Changing Speedometer Instrument Dash Lights on a Gen 1

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ignacio

Intramural Culture Warrior
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
9,375
Reaction score
2,680
Location
Tri-Cities, WA
I've had an intermittent dash light for the past year and since I had the cowling off the bike I figured I'd tear into the instrument cluster and see what was up. It wasn't a loose harness so I figured I'd have to tear farther and swap out some bulbs.

The instrument cluster/speedometer assembly removes with 3 screws from the bike...plus the harness. Two of the screws are very easy to get to and the third is behind some relays, but not too bad. This shot is with it all removed. I didn't bother with a picture in the bike because I have it so seriously farkled with 4 add-on relays, barrier strips, and wires that it wouldn't look very much like stock.

MW184074b.JPG


Undo 10 additional screws and the white part comes off exposing the back of the circuit board. Two larger lights (4YR-83517-10-00) that are the turn signals are at about mid arc in the top. They twist in with plastic inserts.

9 smaller lights (4WM-83517-10-00) are scattered on the board. 5 at the bottom are indicator lights for neutral, ABS, check engine, etc, but doubt they burn out. The 4 others illuminate the tach, speedo, and digital display..and the object of this swap.

There are 2 turn signal bulbs of some other model at the top, but doubt they burn out either being used intermittently.

Nobody has sourced aftermarket bulbs for these that I know of and are Yamaha specific. Edit: Bionic Pelvis found Radioshack replacements for the Yamaha bulbs at a cheaper price: Item # 272-1092) https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...oductId=2103780 $1.79 for two vs. almost $6 for one through Yamaha.

MW184076b.JPG


In my case the one behind the tach and speedo was out...so unless I was going 95+ I was a bit unsure of my speed at night. The last four or five night of the IBR were in the dark.

I've taken out one of each light type and placed it near an installed lights (gray and black). Notice the blackness of the small bulb? It's the one that was intermittent for over a year.

MW184086c.JPG


At about $3 each the question of changing the 4 dash lights or all 9 is, of course on my mind.
wink.gif


And just for giggles you want to see what the front of the instrument cluster looks like?

MW184080b.JPG


I guess the option the next few days if anybody wants a close-up of something particular under the nose I might be able to oblige. This is the fourth or fifth time I've had it open and it's old hat to me, but maybe daunting for some others. I have a fair number of FJR shots already here and here.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
At about $3 each the question of changing the 4 dash lights or all 9 is, of course on my mind. ;)
I'd just change the ones that are always burning, and figure the intermittently-on ones will last much longer.

Thanks for documenting that job, those of us loyal to our original steeds will undoubtedly be doing this at some point.

 
I made a thread in Technical Discussion 2 or 3 weeks ago about getting to this point: fairing and cowl removal on GenI bikes. Included in my pics is a shot of the relays and the back of the instrument panel, 2 of the screws visible, and the location of the third obvious from your pic.

 
I made a thread in Technical Discussion 2 or 3 weeks ago about getting to this point: fairing and cowl removal on GenI bikes. Included in my pics is a shot of the relays and the back of the instrument panel, 2 of the screws visible, and the location of the third obvious from your pic.
Thank guys, you have just made this job a lot easier for me. I've had burned out bulbs for over a year and until your posts have been unwilling to tackle changing them out. Thanks again!

jim

 
I made a thread in Technical Discussion 2 or 3 weeks ago about getting to this point: fairing and cowl removal on GenI bikes. Included in my pics is a shot of the relays and the back of the instrument panel, 2 of the screws visible, and the location of the third obvious from your pic.
Cool. I added yours and mine to the FAQ as a linked pair for future reference.

 
I got replacement bulbs in and installed them last night. I opted to replace the 4 that are the backlights and on all the time...and leave the 5 that are for the status lights alone. At about $3 each....they are not cheap. I also replaced the two turn signal bulbs as they were under $2 each.

What was curious is that even though 3 of the 4 weren't burned out....they had a nice black haze to them.

MW284121b.JPG


The 5 stats bulbs weren't discolored like this...so my choice of only replacing 4 high use lights seems logical.

