Cluster lighting bulbs

[drewandkellie]

I picked up an 83 1100E 40K miles. Bike is "fairly" stock. A couple of issues.
The bike was charging at almost 18volts. I changed the stator, R/R, and fuse box (which had melted the main fuse terminal). All is good charging now.
Next ( maybe its related to the overcharging, not sure) I do not have cluster lighting nor about half of the indicator lights. I pulled the cluster, sprayed lube on the sockets and tried removing the top two lighting bulb sockets. They will not come out more than about an 1/8" and are starting to tear. I immediately stopped.
Am I doing something wrong? How do you get the bulbs sockets out without destroying them. Could they have melted? or is it not bulbs at all but a common (maybe a ground) wire to the unlit bulbs. I walked away as I don't want to ruin anything. (I'm 64 now and have learned to walk away, back in the 80's I would have yanked to sockets out like a gorilla and ruined them). I looked for a thread on cluster bulb changing but wasn't successful finding what I need. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Cipher]

My plug is a bastard to remove. Yours could be deformed from heat and age.
likely. Clamp hard due to high current on circuit.
plunge back and forth wiggling.
don't drop the headlight.

[Steve]

If you were charging at 18 volts, there is a pretty good chance the bulbs are burned out. Spray some WD-40 around the base of the bulbs, wiggle them vigorously several times, let them sit overnight, repeat a couple of times. Eventually something is going to give.

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