulb I've removed before, mainly to fish OE pilot bulbs and LED pilot bulbs out of the reflector with a grabber tool. It definitely helps if you've dug around in there before, and removing and reinstalling the screen garnish was a doddle too. I wore vinyl gloves handling the bulbs and used alcohol wipes to clean the bulbs before installing them.

I may have even had a ride tonight to check out the improvements my new bulbs make, but that'll have to wait for another time because I had a nice cold beer with my evening meal.