The bonus of all this was after I installed the new bulbs and tried the dash in my darkened garage.....the instrument panel just seemed clearer to read.....I'm sure because more photons are making it through the new bulbs.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The bonus of all this was after I installed the new bulbs and tried the dash in my darkened garage.....the instrument panel just seemed clearer to read.....I'm sure because more photons are making it through the new bulbs.

Brilliant! :rolleyes:

(Sorry, I'll go back to work, now.)

 
I think that I'd change the same bulbs. This task isn't horribly down the road for me, either. Almost 1/2 of my tach is already out. Once the speedo starts, then I will definitely be tackling this job. Thanks for the pics Iggy,

Heidi

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Iggy, the dark lamps are due to deposited tungsten from the filaments. This is indicitive of lamps that have been in operation for a while. If you look at one of the lamps from your house that have burned out, you'll find that one end or the other will be black depending on burning position. If these were halogens, they would be clear. However, given where these lamps are located, I personally would have changed them all out at the same time. If you take a look at the failure rate for a batch of filament lamps, you'll find that they all "blow" at pretty close to the same time. This might explain why when you change one headlight, the other one fails shortly thereafter.

Again, thanks for the pictures and the write-up!!!

jim

 
I was fiddling with a macro tube on my camera.....and not getting a very good depth of field. But, I think this picture does show enough detail to see a very fine filament in this very small bulb. The bulb's 3.3 mm wide...so that makes the filament about .2 mm.

MW264145b.JPG


 
Seems like a perfect application for LED bulbs. Any bulb that requires so much work to replace should be an LED IMHO. Wonder if there's any way to apply an LED bulb to this for a gen. 1 bike.

Appears in the manual for a gen. 2 that all the bulbs are LED for the instrument panel. Don't know if they're interchangeable with a gen. 1 though.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I'll be dang.

Same exact bulb appears to have burned out on mine. It affects the right side of the tach and the left side of the speedo. Cant see a thing until you hit 90.

Looks like I'm going to have to go in and do the dash bulb replacement.

Iggy you by chance got the part #'s for those 4 stay on dash bulbs and the 2 turn signals bulbs???

I'm not sure my local dealer will stock them, I'm sure he will have to order them. Maybe a suggestion of a supply place where I can order them direct?? My local dealer is not the best to have to deal with, I don't particularly like to give him business, I will if I have to, but if I can order them myself I would rather do that..........you know a place for me to call??

thanx-

 
Maybe a suggestion of a supply place where I can order them direct?? My local dealer is not the best to have to deal with, I don't particularly like to give him business, I will if I have to, but if I can order them myself I would rather do that..........you know a place for me to call??
thanx-
I doubt most dealers stock them either.

I'm sure you could look it up on the various online fiche available in the FAQ area and order through one of them.

I didn't bother and had Guru Glen hook me up since the place is in my backyard and needed to have some work done there anyway.

 
Seems like a perfect application for LED bulbs. Any bulb that requires so much work to replace should be an LED IMHO. Wonder if there's any way to apply an LED bulb to this for a gen. 1 bike.
Appears in the manual for a gen. 2 that all the bulbs are LED for the instrument panel. Don't know if they're interchangeable with a gen. 1 though.
According to the parts manual at the dealer the instrument cluster might have LED lights but they are permanently mounted to the circuit board. there are no part numbers for bulbs like the gen1 parts list. Somewhere out there there could be a LED replacement but I haven't found one yet.
Ed

 
I'm a little late to this party. Some time ago Good Iggy sent me some of his burned out bulbs & sockets so I could do some research for LED replacements.

The bad news is that I haven't been able to find a practical way to replace the filament bulbs. LEDs need a voltage drop resistor. Due to the size of the power drop there is no simple way to get both the LED and a resistor mounted to the OEM bulb socket. Some LEDs do come with internal drop resistors but the ones that I've found don't produce enough brightness or radial light dispersion to be serviceable. I'm sure I could modify an instrument PCB to take LEDs but that isn't helpful to the majority of Gen I FJR owners looking for a plug 'n play solution.

The Gen II instrument panel uses surface mount LEDs which are soldered directly into the PCB. Since the PCB had to be changed for the Gen II design the engineers would have added any power drop resistors to the PCB. The good news is that the average life of an LED is typically listed at 99 years.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Top