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damn tail light bulbs..ideas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BentRod
  • Start date Start date
B

BentRod

Guest
ok, so i just had a crash, but still, I'm on my third tail like bulb in 3300km. what gives. I keep on blowing the 5w filliment on a 21w/5w bulb.

Anyone use a different bulb instead?
 
How hard of a crash?? could be a short broken wire due to impact or possibly the age old problem of a recitifier. Easily checked with a multimeter across the battery while running. When mine was bad I was blowing directionals and taillights.
 
You should be about 14 to 15 volts while running. Anything more and you'll start poping bulbs. Mine was at 17.5 and was boiling the battery. fun stuff.
 
Check the wiriing under the rear fender for breaks and wear throughs.
 
A bad ground could do it, too, especially since you're only blowing the low watt filament. A buddy of mine was blowing his taillight every 15 miles on his Sportster, took it back to the dealership many times, they'd replace the bulb and send him on his way and it'd blow. I told him to check the ground and he told the dealership to, they swore they did but still kept blowing bulbs. I found the problem in 10 minutes, the screw that held the ground wire on was finger-tight. Couple of turns with a screwdriver and he hasn't blown a bulb since.

It's the small things that mess with you the most.
 
Sometimes the problem you refer to is caused by vibration. Especialy after a crash. It was actualy a common problem on the old ironhead sportsters.
The trick is to secure a couple of wheel balancing weights (the stick-on kind) to the inside of the pod that houses the problematic bulb. This slows down the vibrations acting on the pod effectivly damping it. Not as common on a japanesse bike, but worth trying if your electrical tests don't reveal anything.
 
Thanks everyone.

I'll do the checks once i get back to home base tomarrow!
 
I'm told the bulbs for bikes are built to handle the vibrations better than automotive bulbs. If that's the case and you're buying plain auto bulbs for replacements, then maybe that's the culprit.

Regardless, the wheel balancing weights are still a good idea.
 
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